Branch Rickey

Branch Rickey was an American baseball executive who signed Jackie Robinson to the Brooklyn Dodgers, breaking Major League Baseball’s color barrier in 1947.

Jackie Robinson: American baseball player who became the first Black player in the modern Major Leagues with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. Rickey recruited Robinson and prepared him to withstand the pressures of breaking baseball’s color barrier.
Negro leagues: Professional baseball leagues formed by Black players and executives excluded from organized white baseball. Rickey recruited Robinson from this segregated baseball system, which had developed its own teams and stars.
Ohio Wesleyan University: A private university in Delaware, Ohio, where Branch Rickey played baseball and later coached. Rickey’s coaching there exposed him to the effects of baseball’s racial exclusion.
Racial integration in Major League Baseball: The dismantling of Major League Baseball’s exclusion of Black players, beginning with Jackie Robinson’s 1947 debut. Rickey’s signing of Robinson became the decisive opening of this process.
Wendell Smith: African American sportswriter who covered Black baseball and helped connect Jackie Robinson with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Smith helped Rickey identify Robinson and accompanied him during the signing process.
Montreal Royals: The Brooklyn Dodgers’ International League affiliate, based in Montreal from 1928 to 1960. Rickey sent Robinson to Montreal in 1946 to test his play and prepare for the majors.
St. Louis Browns: A Major League Baseball team that played in St. Louis from 1902 until moving to Baltimore in 1954. Rickey began his major-league coaching and managerial career with the Browns.
1947 Brooklyn Dodgers season: The Brooklyn Dodgers’ National League season in which Jackie Robinson made his major-league debut. The season made Rickey’s integration plan visible across professional baseball.
Rube Foster: Baseball player, manager, and executive who founded the Negro National League in 1920. The Black baseball institutions Foster helped build supplied talent excluded from Rickey’s segregated major leagues.
International League: A professional baseball league whose clubs have competed primarily in the northeastern United States and Canada. Its 1946 season gave Robinson a high-level trial before Rickey promoted him to Brooklyn.

Linked from 8 pages