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Book SynopsisA biography of Branch Rickey, the man who signed Jackie Robinson, and invented baseball's farm system.
Trade Review"Lowenfish's take is detailed and nuanced, balancing the issue of integration with the economic and competitive imperatives of running a professional baseball team... Where Lowenfish is at his best is in explicating the complex and often contradictory impulses that drove his subject, as well as his almost evangelical sense of self... All this leaves us with a question-or a set of questions-about who Rickey really was. To Lowenfish's credit, he doesn't look for simple answers; despite his own abiding admiration, he never sugarcoats or presents Rickey in anything other than a three-dimensional light... Without him, baseball would not exist as we know it. America would be a different place as well. In these pages Lowenfish traces the evolution of that America through the filter of a remarkable life."-David L. Ulin, LA Times Book Review Los Angeles Times Book Review "Branch Rickey: Baseball's Ferocious Gentleman, by Lee Lowenfish, provides a thorough account of the life, character, and exploits of this teetotaler Ohio farm boy, the grandson of a horse trader, and a true 'conservative revolutionary.'"-Katherine A. Powers, Boston Globe Boston Globe "[O]ur heartiest recommendation: Branch Rickey - Baseball's Ferocious Gentleman by Lee Lowenfish. A fitting and admirable tribute to the 60th anniversary of Jackie Robinson's breaking of the color line. Lowenfish, a respected baseball scholar, reportedly spent 10 years researching and writing this book that, at 600 pages, is chock full of revelations and great anecdotes on Rickey's life."-Bill Madden, NY Daily News New York Daily News "It's an impressive achievement in historical reporting on a unique character and will serve scholars for decades to come."-Neil Best, Newsday Newsday "If you read one baseball book this summer, make it Branch Rickey: Baseball's Ferocious Gentleman by Lee Lowenfish. The author did a remarkable amount of research in bringing to life this incredible baseball man... Lee Lowenfish is to be congratulated for this monumental work... [O]ne of the best baseball books I've read."-Tom Knight, Brooklyn Spectator Brooklyn Spectator
Table of ContentsIntroductionList of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsList of AbbreviationsProloguePART I. THE MAKING OF A BASEBALL BRAIN, 1899-19181. Diamond in the Rough2. From Catcher to Coach3. Branch Rickey and the St. Louis Browns4. "War Overshadows Everything"PART II. THE ST. LOUIS PRIME OF BRANCH RICKEY, 1919-19425. Necessity Is the Mother of Invention6. Years of Contention and Frustration7. That Championship Season8. The Near-dynastic Years and a Place in
Who's Who9. Another Championship Season and Then Decline10. Prelude to the Gashouse Gang11. The Triumph of the Gashouse Gang12. Years of Frustration13. More Years of Loss, and Farewells to Dizzy Dean and Charley Barrett14. Going Out on TopPART III. THE BIRTH OF THE MAHATMA, 1943-195015. A Branch Grows in Brooklyn16. The Secret Path to the "Young Man from the West"17. An Historic Meeting in Brooklyn18. Prelude to a Pennant19. When All Hell Almost Broke Loose20. When Most of Heaven Rejoiced21. A Year of Disappointment, Odd Choices, and an Adieu to Leo22. A Branch Bends in Brooklyn23. A Branch Is Chopped in BrooklynPART IV. "MY GREATEST THRILL IN BASEBALL HASN'T HAPPENED YET," 1951-196524. A Branch Doesn't Grow Fast Enough in Pittsburgh25. Mr. Rickey Prepares to Do the Continental26. The Continental Dance Card Goes Blank27. Meet Me in St. Louis, Final ChorusNotesBibliographyIndex
