Branch Rickey (Penguin Lives) [Hardcover]

Jimmy Breslin (Author)

Book Description

Release date: March 17, 2011 | Series: Penguin Lives

The book that inspired Harrison Ford in his portrayal of Branch Rickey in the hit movie “42”

The idea of integrating baseball began as a dream in the mind of Branch Rickey. In 1947, as president and general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, he defied racism on and off the field to bring Jackie Robinson into the major leagues, changing the sport and the nation forever. Rickey's is the classic American tale of a poor boy from Ohio whose deep-seated faith and dogged work ethic took him to the pinnacle of success, earning him a place in the Baseball Hall of Fame and in history.

Bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Jimmy Breslin is a legend in his own right. In his inimitable anecdotal style, he provides a lively portrait of Rickey and his times, including such colorful characters as Dodgers' owner George V. McLaughlin ("dubbed George the Fifth" for his love of Scotch); diamond greats Leo Durocher, George Sisler, and Dizzy Dean; and Robinson himself, a man whose remarkable talent was equaled only by his resilience in the face of intolerance. Breslin brings to life the heady days when baseball emerged as the national pastime in this inspiring biography of a great American who remade a sport-and dreamed of remaking a country. See Branch Rickey’s life brought to the screen in the hit movie “42” in theaters everywhere now.

 

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Pulitzer Prize–winning Breslin offers this slim biography on baseball manager and executive Branch Rickey, a man Breslin refers to as a œGreat American. What results is a well-rounded look at a man who not only reformed competitive sports but also influenced the norms of society by helping Jackie Robinson break baseball™s color barrier. Born to a tight-knit family in Ohio in the late 19th century, Rickey™s career as a major league player didn™t last long (as a catcher, he once allowed 13 stolen bases in a game), so he graduated from law school and became the manager of the St. Louis Browns. Yet his most far-reaching achievements happened decades later during his time in Brooklyn, when he shook baseball to its foundations by bringing Robinson to the Dodgers. Rickey as general manager knew there would be backlash and Robinson would be subject to rampant racism, but he was undeterred and never stooped to the level of those who attempted to sabotage his work. As he later told a group of students, œracial extractions and color hues and forms of worship become secondary to what men can do. Breslin™s gift for easy-to-read yet hard-hitting prose will touch even those who aren™t baseball fans. (Mar.)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Branch Rickey grew up poor in Ohio but graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University. Later, he invented baseball�s minor-league farm system and built winning teams in St. Louis, Brooklyn, and Pittsburgh. Yet one accomplishment dwarfs all others: he integrated baseball when he signed Jackie Robinson to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers, breaking baseball's color line in 1947. The mistreatment of a college teammate fueled his altruism, but Rickey also knew black players would expand baseball�s fan base. Breslin, the acclaimed newspaper columnist and best-selling author, tells the Rickey-Robinson story in his own inimitable style, pointing out that before Rickey even selected Robinson, he aligned New York�s business and legislative power brokers into a supportive alliance. Much has been written about Rickey�s commitment to Robinson, but Breslin brings out the fact that the experiment might never have worked if Rickey hadn�t been such a shrewd businessman, challenging baseball�s racist ownership and gaining the backing of the game�s commissioner. And, yet, the heart of the story remains Robinson�s strength of character and Rickey�s understanding that it would take a very special person to endure the humiliation that would come with breaking the color line. This is a wonderful book, bringing new life to a much-told story; long a social activist, Breslin is filled with disdain for the small-minded and the haters, while exuding admiration for those who defy them. In a revealing epilogue that connects the dots, Breslin ends on Election Night 2008 in Brooklyn, at a polling place located at the Jackie Robinson School�the night Barack Obama was elected president of the U.S. --Wes Lukowsky

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Viking Adult (March 17, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670022497
• ISBN-13: 978-0670022496
• Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 0.7 x 7.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #315,957 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A remarkable man and achievement revealed with great style and insight March 22, 2011

By Peter Hillman

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

The wonderful "Penguin Lives" series has hit another home run with Breslin's insightful, entertaining and revealing treatment of the man who, as GM of the Brooklyn Dodgers in the late 1940's, had the courage and foresight to facilitate Jackie Robinson's extraordinary breaking of the sport's color bar.

