Was Branch Rickey, manager, underrated?

Branch Rickey with Dizzy Dean and Frankie FrischTomorrow on this date, 102 years ago, Branch Rickey was announced as the Cardinals new team manager. In the context of Cardinals history, this isn’t necessarily a momentous date. The more momentous date was when he came over to the Cardinals from the St. Louis Browns, because the Browns owner hated Rickey. A new ownership group convinced Phil Ball to let Rickey out of his contract to come to the Cardinals as a team president and his role was essentially that of a general manager, although that wasn’t his title.

His contributions as a general manager are massive, in fact he was the first modern general manager in baseball history. About a month…