Branch Barrett Rickey (born November 1, 1945) is a baseball executive who served as the 17th and final President of the Pacific Coast League (PCL), a Triple-A baseball league competing in Minor League Baseball (MiLB). He previously served as the President of the American Association from 1991 to 1997 before the league disbanded in conjunction with the 1998 Major League Baseball expansion and Triple-A realignment.
Early life and career
Rickey is the grandson of Branch Rickey, who is best known for spearheading the movement within Major League Baseball to break the color barrier and for creating the framework for the modern minor league farm system. His father, Branch Rickey Jr., served as farm system director for both the Brooklyn Dodgers and Pittsburgh Pirates.
Rickey competed in high school football, wrestling, and baseball. He attended Ohio Wesleyan University, where he majored in philosophy. Like his father and grandfather before him, he played soccer all four years and was co-captain in his senior year. He is a member of Delta Tau Delta fraternity. He graduated in 1967.
He entered the Peace Corps in 1969 where he was assigned to Venezuela.
Rickey was elected President of the Pacific Coast League in 1998, replaced the retiring Bill Cutler, who served as PCL president from 1979 to 1997. He was again honored with the Giles Award in 2014.