No manager could have fully prevented that, but I’ve often thought how different Robinson’s ordeal would have been had fiery Leo Durocher been his manager that year.ĭurocher was the right man at the right time during spring training, recognizing immediately how good a ballplayer Robinson was. We all remember, or have read about, the terrible ordeal suffered by Jackie Robinson from various teams and individuals around the league. So why am I even thinking someone else may have been the better choice? The answer does not lie in the win-loss column, but rather on the playing fields and in the dugouts of the seven other National League cities. Burt Shotton led the Dodgers to the 1947 pennant and took the New York Yankees to seven games in the World Series. So I decided to look at who was available to the real Branch Rickey and see if there might have been a better choice than Shotton. Rickey” said it was a good question, one that he had never been asked, but he had no answer. I asked if he had considered anyone besides Burt Shotton to manage the Dodgers in 1947. Afterward, Chuck asked for questions from the audience and that we address them as if he were actually Rickey. The genesis for this article dates back to Chuck Chalberg’s wonderful one-man show as Branch Rickey at the 2012 SABR convention in Minneapolis. Was Burt Shotton the best person to manage the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, Jackie Robinson’s historic rookie season? The “People’s Choice” is one person Branch Rickey may not have considered.
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