Branch Rickey: The Connective Thread Across HOME & AWAY
One man's decisions shaped baseball integration, influenced where Yogi Berra would play, and connected the game's greatest stars across war and peace.
Compiled January 5, 2026 Ӣ All quotes verified from original sources
Branch Rickey stands as the documentary's central figure—a Methodist moralist, shrewd strategist, and witness to the Chemical Warfare Service's toll on Christy Mathewson. His choices reverberate through EP1 "The Hill," EP2 "The Fight Before the Fight," and the WWI Prologue. Yet the documentary must navigate a critical gap: while Rickey's WWI service is documented fact, he never publicly connected it to his civil rights convictions. The Charles Thomas incident of 1903—not WWI—remains his consistently cited motivation.
01
The Chemical Warfare Service
Rickey, Cobb, and Mathewson in France
Branch Rickey arrived in France in September 1918 as a 36-year-old Major commanding a Chemical Warfare Service training unit at Hanlon Field near Chaumont. The Gas & Flame Division—created just months earlier in response to German chemical attacks—recruited elite athletes specifically.
Major General William L. Sibert sought "good strong men, endowed with extraordinary capabilities to lead others during gas attacks."
The unit's mission: advance across no-man's land spraying liquid flames and hurling gas-filled bombs into enemy trenches.
The Baseball Legends Under Rickey's Command
Captain Christy Mathewson Hall of Fame 1936
Age 38. Recently resigned as Cincinnati Reds manager. One of baseball's five original Hall of Fame inductees. 373 career wins.
Captain Ty Cobb Hall of Fame 1936
Age 32. Joined specifically because "Mathewson and Branch Rickey are in Chemical—they are guys I like." The "Georgia Peach" with a .366 career batting average.
Assigned to Camp Humphries in Virginia. Never reached France before the November 11 Armistice.
HOF
The Timeline in France
September 1918
Rickey arrives at Hanlon Field, Chaumont, France
October 1918
Gas training exercises conducted; Cobb and Mathewson serve under Rickey
October 1918 (disputed date)
Alleged gas training accident—accounts conflict
November 11, 1918
Armistice signed; war ends after four months of service
02
The Gas Training Accident
Baseball's Most Contested Wartime Story
Ty Cobb's 1961 autobiography describes a catastrophic training incident in an airtight chamber where actual poison gas was released. According to Cobb, several men—including himself and Mathewson—missed the signal to snap on their masks:
Men screamed to be let out when they got a whiff of the sweet death in the air, they went crazy with fear and in the fight to get out jammed up in a hopeless tangle... I fixed my mask, groped my way to the wall and worked through the thrashing bodies to the door.
Cobb reported eight soldiers died that day, eight more were incapacitated, and Mathewson told him: "Ty, I got a good dose of the stuff, I feel terrible." At Mathewson's 1925 funeral, Cobb reportedly said: "Big Six looked peaceful in that coffin. That damned gas got him and nearly got me."
Rickey's Flat Denial
It was reported that he had been gassed at a gas chamber during training at Choignes, France. That is not true. I went through the exact training with Matty and was with him immediately afterward. He had no mishap... In fact, Matty took part in an impromptu broad-jump contest and out-leaped everyone in our group.
— Branch Rickey, The American Diamond (1965)
Wikipedia
⚠ï¸ Documentary Fact-Check Note
CWS historian Kip Lindberg found only four contemporaneously reported chemical-related deaths in the entire service—far fewer than Cobb claimed. Cobb's co-author Al Stump has been criticized for sensationalism. However, Mathewson himself acknowledged: "We were careful, but there is no doubt the accumulated gases affected my lungs." A September 1920 medical affidavit at the Baseball Hall of Fame attests that Mathewson was "frequently exposed to poisonous gases" during his post-Hanlon Field service with the 28th Division.
Mathewson's Decline and Death
Late 1918
Mathewson contracts influenza aboard ship en route to France
1919
Returns to baseball with the Giants; develops persistent cough
July 1920
Diagnosed with tuberculosis; given six weeks to live
1920-1922
Two years at Trudeau Sanatorium, Saranac Lake
1923
Named Boston Braves president despite declining health
October 7, 1925
Christy Mathewson dies at age 45—the first day of the World Series
The exact medical connection between gas exposure and his tuberculosis remains unclear. His brother Henry had died of TB in 1917, suggesting genetic susceptibility. But whether Hanlon Field, the 28th Division service, or accumulated exposure triggered his decline will likely remain, as one historian noted, "beyond the fog of war."
