Jackie Robinson's Influence On Organized Baseball

Jackie Robinson undoubtedly changed organized baseball forever, but he could not have done it without the help and guidance of Branch Rickey. Rickey’s exploration of the limits of baseball’s color line led to a widespread exchange of ideas, largely contributing to more tolerant attitudes in both baseball and throughout the United States.
By the mid-19th century, baseball had reached an “unprecedented” popularity in America.[5]. Organized teams and leagues were created, along with the establishment of the National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP) in 1857. Two main organizations (the National League and the American Base Ball Association) were in existence by 1882. Both minor- and major-league teams and leagues were formed, although they
At just 21 years old, as the coach of the Ohio Wesleyan University baseball team, Rickey took upon himself the goal of ending “racial injustice” in baseball. On one road trip with the team, Charles Thomas, a black catcher and first baseman for the team, was denied a room in a hotel the rest of the players had checked into. After a long argument, the hotel’s manager reluctantly agreed to allow Thomas to sleep on a cot in Rickey’s room. Rickey later told how he’d seen Thomas in obvious distress, rubbing at his skin and saying to himself, “...If only I could make my black skin white.” This incident profoundly impacted Rickey on a personal level. Seeing the anguish experienced by Thomas, he vowed that “somehow I was going to open baseball and all the rest of America to
Robinson himself acknowledges this on many occasions. He reportedly admired Rickey almost to a fault, exclusively calling him “Mister Rickey”- never “Branch” or any casual nicknames, as was (and is) common in baseball. Robinson once said, “It isn’t even right to say I broke the color line. Mr. Rickey did. I played ball.”[14] Robinson was also incredibly humble, once saying in a letter to Rickey, “I am glad… I had a small part to do with the success of your efforts… it was your constant guidance that enabled me to do it.”[15] However, the friendship and regard, of course, went both ways - Rickey did truly respect Robinson as well. In a letter to Robinson, he says that “I...will have a constant and lasting interest in your welfare and happiness.” [16] Rickey looked out for Robinson, warning him before signing that he would need “enough guts not to fight back.”[17] Rachel Robinson, Jackie’s wife, even noted that “[the news reports] make it sound very paternalistic on Mr. Rickey’s part...”. She said that instead “there was much more of an attitude of their being collaborators… there was an alliance between them and a kind of mutual respect.”[18] She acknowledged that Rickey and Robinson were “unequal in power and influence”, but also that “neither could succeed without the other”.[19] The relationship between them, then, was one of shared esteem and