Branch Rickey
Parker Smith
Perserverance
“. . . he felt the time for equality in baseball had to come. He knew achieving it would be terribly difficult”
Picture Source -
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/David-ortiz-batters-box.JPG
Brach Rickey once had a Black Athlete on his team and he quoted this
”He sat on that cot . . . and was silent for a long time. Then he began to cry, tears he couldn’t hold back. His body shook with emotion . I sat and watched him, not knowing what to do until he started tearing at one hand with the other-just as if he were trying to scratch the skin off his hands with his fingernails. I asked him what he was trying to do to himself”. Then he replied “Its my hands . . . They’re black. If only they were white, I’d be as good as anybody then, wouldn’t I Mr.Rickey”.
Jackie Robinson, a Black Player on Branch's team quoted this "Unknown to most people and certainly to me, after launching a major scouting program, Branch Rickey had picked me as that player" this states that Rickey persevered and brought some black people were accepted on the team.