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Branch Rickey in Pittsburgh: Baseball's Trailblazing General Manager for the Pirates, 1950-1955
Branch Rickey was one of the most important and charismatic figures in all of baseball, the archetype for all general managers who would follow. His contributions to the game were both numerous and highly significant; they include the desegregation of the majors, airline travel to road games, and the innovation of the minor league "farm" system. This work focuses on Rickey's tenure as the general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates, from 1950 through 1955. In addition to contemporary accounts, Rickey's personal correspondence and interoffice memorandums are used to document his struggle to revamp the fate of a small-market team.
223 pages, Paperback
First published July 3, 2000
About the author
Andrew O'Toole
12 books6 followersAndrew OToole is the author of six books including Sweet William: the Life of Billy Conn, and Smiling Irish Eyes: Art Rooney and the Pittsburgh Steelers. A native of Pittsburgh, OToole today resides in Lebanon, Ohio with his wife, Mickie."
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April 22, 2020
This book covers a lesser known chapter in the career of famed baseball executive Branch Rickey. Rickey spent five years running the Pittsburgh Pirates in the early to mid-1950's. The Pirates were in last place most of that time, so this period in Rickey's career is mostly ignored.
The book is well documented. It is supported by newspaper and magazine stories of the time, letters from the Branch Rickey library and interviews with people that knew Rickey. The book helps explain much of what was wrong with the team and why it suffered in the standings. The book explores the team's money troubles, the contract negotiations and the controversies involving star Ralph Kiner.
The book covers some of the issues that baseball dealt with at that time, including relations with the Pacific Coast League, the early days of television and foreshadowing of the expansion and westward movement that were only a few years away.
The book hints at the development of the team that eventually won the 1960 World Series. Some of the players from that series played for the Pirates or in their minor league system during Rickey's tenure. Some of those players are discussed in Rickey's scouting summaries from that time. But the book does not focus on those players nearly enough. The reader is often confused as to who is actually on the team or part of the Pirates' system at various parts of the story. The book ends when Rickey's contract expires in 1955 and is not renewed. There is no explanation or summary of how many of the 1960 Pirates Rickey had recruited or developed. The author is to be credited for avoiding the temptation to drift too much into a discussion of other matters such as the 1960 World Series, but this book is too divorced from that series. A discussion of how much of that 1960 team Rickey was responsible for would have provided important context. If you know nothing of the 1960 Pirates, you will miss completely any connection between Rickey's Pirates and the 1960 team.
In many ways, the book reads like a simple compilation of newspaper articles and letters. The author was not able to place Rickey's tenure in the proper context of Pirates' history.
While the author discusses Rickey's role in the recruitment and use of Jackie Robinson, the author seems to believe that Rickey did not do enough to advance race relations in baseball, as he did not integrate the Pirates fast enough or forcefully enough. This portion detracts from the overall story.
The book is well documented. It is supported by newspaper and magazine stories of the time, letters from the Branch Rickey library and interviews with people that knew Rickey. The book helps explain much of what was wrong with the team and why it suffered in the standings. The book explores the team's money troubles, the contract negotiations and the controversies involving star Ralph Kiner.
The book covers some of the issues that baseball dealt with at that time, including relations with the Pacific Coast League, the early days of television and foreshadowing of the expansion and westward movement that were only a few years away.
The book hints at the development of the team that eventually won the 1960 World Series. Some of the players from that series played for the Pirates or in their minor league system during Rickey's tenure. Some of those players are discussed in Rickey's scouting summaries from that time. But the book does not focus on those players nearly enough. The reader is often confused as to who is actually on the team or part of the Pirates' system at various parts of the story. The book ends when Rickey's contract expires in 1955 and is not renewed. There is no explanation or summary of how many of the 1960 Pirates Rickey had recruited or developed. The author is to be credited for avoiding the temptation to drift too much into a discussion of other matters such as the 1960 World Series, but this book is too divorced from that series. A discussion of how much of that 1960 team Rickey was responsible for would have provided important context. If you know nothing of the 1960 Pirates, you will miss completely any connection between Rickey's Pirates and the 1960 team.
In many ways, the book reads like a simple compilation of newspaper articles and letters. The author was not able to place Rickey's tenure in the proper context of Pirates' history.
While the author discusses Rickey's role in the recruitment and use of Jackie Robinson, the author seems to believe that Rickey did not do enough to advance race relations in baseball, as he did not integrate the Pirates fast enough or forcefully enough. This portion detracts from the overall story.
Displaying 1 of 1 review