These "Lives" books are not meant to be exhaustive biographies. Generally, there are no indices, source notes. Rather, the author provides a quite selective bibliography for readers wanting fuller treatment. The mission of the "Lives" books, rather, is to sketch the full life, and home in on significant, inspiring acts of the subject that truly made a positive difference in the world. The several I have read, including this one, have the sense of a masterful story-teller chatting knowingly with me across a kitchen table.

Enter Breslin, an icon himself, who for more than 55 years has moved us to tears and laughter and greater understanding. His selection to treat Rickey really is "beautiful." By story's end, Penguin's choice of Rickey as the inaugural sports figure in the series--ahead of Robinson, Ruth, Thorpe--also seems totally appropriate. As Breslin shows, without Rickey doggedly pursuing his vision of integration against many foes, a decade (or more) might have passed unchanged.

What led Rickey to dissent from all 15 other baseball owners (Breslin provides their ridiculously pious and hypocritical "Statement on Race") and dedicate himself and his team to integration? Breslin reveals Rickey as a dedicated Methodist, a proponent of fairness for all, with an eye for talent (he champions a lanky young freshman named George Sisler; years later, Rickey and super scout Clyde Sukeforth seize on Robinson, but only after subjecting him to a four-hour grilling, "Will you have the guts to turn away?"; the recounting of that meeting is riveting). As do a number of others in the Penguin series, Rickey radiates as a true visionary. Not only was breaking the color bar the right thing to do morally; it also was great business. Rickey's every act in that direction was purposeful, as Breslin shows us a man who never relied on luck. "Luck," Rickey said, "is the residue of design."

So before Robinson could take the field in a Dodgers uniform and triumph over so much hostility, Rickey carefully built a new infrastructure. He steadfastly courted politicians to pass first a fair employment law and then to mobilize their constituencies; he spoke to African-American groups; he courageously ignored the racist sports writers of the time; he reasoned with some of his own racist players. "Proximity" was part of his vision for success--by being proximate to a player of Robinson's immense talent and focus, the rightness of integration would manifest itself. He was in his late 60's by then, had a long and successful career in baseball, but was determined to make this happen. And in Robinson he had a great chance.

With his unique style, wry humor and grace, gift for incisive anecdotes and riffs, and flair for embellishing dialogue without taking undue liberties, Breslin succeeds in letting his remarkable subject's life achievement show and tell itself. In so doing, Breslin's gem takes a rightful place among Penguin's other lives who really mattered.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Branch Rickey: Civil Rights Pioneer April 16, 2011

By David R. Anderson

Format:Hardcover

Branch Rickey by Jimmy Breslin

Jimmy Breslin's paean of praise to Branch Rickey is the fourth and most recent title in the Penguin Lives Series to frame the American struggle to provide equality to Black Americans in terms of the people who helped make it happen. Biographies of Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks and Abraham Lincoln preceded Rickey's. Of the four, Rickey's contribution is perhaps the least celebrated, but by no means the least important. Had Rickey not hired Jackie Robinson to play second base for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, no telling when the color line in big league sports would have been breached and black athletes and others given the opportunities that had been withheld from them as a matter of law and custom from the day the first slave ship landed at Charleston.

Breslin tells the story as if he were holding forth in an Irish pub across the street from Ebbets Field. He writes in an easy, conversational voice which takes you in and makes you want to hear more. While many readers and fans know the highlights of the Rickey-Robinson story, what is not so well known is how much planning went into the groundwork to bring Robinson up to the majors. Among Rickey's challenges, the opposition of all the other owners in the major leagues, the need to persuade the New York legislature to pass a fair employment law, and the shrill opposition of many sports writers and politicians with Jim Crow sympathies.

Like the other books in this worthwhile series, it is short (146 pages) and to the point. Breslin hits the high spots in Rickey's remarkable life and in his mission to end the humiliation that marks second class citizenship wherever it is found. Rickey deserves all the praise that comes his way.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A Treat For Baseball Fans May 3, 2011

By Joseph C. Sweeney

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Highly recommended.

This 146 page bio of baseball great Branch Rickey is well worth a visit. Both knowledgeable fans and newcomers, young and old, will enjoy this witty look at one of the seminal figures in the history of the sport. Terrific book.