Branch Rickey who was probably the most innovative baseball executive in history was born this day in 1881. Branch Rickey wasn’t much of a baseball player and didn’t have much success as a manager but found his groove as a baseball general manager. He was the general manager of four different teams, the St.Louis Browns, St.Louis Cardinals, Brooklyn Dodgers and Pittsburgh Pirates.

He will always be remembered for helping to break the color barrier. He is the one who signed Jackie Robinson. He also as the Pirate general manager-drafted Roberto Clemente from the Dodgers farm system. Clemente would go on to become the first hispanic superstar.  Branch Rickey as St.Louis Cardinal General Manager created what the modern baseball minor league farm system.

Rickey’s teams won 8 National League pennants and 4 World Series titles-all with the Cardinals.

Rickey was also infamous in his dealings with players. He was incredibly cheap. This was back in the days before free-agency and the players pretty much had to take what they were offered. He was a religious man who didn’t attend games on Sunday.

Rickey was responsible for the first full-time spring training facility in Vero Beach, Florida. He encouraged the use of the battling cage, pitching machines and batting helmets. He hired a full time statistician named Allan Roth and Rickey came to the conclusion that a hitters on-base percentage was more important than batting average.

He was long gone as Pirate General Manager when the Pirates won the 1960 World Series but had laid the groundwork of that team before he left as GM. He died in 1965 at the age of 83. Branch Rickey is in the Baseball Hall Of Fame.

He also had a lot of sayings that were famous. His most famous sayings were “It’s better to trade a player a year to early than a year too late.”