THE NIGHT RICKEY GOT A CHILL
"Hank Greenberg says that one of the great unsolved mysteries of his years in baseball is his experience with Branch Rickey in the fall of 1950, when the Indians decided to get rid of Lou Boudreau and replace him with Al Lopez.
'We sincerely liked Lou,' Hank began, 'so we thought it would be a fine thing if we could line up another managerial job for him before we announced the change. Out of the blue, Rickey telephoned and said he'd like to fly over from Pittsburgh and talk with us about getting Boudreau as his manager.'
The Pirates' then-new general manager was told that Boudreau still had a job with the Indians, but he insisted that he'd like to discuss the situation.
'Rickey arrived about six that evening,' Greenberg continued. 'Ellis Ryan invited him to his apartment, and for six full hours, until midnight, we listened to Rickey tell us how much he wanted Boudreau. Then I took him to my home to spend the night, and we sat up until 3 A.M., still talking about the things Lou could do for the Pirates.
'We had breakfast at 9:30 that morning and I drove Rickey to the airport. By the time we got there, I couldn't have given Boudreau to Rickey on a platter. He just had lost all interest. Here was a man who made a trip to Cleveland to get a manager, spent nine hours telling us how much he wanted him- and then wouldn't take him. I haven't the foggiest notion why he changed his mind.' "
-Ed McAuley in the Cleveland News (Baseball Digest, January-Feburary 1955)
BRANCH RICKEY: "The abundant progress of the far-reaching Pittsburgh Youth Movement is obvious to the discerning eye of the qualified observer. We have men in camp this spring who will be outstanding performers in the not-too-distant year of 1960. Will we get into the first division by 1957? That all depends on a great number of vital related factors which I have not completely evaluated at this moment."
Baseball Digest, March 1955
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