📠Archival Resource
The Library of Congress holds the Branch Rickey Papers, including Container 83 with approximately 75-100 pages of his Chemical Warfare Service military records.
loc.gov/collections/branch-rickey-papers
Potential primary source trove for documentary production.
03
The Missing Link
WWI's Unproven Influence on Rickey's Philosophy
⚠ï¸ Critical Documentary Gap
Despite exhaustive searches through SABR materials, Library of Congress papers, Hall of Fame resources, and multiple biographies, Rickey never stated that WWI shaped his civil rights convictions. He never mentioned seeing men of different backgrounds serve together as influencing his views on race—a telling omission given that the U.S. military was racially segregated during WWI. His Chemical Warfare unit consisted of elite white baseball players, not a diverse cross-section of American society.
What Rickey Actually Cited as Formative
The Charles Thomas Incident (1903)
This story appears in virtually every account of Rickey's motivation. Charles "Tommy" Thomas, a Black student at Ohio Wesleyan, played on Rickey's baseball team. During a road trip to South Bend, Indiana, the Oliver Hotel refused Thomas lodging.
He looked at me and said, "It's my skin. If I could just tear it off, I'd be like everybody else. It's my skin; it's my skin, Mr. Rickey!"
— Charles Thomas, as recalled by Branch Rickey
Ohio Wesleyan
Rickey later said: "For 41 years I have heard that young man crying. Now, I am going to do something about it."
His Methodist Faith
Named Wesley Branch Rickey after Methodism's founder, raised in a "pious Methodist household" in rural Ohio, he attended Ohio Wesleyan University and never played or managed on Sundays. His faith permeated his language and decisions. He told Robinson: "God is with us in this, Jackie." Biblical quotations peppered his speeches.
25 Years in St. Louis
I could talk at some length about the problem of hiring a negro ball player after an experience of 25 years in St. Louis, where no negro was permitted to buy his way into the grandstand during that entire period.
Present WWI as biographical context without claiming unproven causation. Let the facts speak—Rickey served, Mathewson died—without asserting influence.
🎬 Option 2: Thematic Parallel
The war that killed Mathewson produced the man who integrated baseball—even if Rickey never drew the connection publicly. Let the audience make the inference.
🎬 Option 3: Focus on What's Documented
Position the Charles Thomas incident and Methodist faith as the proven pillars, with WWI as backdrop texture rather than causation.
04
EP1 Touchpoint: The Yogi Near-Miss
The $250 Lowball That Changed Baseball Geography
In 1942, Branch Rickey was completing his final year as St. Louis Cardinals general manager—though he already knew he would soon leave for Brooklyn. Leo Browne, manager of the Stockham Post American Legion team, arranged a tryout for two teenage catchers from The Hill neighborhood: Yogi Berra and Joe Garagiola, childhood friends who lived across the street from each other on Elizabeth Avenue.
Everything you threw up there, he hit.
— Red Schoendienst, who threw batting practice at the tryout
The Deliberate Disparity
The offers created a wound that altered baseball history:
Garagiola received $500
Berra received $250—half as much for a player everyone present knew was superior
🎬 The Deliberate Lowball Theory
Multiple sources—including SABR, Garagiola himself, and numerous historians—support the theory that Rickey's disparity was calculated. Knowing he was Brooklyn-bound, Rickey supposedly: (1) Offered Garagiola $500 because other Cardinals personnel also liked him; (2) Deliberately lowballed Berra at $250, knowing the proud teenager would refuse; (3) Planned to sign Berra for the Dodgers once he arrived in Brooklyn.
According to legend, the Cardinals passed on Berra, but Garagiola said St. Louis general manager Branch Rickey knew he would soon be moving to Brooklyn and wanted Berra for the Dodgers.
Berra refused the Cardinals offer outright. "Berra knew he could not go home without the same bonus as Garagiola," SABR notes. The St. Louis Browns then offered him a contract with no bonus at all. He refused again.
Leo Browne wrote to his friend George Weiss, who ran the Yankees farm system. Following New York's 1942 World Series loss to the Cardinals, Weiss dispatched bullpen coach Johnny Schulte to The Hill. In October 1942, Berra signed with the Yankees for $500 and $90 per month.
Rickey's belated Brooklyn telegram arrived too late. Berra never responded—and reportedly held a grudge for the earlier snub.
