Branch was quite innovative. He was unable to contend with the big market teams just buying players so he decided to start a farm system. He was the first general manager to buy teams in other leagues and in some cases entire leagues. This meant that he could sign as many high school players as he saw fit and they could play on his farm teams until they were ready. Today this is such a staple in our game that we just assume that it has always been part of the game. It is interesting that today we hear big market teams are destroying the game, but if you look at Mr. Rickey's commentary, Major League Baseball has had the same issues since the 1920's.
In his first spring training in 1912, Rickey had three batting cages, a sliding pit and a running pit. " It is surprising how many pennants and even World Series are won or lost in Spring Training. The first training camps had each player take a turn at bat while the others fielded the balls hit by the batter. THe batter would get fifteen pitches and have to make contact. Pitchers would get tired and batters would swing at bad pitches, hurting their strike zone detection. Branch had many many players at his Spring Training sessions, he felt that inviting only the 40 man roster didn't push the top players and it didn't show him who he had in his farm system. Branch would invite every player that he felt had a shot at making the majors some day so that he could see where they were in their development. Mr. Rickey invented the electronic umpire, the pitching machine (to give consistent strikes to the batters and save the pitchers arms) and the tee (to fix an over strider).
Rickey led his life differently than most, "I just can't slow down. I'd rather die ten minutes sooner than be doing nothing all the time. But I do hope that on some distant day in the future my funeral cortege will move at a leisurely pace." He was all about enjoying life and not wanting any attention that would have followed him around today. He had three attributes he held above the others. The first one was honesty, because it holds the respect of other people and that there is no doubt about the integrity and the action of a man who is honest. The second attribute that he values s industriousness, which means putting a shelter over my head, food on the table. Can one provide the effort to improve the lives of others. A theme found in this book is helping others and that is very important to me. The third attribute is infinite kindness, which includes little things like holding the door or guiding someone over an icy patch. Its so easy to be kind, but so few people are truly infinitely kind. These three attributes are attributes that I have to remember when I live my life. Anyone would love to have these attributes associated with their names.
Michael Snow
"Branch Ridley's Little Blue Book is simply fantastic. Anyone, young or old can learn the specifics of playing the game of baseball. They have to certainly read every page and apply it to their game, and it is almost guaranteed to improve their ability. I would recommend it to every coach from Little League on up to the Major League. I have purchased one for all the grandsons playing the game, and plan to purchase more for others." - Heldman
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