The movie "42"

[coxfan]

Re: The movie "42"

I believe my wife said it's already # 1 at the box office. I might have mentioned that Branch Rickey's Continental League (ca 1959) was intended to include franchises in New York (replacing the recently-moved Dodgers and Giants), as well as Houston, Minnesota, and Los Angeles. It was to be a third major league, and Rickey envisioned a sort of three-club World Series.

His efforts provoked the NL and AL to go after these same investor groups, adding the Angels and Twins in 1961 and the Houston and New York (Mets) groups in 1962. Thus, Rickey's efforts shook MLB out of its lethargy and provoked the expansion that was long overdue, but had been opposed by the 16 MLB clubs that didn't want more competing clubs in strong markets. The Twins were a special situation, because the old Washington Senators had long wanted to move but hadn't been allowed to by the AL. So they were allowed to move to the Twin Cities, while the expansion club was then placed in Washington (where it later moved to Texas.) Thus the AL and NL killed the Continental League on the drawing board, but Rickey made an important contribution to baseball with his forward-thinking on expansion.

Rickey also pioneered the idea of farm systems for MLB clubs. It was strongly opposed by Commissioner Landis, who felt with reason that the Cardinals and Yankees (who copied Rickey) had the financial resources to tie up prospects through their farm systems. Today's farm systems are regulated to avoid these problems.

[allstarsplus]

Re: The movie "42"

MLB Network did a behind the scenes show with the actor that plays Jackie and the actor who plays Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford) and Brooklyn Dodger Don Newcombe as they sat down with Bob Costas.

The clips of the movie looked good. I will set it just not sure if it will be in the theatre as I usually wait for the DVD.

[sox83cubs84]

Re: The movie "42"

I normally avoid first-run movies altogether (political reasons), but this is one that, if my wife or a friend goes with me, I'll make an exception for.

Dave Miedema

[coxfan]

The movie "42", which my wife and I saw yesterday, featured good acting and surprising balance, with touches of humor among the serious addressing of social issues of 1947. I have a personal connection, in that I briefly met Kirby Higbe, the bad guy of the Robinson story, not long before his death. He was a security guard at a building where I had a meeting here in his native Columbia, SC. He impressed me as a friendly, jovial fellow who reminded me in manner of Dizzy Dean. Later, he was a security guard at the Columbia Mets, the Class A club of the NY Mets. of course, his behavior on the Dodgers regarding Robinson was inexcusable.
Branch Rickey did other things for baseball. He provoked the expansion of MLB by forming a third league, the Continental League in the late 50's. That provoked MLB into bringing in the Mets, Twins, and Astros for the first expansion in the 20 th century, though it killed the Continental League.