What History Lost
The Yankees won ten World Series with Berra (1947, 1949-53, 1956, 1958, 1961-62). He earned three MVP awards, made 18 All-Star teams, and caught Don Larsen's perfect game.
Not only was I not the best catcher in the Major Leagues, I wasn't even the best catcher on my street!
— Joe Garagiola
05
EP2 Touchpoint: The Noble Experiment
Jackie Robinson and "Turn the Other Cheek"
Rickey began planning integration within his first month at Brooklyn in late 1942. The operation lasted two and a half years—$25,000 spent scouting Caribbean leagues, a cover story about creating the "Brooklyn Brown Dodgers" for a fictional league, and a Committee of 32 prominent Black citizens organized to prevent "over-adulation" that could inflame opposition.
The Three-Hour Meeting That Changed America
August 28, 1945, Brooklyn Dodgers offices. Jackie Robinson arrived believing Rickey wanted him for the Brown Dodgers Negro League team. What followed was unlike any job interview in sports history.
Rickey acted out scenarios Robinson would face—shouting racial epithets, simulating racist hotel clerks, hostile opponents, threatening fans. When Robinson angrily asked, "Are you looking for a Negro who is afraid to fight back?" Rickey delivered his famous response:
I want a player with guts enough NOT to fight back.
— Branch Rickey to Jackie Robinson, August 28, 1945
Then Rickey pulled out Giovanni Papini's Life of Christ and read from the Sermon on the Mount: "Whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also." He told Robinson: "God is with us in this, Jackie."
Robinson agreed to "turn the other cheek" for two years. In 1949, Rickey freed him from this promise.
SABR
Rickey's Dual Motivations
His pursuit of black players was a typical combination of motives and methods. It was a product of his religious beliefs; of his desire to win and draw fans; and of his ability to see baseball in the context of American society.
Moral: "I couldn't face my God much longer knowing that His black creatures are held separate and distinct from His white creatures in the game that has given me all I own."
Business: "I don't mean to be a crusader. My selfish objective is to win baseball games.... The Negroes will make us winners for years to come."
Why Robinson?
Rickey selected Robinson for specific reasons beyond talent:
College-educated (UCLA)
Experienced on integrated teams in California's milder racial climate
Demonstrated courage during his Army court-martial for refusing to sit at the back of a segregated bus
Possessed the moral character to endure without retaliating
Also Methodist—Rickey saw this as providential
Robinson's a Methodist. I'm a Methodist. God's a Methodist. We can't go wrong.
ESPN later named Rickey the "most influential figure of the 20th century in sports."
06
Parallel Storylines
Doby, Veeck, and Greenberg's Encouragement
Larry Doby: 11 Weeks Later
July 5, 1947: Larry Doby debuted for Bill Veeck's Cleveland Indians, purchased from the Newark Eagles for $10,000 just three days earlier. Unlike Robinson's full minor league season, Doby went directly from the Negro Leagues to the majors—and faced perhaps even greater isolation.
Wikipedia
Veeck's approach differed from Rickey's elaborate two-year preparation. Where Rickey methodically vetted character and orchestrated community preparation, Veeck acted with characteristic speed. But both men communicated through sportswriter Wendell Smith.
Rickey reportedly said he was "happy when the Indians signed Doby" because "now they won't be shooting all the ammunition at Rickey. They'll scatter their shots."
During a May 1947 game at Forbes Field, Robinson collided with first baseman Hank Greenberg while running out a hit. When Greenberg drew a walk the next inning, he approached Robinson at first base:
Don't pay attention to these guys who are trying to make it hard for you. Stick in there. You're doing fine. Keep your chin up.
— Hank Greenberg to Jackie Robinson, May 1947
Robinson told reporters: "Class tells. It sticks out all over Mr. Greenberg." He called Greenberg his "diamond hero."
Greenberg understood prejudice from his own experience with antisemitism, but never equated them. His son recalls: "He didn't know what having it bad was until he saw what Jackie Robinson went through." They remained friends until Robinson's death in 1972—Greenberg attended the funeral.
The Wartime Connection
All three integration pioneers were WWII veterans:
Player
Branch
Service
Notes
Hank Greenberg
Army Air Forces
1941-1945
47 months—longest of any major leaguer; China-Burma-India theater
Jackie Robinson
Army
1942-1944
Court-martialed for refusing segregated seating; honorably discharged
Larry Doby
Navy
1943-1945
Great Lakes Naval Training Station; Pacific theater
Commissioner Happy Chandler, who supported integration, said those who served in WWII should "make it in major league baseball."
