Rickey Will Sell for Price

Article taken from The Ames Daily Tribune, September 1, 1956

---

 PITTSBURGH (UP) - Branch Rickey, baseball's business genius who created diamond dynasties in St. Lois and Brooklyn, said today he would sell his stock in the Pittsburgh Pirates "if I got the right price."

  The 74-year old baseball wizard, who stepped down as general manager last year to take an advisory post, owns about $350,000 worth of stock in the club.

  "I'm not looking for a buyer," Rickey told the United Press, "but I'd sell if the price is right."

  Rickey said he "gave up good ballplayers for the right price" when he was with the Cardinals and Dodgers.

  "If I had the best player in baseball I would not go looking for a buyer," he said.  "But if someone offered me $10 million for him, I would be foolish not to sell.  The same principle applies to my Pittsburgh stock."

  Rickey came to the Pirates as general manager in 1950.  He was signed to a five-year contract at $100,000 a year with an option clause calling for a salary of $50,000 a year for the next five years.

  Rickey had a five-year plan for the Pirates but it did not start to bear fruit until the sixth year, and he was succeeded as general manager by Joe L. Brown, son of comedian Joe E. Brown.