Old Bible reveals stunning piece of U.S. sports history

By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
1/30/2013
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

Signatures of 31 Pittsburgh Pirates contains future Hall of Famer

The Bible, dating back to the 1950s, had lain around the dusty Californian book repair shop for months before it was opened, revealing a most welcome surprise. The 31 signatures on the Bible's first page in blue ink, along with "Pirates 1953" were a piece of baseball history. While that year's team from Pittsburgh finished in last place at 54-100, the signatures included a future member of baseball's Hall of Fame.

How did Branch Rickey's Bible end up in a donation bin in Sacramento? Branch Barrett Rickey, Rickey's grandson said it's a mystery to him as well. 'It's the first I've heard of the Bible,' Branch B. Rickey said by phone from Texas.

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LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The book itself was once owned by a legendary Cooperstown enshrinee, Branch Rickey.

The Bible was just one of the countless materials donated to the Friends of the Sacramento Public Library. "The Bible had been sitting in my shop for months waiting to get repaired," the shop owner told newspaper reporters. "No one wanted it."

Signed by 30 players and manager Fred Haney from the 1953 Pittsburgh Pirates, the Bible was given to general manager Rickey. As manager, Rickey was best known for breaking Major League Baseball's color barrier by signing Jackie Robinson six years earlier when he ran the Brooklyn Dodgers.

How did Rickey's Bible end up in a donation bin in Sacramento? Branch Barrett Rickey, Rickey's grandson said it's a mystery to him as well. "It's the first I've heard of the Bible," Branch B. Rickey said by phone from Texas.

Posthumously inducted into baseball's Hall of Fame, Rickey died in 1965. About a dozen of the 30 Pirates players who signed the Bible, including Hall of Fame member Ralph Kiner and broadcaster Joe Garagiola, are still living. Of the five reached by The Sacramento Bee newspaper, none recalled signing the Bible.

"I don't remember signing it, but maybe I did," Eddy Fitz Gerald, a former catcher who lives in Folsom said.

President of the Pacific Coast League ranch B. Rickey said a number of his relatives live in California, including a sister in Davis and a cousin in Sacramento. Both said they didn't know about the Bible.

"Much of the stuff from my grandfather was parceled out among five daughters and a daughter-in-law," Branch B. Rickey said. "The division of who got what was very informal."

It's possible that his grandfather had "given the Bible as a gift to a dear friend," but acknowledged "there's any number of speculations."

Baseball collectors told Murphy the restored Bible could fetch as much as $800.

� 2013, Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.

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Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: Bible, Pittsburgh Pirates, Hall of Fame, Branch Rickey

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1 - 1 of 1 Comments

Paul-Emile Leray
3 months ago
It really isn't any of my business, but think of the honor and potential influence both to and on so many (including tourists from the world over, youth, ball players, etc; plus honoring the original owner himself) it would have if it was in Cooperstown in the Hall of Fame? It certainly would make a lot of people pause for reflection in this age of secularism. There are many ways to evangelize, to do missionary work; perhaps this is one way? And then, every now and again, the local Catholic priest could perhaps read right out of that very Bible? Just some ideas, but I couldn't resist putting this forth. God writes straight with crooked lines, as they say in Portugal. Baseball is huge in parts of Asia. If I was running the Hall of Fame, I would move fast to bring it right inside that building.
Paul-Emile Leray

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