April 14th, 2024

Put me in coach, I am ready to play… This was a decision so complex, so far-reaching, so fraught with so many pitfalls but filled with so much good, if it was right, I just had to work it out in this room with you. I had to talk to God about it and be sure what he wanted me to do. I hope you don’t mind. My father was born and raised in St. Louis. But in 1994 when he passed away, when it came time to bury my dad, we buried him, not in Cardinal red, but in blue, the blue of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Why was my dad a Dodger fan? Blame Branch Rickey. It is safe to say that Branch Rickey not only revolutionized the sport of baseball, but he transformed America. He was the inventor of the farm system in baseball, a way of developing talent. He was responsible for the first full-time spring training facility, in Vero Beach, Florida, and encouraged the use of now-commonplace tools such as the batting cage, pitching machines, and batting helmets. [...]