OCR Text |
Show Rtleaaed by Wettern Newipaper Jnlon. WHEN the Brooklyn Dodgeri signed Branch Rickey to a five-year five-year contract as general manager, the club secured the services of one of the most powerful men in baseball. base-ball. Mr. Rickey has an uncanny knack, of judging men. He Is a polished orator, graduate lawyer, churchman and bolder of numerous degrees. lie has properly been called the father of the "chain store" system of using smaller clubs as a recruiting ground for young players. In addition, Mr. Rickey is no stuffed shirt. He still works as hard to achieve success as when he was teaching country school in the hills of southern Ohio. Rickey coached baseball at the University of Michigan during the seasons or 1912 and 1913. He "discovered" "dis-covered" such stars as George Staler Sta-ler and Johnny Lavan for the St. Louis Browns. At the urging of owner own-er Robert Lee Hedges, he became a part-time scout for the St. Louis Americans and finally came to the front office as secretary. He became manager of the Browns In 1916. Named President The following year a group of St. Louis men bought the Cardinals. Rickey was named Dresident and field manager and remained at this job until 1924 when he was made general manager of the extensive Cardinal system he helped create. Rickey liked to get his ball players young preferably at the age of 16 or 17 and bring them up In the Cardinal's farm organization. The system paid dividends not only In strong Cardinal teams, but In direct profits. Through their chain system the Cards developed more players than 1 t fa- ww V i P1 i N H i" ' Y 'f RRAKTII RirKFV they could use and there was a ready market for them. Quite a few National Na-tional league stars were trained in the chain store system and then sold to a rival club. While quite a few managers are good judges of a new player's ability, abil-ity, seemingly fewer of them cap sense the first signs that a star player play-er is slipping. Rickey had an unerring un-erring instinct in this regard. He sold players who appeared to be at their peak but who, in his judgment, were starting the long trip downhill. Memorable Deals The Cubs bought Dizzy Dean from him for $185,000 In a deal which will be long remembered in Chicago. DIs was through and didn't take long to prove it. Joe Medwlck went to the Dodgers for $100,000 and several players. Brooklyn doesn't have much to say concerning that particular investment. in-vestment. Johnny Mize went to the Giants for another $100,000. The Cards still won the pennant. Rickey pointed out that "The Cardinals offer the real challenge in this Brooklyn job. They will be hurt by the draft comparatively less than any other team in the majors. I know they can bring 11 major-league pitchers, four catchers, their whole infield plus Ray Sanders, the extra first baseman, and at least six oul-fielders oul-fielders to camp. All those men are married and are fathers. They are hurt most in the outfield where they've lost Enos Slaughter;. Terry Moore also is unmarried." It is obvious that changes will be made in Brooklyn. Rickey also remarked re-marked that "The alarming thing about the Dodgers is the number of 10-year men on the team. The direction direc-tion and rapidity of their descent over the last 40 days of the season is cause for concern in planning for 1943. And yet, it is a fine team . . . and, while most of the players are veterans, they are competitive veterans vet-erans and know how to fight. But I have always said that it is a bigger big-ger mistake to hold on to a mediocre player too long than to let go of a good one too soon." Rickey's actions tflrough the years prove that he means that last very logical statement. Professor Rickey Mr. Rickey is a man of strong beliefs. He looks like a college professor pro-fessor and once was. He taught at Allegheny college In western Pennsylvania Penn-sylvania before reporting to the Browns in 1905. A graduate of Ohio Wesleyan, he later became a trustee for that institution. Active in church circles, he would not, for years, attend at-tend a Sunday game. He even turned over his managerial chores to one of his assistants on the Sabbath. Sab-bath. Unquestionably it will be quite change from the MacFhai! regime. |