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    Branch Rickey
    Branch Rickey
    Branch Rickey
    Audiobook4 hours

    Branch Rickey

    Written by Jimmy Breslin

    Narrated by Dick Hill

    3/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    The idea of integrating baseball began as a dream in the mind of Branch Rickey. In 1947, as president and general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, he defied racism on and off the field to bring Jackie Robinson into the major leagues, changing the sport and the nation forever. Rickey's is the classic American tale of a poor boy from Ohio whose deep-seated faith and dogged work ethic took him to the pinnacle of success, earning him a place in the Hall of Fame and in history.

    Bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Jimmy Breslin is a legend in his own right. In his inimitable anecdotal style, he provides a lively portrait of Rickey and his times, including such colorful characters as Dodgers' owner George V. McLaughlin (dubbed "George the Fifth" for his love of Scotch); diamond greats Leo Durocher, George Sisler, and Dizzy Dean; and Robinson himself, a man whose remarkable talent was equaled only by his resilience in the face of intolerance. Breslin brings to life the heady days when baseball emerged as the national pastime in this inspiring biography of a great American who remade a sport-and dreamed of remaking a country.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateMar 17, 2011
    ISBN9781400189595
    Branch Rickey
    Author

    Jimmy Breslin

    <p>Jimmy Breslin was born in Jamaica, Queens. He was awarded the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary. His bestselling and critically acclaimed books include <em>The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight</em>; <em>Can't Anybody Here Play This Game?</em>; <em>The Short Sweet Dream of Eduardo Gutiérrez</em>; several anthologies; and the memoir, <em>I Want to Thank My Brain for Remembering Me</em>. He lives on Broadway, the Big Street, in New York City.</p>

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    Reviews for Branch Rickey

    3/5

    27 ratings3 reviews

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    • 1/5
      Branch Rickey by Jimmy Breslin
      147 pages

      ★ (the rarely seen one star from me)

      Brach Rickey is best known for being the first man to break the color-barrier in Major League Baseball by signing Jackie Robinson to the Dodgers. But besides that, he was the innovator of introducing many things that are still used within the sport today such as batting helmets, batting cages, sabermetrics, and “farming” aka minor league baseball teams (note: do not be confused that he was the inventor of these things, he just was the one to start implementing them).

      I don’t know how I got through this book. Branch Rickey contributed so much to baseball and yet so much is missed in this book. I know it’s a short book (in comparison to some of his biographies which are over 700 pages) but I think the author could have gotten in a lot of important details if he didn’t dedicate PAGES to word-by-word testimonies on a minor situation Robinson was in when he was younger (more specifically statements from many whites when Robinson refused to move to the back of a bus. I realize it may be important to know their reaction but the author went overboard in 10 pages worth of statements). He probably could have accomplished more detail on Rickey (you know...who the book is about) if the author didn’t focus on himself so much – for instance when he talks about Rickey’s smoking habit but then goes into his own story on how he used to smoke and his reasons for quitting the habit. Really Mr. Author? I don’t care. The author also goes back and forth on past and present tense when writing the book which was annoying and unnecessary, in my opinon. The author seems to focus on Jackie Robinson but not so much on his interaction with Branch Rickey. If I were to hand you this book and told you to read it without knowing the title, I think one would easily be confused what this book is actually about. I’m not into sports but I can’t blame that for the reason for my huge distaste in this book. I wanted to give up on this book so badly but stuck with it. It’s one redeeming quality? It was short.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      I never knew about Rickey's incredible eye for baseball talent. He could have a wing of the hall of fame just for his players. Jackie Robinson, who I believe was the best player as well as the best man to ever enter the baseball diamond, understandably is the brightest star in constellation created by Branch Rickey, but it also included Dizzy Dean, Roy Campanella, and Roberto Clemente to name a few. Many of the men Mr. Rickey put on the field shown as brightly off the field for their care and compassion, as their talent did on the field. Breslin drips Brooklyn in his story telling, and seems truly astonished at Mr. Rickey's character as possibly only a hardened, cynical street kid can be. I was raised in a southern home, a football home,a home where we did not care if another baseball ever crossed the sky. Through Branch Rickey Jimmy Breslin makes obvious to even a football fan that a baseball story is worth the hearing.
    • 3/5

      Evidently Breslin was asked to write a Penguin Biography, then allowed to select his subject. I can understand that, but it seems an odd way to edit a series.

      This is an odd book. It's more a "Scenes from a Life" than a proper biography, and it largely concentrates on Rickey's efforts to integrate baseball and his relationship with Jackie Robinson. There's too little about Rickey's other major impacts on the game, as the development of the minor league farm system is only lightly touched and Rickey's involvement in the Continental League is only barely mentioned. Nor is there any serious discussion of the way Rickey actually assembled and administered baseball teams.

      Frankly, I was hoping for something with more substance. That said, this book's well-written, shows evidence of serious research, and tells the story Breslin wanted to share quite well. Worth reading, but incomplete.

      



      This review has also been published on a dabbler's journal.