When people think of the end of segregation in baseball most people first think of Jackie Robinson, and rightly so, but there was another man whom without baseball might not have been integrated. That man is Branch Rickey, founder of the farm system which all professional baseball teams in America use today and the spearhead behind Jackie Robinson's debut into Major League Baseball. Rickey himself although he was the owner of the Dodgers at the time went out to find the perfect athlete to begin integration and did not stop until he found him. Not only was this a big move on the side of equality which Rickey was a die-hard fan of, it was a great business decision because now Rickey and the Dodgers owned a monopoly of sorts on the revenue that black fans would contribute to see another black athlete play. Mr. Rickey was a very smart man from the business side of things and from a humanitarian standpoint he showed the epitome of reciprocity.
Below is a commemorative plaque of Mr. Rickey for his contribution to the game of baseball and above is a photograph of what he looked like (not what I expected upon first seeing him after knowing what he did).
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