Branch Rickey quotes

Luck is the residue of design. (Branch Rickey)
I find fault with my children because I like them and I want them to go places - uprightness and strength and courage and civil respect and anything that affects the probabilities of failure on the part of those that are closest to me, that concerns me - I find fault. View quote
Branch Rickey
If things don't come easy, there is no premium on effort. There should be joy in the chase, zest in the pursuit. View quote
Branch Rickey
Baseball is a game of inches. View quote
Branch Rickey
Never surrender opportunity for security. View quote
Branch Rickey
A great ballplayer is a player who will take a chance. View quote
Branch Rickey
How to use your leisure time is the biggest problem of a ballplayer. View quote
Branch Rickey
Trade a player a year too early rather than a year too late. View quote
Branch Rickey
A full mind is an empty bat. View quote
Branch Rickey
Problems are the price you pay for progress. View quote
Branch Rickey
Baseball people, and that includes myself, are slow to change and accept new ideas. I remember that it took years to persuade them to put numbers on uniforms. (Branch Rickey)
It is not the honor that you take with you, but the heritage you leave behind. View quote
Branch Rickey
Ethnic prejudice has no place in sports, and baseball must recognize that truth if it is to maintain stature as a national game. View quote
Branch Rickey
The greatest untapped reservoir of raw material in the history of our game is the black race. View quote
Branch Rickey
The man with the ball is responsible for what happens to the ball. View quote
Branch Rickey
Thinking about the devil is worse than seeing the devil. View quote
Branch Rickey
Only in baseball can a team player be a pure individualist first and a team player second, within the rules and spirit of the game. View quote
Branch Rickey
Leisure is the handmaiden of the devil. View quote
Branch Rickey
I don't care if I was a ditch-digger at a dollar a day, I'd want to do my job better than the fellow next to me. I'd want to be the best at whatever I do. View quote
Branch Rickey
Baseball people are generally allergic to new ideas; it took years to persuade them to put numbers on uniforms, and it is the hardest thing in the world to get Major League Baseball to change anything-even spikes on a new pair of shoes-but they will eventually...they are bound to. View quote
Branch Rickey
Thou shalt not steal. I mean defensively. On offense, indeed thou shall steal and thou must. (Branch Rickey)
Branch Rickey made me a better man. View quote
Branch Rickey
Man may penetrate the outer reaches of the universe, he may solve the very secret of eternity itself, but for me, the ultimate human experience is to witness the flawless execution of a hit-and-run. View quote
Branch Rickey
I am alarmed at the subtle invasion of professional football, which is gaining preeminence over baseball. It's unthinkable. View quote
Branch Rickey
I did not mind the public criticism. That sort of thing has not changed any program I thought was good. View quote
Branch Rickey