Branch Rickey: When (Rube) Waddell

Some day I'm going to have to stand before God, and if He asks me why I didn't let that [Jackie] Robinson fellow play ball, I don't think saying 'because of the color of his skin' would be a good enough answer.

Branch Rickey

baseball motivational inspirational

It is not the honor that you take with you, but the heritage you leave behind.

Branch Rickey

heritage honor character

I 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 Rickey

knowing white games

Things worthwhile generally don’t just happen. Luck is a fact, but should not be a factor. Good luck is what is left over after intelligence and effort have combined at their best. Negligence or indifference are usually reviewed from an unlucky seat. The law of cause and effect and causality both work the same with inexorable exactitudes. Luck is the residue of design.

Branch Rickey

design good-luck law

Ethnic prejudice has no place in sports, and baseball must recognize that truth if it is to maintain stature as a national game.

Branch Rickey

baseball games sports

Man may penetrate the outer reaches of the universe, he may solve the very secret of eternity itself but for me, the ultimate human experience is to witness the flawless execution of the hit-and-run.

Branch Rickey

baseball running men

Success is that place in the road where preparation meets opportunity.

Branch Rickey

psychology opportunity sports

Worry is simply thinking the same thing over and over again and not doing anything about it.

Branch Rickey

thinking-the-same worry thinking

There never has been a man in the game who could put mind and muscle together quicker and with better judgment than Robinson.

Branch Rickey

games mind men

The greatest untapped reservoir of raw material in the history of our game is the black race.

Branch Rickey

black race games

It (a baseball box score) doesn't tell how big you are, what church you attend, what color you are, or how your father voted in the last election. It just tells what kind of baseball player you were on that particular day.

Branch Rickey

player baseball father

If things don't come easy, there is no premium on effort. There should be joy in the chase, zest in the pursuit.

Branch Rickey

zest effort joy

Good luck is what is left over after intelligence and effort have combined at their best. Luck is the residue of design.

Branch Rickey

effort design good-luck

We win if the world is convinced of two things, that you are a fine gentleman, and a great baseball player.

Branch Rickey

player baseball winning

I don't like the subtle infiltration of 'something for nothing' philosophies into the very hearthstone of the American family. I believe that 'Thou shalt earn the bread by the sweat of thy face' was a benediction and not a penalty. Work is the zest of life; there is joy in its pursuit.

Branch Rickey

zest philosophy believe

I 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 Rickey

dollars care jobs

Problems are the price you pay for progress.

Branch Rickey

progress adversity survival

I 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 Rickey

courage want children

First of all, a man, whether seeking achievement on the athletic field or in business, must want to win. He must feel that the thing he is doing is worthwhile; so worthwhile that he is willing to pay the price of success to attain distinction.

Branch Rickey

pay-the-price winning men

He's the best prospect I've ever seen.

Branch Rickey

baseball