According to Branch Rickey, “There was never a man in the game who could put mind and muscle together quicker and with better judgment than Robinson.”
The Robinson he is referring to is Jackie, the player Rickey signed to the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1945, breaking the color barrier in baseball in the process.
Given that quote, it’s obvious how Rickey felt about Robinson. Now, thanks to the Library of Congress digitizing more than 1,700 scouting reports he wrote throughout the ‘50s and ‘60s, it’s possible to see how Rickey initially felt about some other Hall-of-Fame-caliber players as well.
Containing notes on baseball greats like Roberto Clemente, Sandy Koufax and Hank Aaron, the Branch Rickey Papers “document Rickey’s skill in analyzing various aspects of a player’s game.”
“One cannot help but think that Aaron is frequently a guess hitter,” he wrote. “Will take three strikes down the middle and in fact frequently acts frozen at the plate.”
Interspersed with the talent evaluations are blunt comments about a player’s upbringing or family background that it’s hard to think any scout would be making public today.
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