The world’s not so simple anymore, I guess it never was. We ignored it, now we can’t.
BRANCH RICKEYThe world’s not so simple anymore, I guess it never was. We ignored it, now we can’t.
BRANCH RICKEYHe (Leo Durocher) had the ability of taking a bad situation and making it immediately worse.
BRANCH RICKEYProblems are the price you pay for progress.
BRANCH RICKEYLeisure is the handmaiden of the devil.
BRANCH RICKEYFill in any figure you want for that boy (Mickey Mantle). Whatever the figure, it’s a deal.
BRANCH RICKEYWe win if the world is convinced of two things, that you are a fine gentleman, and a great baseball player.
BRANCH RICKEYThe speed of the legs, the dexterity of the body, the grace of the swing, the elusiveness of the slide – these are the features that make Americans everywhere forget the last syllable of a man’s last name or the pigmentation of his skin.
BRANCH RICKEYI find fault with my children because I like them and I want them to go places – uprightness and strength and courage and civil respect and anything that affects the probabilities of failure on the part of those that are closest to me, that concerns me – I find fault.
BRANCH RICKEYA great ballplayer is a player who will take a chance.
BRANCH RICKEYI cannot face my God much longer knowing that his black creatures are held separate and distinct from his white creatures in the game that has given me all that I can call my own.
BRANCH RICKEYA full mind is an empty bat.
BRANCH RICKEYIf things don’t come easy, there is no premium on effort. There should be joy in the chase, zest in the pursuit.
BRANCH RICKEYBaseball is a game of inches.
BRANCH RICKEYBaseball people are generally allergic to new ideas; it took years to persuade them to put numbers on uniforms, and it is the hardest thing in the world to get Major League Baseball to change anything—even spikes on a new pair of shoes—but they will eventually…they are bound to.
BRANCH RICKEYI don’t care if I was a ditch-digger at a dollar a day, I’d want to do my job better than the fellow next to me. I’d want to be the best at whatever I do.
BRANCH RICKEYDon’t worry about your individual numbers. Worry about the team. If the team is successful, each of you will be successful, too.
BRANCH RICKEY