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Branch Rickey was not much of a player or manager, but he ended up revolutionizing baseball: He created the farm system, allowing small-market clubs to compete with the rich and powerful, then, he signed Jackie Robinson and other black players to the Brooklyn Dodgers, bringing baseball to the forefront of the civil rights movement. Lee Lowenfish gives a detailed portrait of a man who influenced American business, sport, and society in Branch Rickey: Baseball’s Ferocious Gentleman.