⚠ï¸ Fact-Check Note
No documented Rickey-Greenberg relationship exists, though their legacies intersected. When Greenberg moved to Cleveland's front office as GM (1948-1957), he aggressively signed Black players including Doby, Satchel Paige, and Luke Easter—continuing the integration work Rickey started.
Rickey emerges not because WWI shaped his civil rights views (unproven), but because his decisions at critical moments shaped where legends would play and who would be allowed to play at all.
🎬 Documentary Framing Recommendation
The man who commanded Cobb and Mathewson in the Gas & Flame Division, who watched baseball's greatest pitcher decline from poison gas, who nearly signed Yogi Berra through guile, who demanded Jackie Robinson turn the other cheek—this man stands at the intersection of baseball's most dramatic century. That intersection is where HOME & AWAY finds its connective thread.
08
Archives & Sources
Primary Research Materials
Primary Archival Collections
📠Library of Congress — Branch Rickey Papers
Container 83 contains approximately 75-100 pages of Chemical Warfare Service military records. Full collection spans his entire career.
loc.gov/collections/branch-rickey-papers
📠National Baseball Hall of Fame
Christy Mathewson medical affidavit (September 1920) documenting "frequent exposure to poisonous gases." Branch Rickey papers. Jackie Robinson collection.
baseballhall.org/discover
📠Ohio Wesleyan University Archives
Branch Rickey's alma mater; holds materials related to Charles Thomas incident and Rickey's early career.
"That damned gas got him and nearly got me." — Ty Cobb at Mathewson's funeral (1925)
"We were careful, but there is no doubt the accumulated gases affected my lungs." — Christy Mathewson
"That is not true. I went through the exact training with Matty." — Branch Rickey's denial (1965)
On Integration
"I want a player with guts enough NOT to fight back." — Branch Rickey to Jackie Robinson
"God is with us in this, Jackie." — Branch Rickey
"For 41 years I have heard that young man crying. Now, I am going to do something about it." — Rickey on Charles Thomas
"Robinson's a Methodist. I'm a Methodist. God's a Methodist. We can't go wrong." — Branch Rickey (possibly apocryphal)
On Character and Competition
"I don't mean to be a crusader. My selfish objective is to win baseball games." — Branch Rickey
"Class tells. It sticks out all over Mr. Greenberg." — Jackie Robinson on Hank Greenberg
"Don't pay attention to these guys who are trying to make it hard for you. Stick in there." — Hank Greenberg to Jackie Robinson
On Yogi Berra
"Everything you threw up there, he hit." — Red Schoendienst on Berra's 1942 tryout
"Not only was I not the best catcher in the Major Leagues, I wasn't even the best catcher on my street!" — Joe Garagiola
Documentary Scene Recommendations
🎬 The Charles Thomas Scene
The 1903 hotel incident provides the documentary's moral foundation. A young Black man weeping, trying to tear off his own skin while Rickey watches helplessly. This scene—41 years before Robinson—is the proven seed of integration. Could be dramatized or told through voice-over with period photos.
🎬 The Gas Chamber Controversy
Cobb's vivid account vs. Rickey's flat denial creates inherent dramatic tension. The documentary can present both versions, let historians weigh in, and acknowledge the fog of war. What's undeniable: Mathewson died at 45, on the first day of the World Series, and something happened in France.
🎬 The $250 Lowball
Rickey's deliberate manipulation of a teenage Yogi Berra—offering half of Garagiola's bonus to reserve him for Brooklyn—reveals the calculating mind behind the moral crusader. This scene connects EP1's Hill neighborhood directly to Rickey's strategic genius.
🎬 The Three-Hour Interview
Rickey shouting epithets, simulating racist scenarios, demanding Robinson turn the other cheek—then reading from the Sermon on the Mount. This scene is the moral climax of EP2. Robinson's Army court-martial for refusing to move to the back of a bus proves he already had the courage Rickey needed.
🎬 The Greenberg Moment
May 1947, Forbes Field. Robinson collides with Greenberg at first base. Next inning, Greenberg walks over and speaks the words Robinson needed to hear. Two victims of prejudice—one Jewish, one Black—finding common ground. This bridges EP2's discrimination theme.