Branch B Rickey

Branch B. Rickey has served as a league president in Triple-A baseball leagues for over 20 years, with the American Association (1991 to 1997) and the Pacific Coast League (1998 to present). This follows several decades of involvement at the major league level with the Pittsburgh Pirates followed by a year with the Cincinnati Reds, serving each of these clubs as Director of Player Development. He started with Pittsburgh as a scout, became Assistant Scouting Director and Assistant Director of Player Development, prior to taking over the lead role in development. The Rickey family name is closely associated with professional baseball and will long be linked with Jackie Robinson since it was his grandfather, Branch Rickey, Sr., who signed Jackie and brought him to the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, an event often referred to as "breaking the color barrier" in Major League Baseball. Both his father and grandfather were lifelong front office executives - from the Cardinals, to the Brooklyn Dodgers to the Pirates. He entered Ohio Wesleyan University in the fall of 1963 where he pursued his degree in Philosophy but continued running the Pirates' rookie league team during his summers. Following graduation from college, he became a Peace Corps Volunteer and was assigned to Venezuela. Upon his return to the U.S., he continued work for the government as a Peace Corps Recruiter visiting and speaking on college campuses and then overseeing a regional recruitment office for several years afterwards before returning to professional baseball. As an athlete, Branch, III, as he is often labeled, won letters in football, wrestling and baseball in high school before becoming a four year letterman in soccer in college and co-captain his senior year. Branch and his wife Diane have two daughters and five grandchildren and make their home in Round Rock, Texas.