Branch Barrett Rickey

Branch Barrett Rickey, grandson of Branch Rickey, serves as the president of the Pacific Coast League. He replaced the retiring Bill Cutler who served as PCL president from 1979 to 1997. Rickey had been the president of the venerable American Association which was disbanded during a realignment by the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues in a scale-down from three Triple-A leagues, the Pacific Coast League, the International League, and the American Association, to two in 1997.

His greatest achievements to date have been in the redevelopment of minor league baseball as a "fan friendly" sport that caters to a broader audience of families, women, and children. Under his watch, the Pacific Coast League has had a face-lift of virtually all of its ballparks and has seen attendance rise from the low thousands into the multiple thousands at most of the facilities in the league.

Prior to his involvement as a league president, Branch spent over twenty years in major league baseball, in player development with the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Cincinnati Reds, as a scout, as an Assistant Scouting Director during the 70’s, and in the 80’s as Director of Player Development.

At Ohio Wesleyan University, Rickey played baseball, wrestled, and was co-captain of the Varsity Soccer team. He has officiated International Freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling, culminating with his participation as a referee in the Olympic Games.

He began his professional career with the Pirates in 1963 at the age of 17 when he became Business Manager of their rookie league affiliate in the Appalachian League, at Kingsport, Tennessee.

He worked with Pirate rookie teams during the summers while pursuing his college degree at Ohio Wesleyan University. Following graduation with a degree in Philosophy, he served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Venezuela from 1967-69, then as a college campus recruiter for the Peace Corps, and subsequently as a U.S. regional recruitment director in 1971.

He returned to professional baseball in 1972 as Assistant Director of the Kansas City Royals Baseball Academy in Sarasota, Florida. The Academy was a major league experiment to take teenage players with overall athletic skill and develop them into major league players. When the Academy was closed by the Royals in 1974, Rickey rejoined the Pirates.

Rickey comes from a long line of baseball men known by the same name. His grandfather Wesley Branch Rickey invented the baseball farm system, a chain of levels of development teams that serve a major league baseball club. He also invented the batting cage, the batting helmet, and a host of workouts and development programs that are standards of baseball. Rickey's grandfather built dynasties with the St. Louis Cardinals and Brooklyn Dodgers, and was best known outside of baseball for breaking the color line and admitting Dodgers star Jackie Robinson to what had been all-white baseball leagues by 'gentleman's agreement.' His father, Branch Rickey Jr., served as farm system director for both the Dodgers and the Pirates.

External links

* [http://www.minorleaguenews.com/features/10withMLN/Rickey/10MLN043001.html Minor League News] - Interview as PCL President
* [http://pclbaseball.com/staff/?id=17 Pacific Coast League] - Staff Biography on Rickey
* [http://www.minorleaguenews.com/features/raves/articles2005/07/23/01.html Minor League News] - Historical/Opinion article suggesting Rickey as potential future leader of Major League Baseball