Branch Rickey quotes from 42 (2013)

View Quote Jackie Robinson: Mr. Rickey. What's this about?
Branch Rickey: This is about baseball, Jackie. I see you starting in spring with our affiliate in Montreal. If you make it there, we'll try you down here... with the Dodgers. With the white Brooklyn Dodgers. [scoffs] Hmm.
Branch Rickey: I'll pay you $600 a month. And a $3500 bonus when you sign the contract. That agreeable?
Jackie Robinson: Yes, that's fine but-
Branch Rickey: There's one condition. I know you can hit behind the runner. That you can read a pitch. One question is, can you control your temper?
Jackie Robinson: My temper?
Branch Rickey: Yes, your temper! What are you, deaf? A black man in white baseball, heh, can you imagine the reaction? The vitriol? Dodgers check into a hotel, a, uh, a decent, good hotel. You're worn out from the road. Some clerk won't give you the pen to sign in with. "We got no room for you, boy. Not even down in the coal bin where you belong." Team stops at a restaurant. Waiter won't take your order. "Didn't you see the sign on the door? No **** allowed." What are you gonna do then? Fight him? Ruin all my plans? [Robinson remains silent; Rickey attempts to "intimidate" him] Answer me, you black son of a bitch!
Jackie Robinson: [stands up] You want a player who doesn't have the guts to fight back?
Branch Rickey: No. No. I want a player who's got the guts not to fight back. People aren't gonna like this. They're gonna do anything to get you to react. Echo a curse with a curse and, uh, they'll hear only yours. Follow a blow with a blow and they'll say, "The Negro lost his temper." That "The Negro does not belong." Your enemy will be out in force... and you cannot meet him on his own low ground. We win with hitting, running, fielding. Only that. We win if the world is convinced of two things: That you are a fine gentleman and a great baseball player. Like our Savior... you gotta have the guts... to turn the other cheek. Can you do it?
Jackie Robinson: You give me a uniform, you give me a number on my back, I'll give you the guts.

View Quote Ben Chapman: [To Robinson] Why don'tcha look in'a mirror? This'a white man's game, alright, get that THROUGH YOUR THICK MONKEY SKULL!
[Robinson eyes Chapman, Rickey and Harold Parott see Robinson, Chapman glares at Robinson]
Rachel Robinson: [From the stands] Look at me baby. Look at me baby look at me.
[Robinson enters the dugout tunnel, striking and breaking a bat against the wall. He breaks down into tears]
Robinson: [Sees Rickey approaching, points his bat to Rickey] No! [Panting] No. Next white son of a bitch that opens his mouth I'll smash his goddamn teeth in.
Branch Rickey: You can't do that Jack.
Jackie Robinson: So I'm supposed to just let this go on?
Branch Rickey: These men have to live with themselves.
Jackie Robinson: I have to live with myself, too! And right now I'm living a sermon out there.
Branch Rickey: You don't matter now Jack. You're in this thing. You don't have a right to pull out from the backing of people that believe in you, that respect you, that need you. If you fight, they won't say that Chapman forced you to, they'll say that you're... in over your head, that you don't belong here.
Jackie Robinson: You don't know what it's like having somebody do this to you.
Branch Rickey: No. No. You do. You're the one living the sermon. In the wilderness. Forty days. All of it. Only you.
Jackie Robinson: Not a goddam thing I can do about it...
Branch Rickey: Of course there is, you can get on there... and hit... you can get on base and- and score, you can win this game for us. Everybody needs you, you're a medicine, Jack. [Rickey comforts Robinson]
Jackie Robinson: I'm takin the field.
Branch Rickey: Who's playing first?
Jackie Robinson: I'm gonna need a new bat.

View Quote [At the Dodgers office, player Pee Wee Reese enters while Rickey is on the desk]
Branch Rickey: What can I do for you, Pee Wee?
Pee Wee Reese: Well, Mr. Rickey, it's like this. The series in Cincinnati next week?
Branch Rickey: Yes. Important road trip. We're only three games out of first.
Pee Wee Reese: Yes, sir. Now, you know I'm from Kentucky.
Branch Rickey: Then Cincinnati will nearly be a home game for you.
Pee Wee Reese: Well... ..I got this letter. Apparently, some people aren't too happy about me playing with Robinson. [Dump a piece of paper on Rickey's desk]
Branch Rickey: Huh? [Unfolds the letter] "**** lover. Watch yourself. We'll get you, carpetbagger." [Chuckles] Pretty typical stuff.
Pee Wee Reese: Well, it's not typical to me, sir.
Branch Rickey: [Browses through a filing cabinet] How many of those letters have you gotten, Pee Wee?
Pee Wee Reese: Just the one. Ain't that enough? [Watches Rickey pull out stacks of folders with papers] What are those?
Branch Rickey: Well, I'll tell you what they aren't. They aren't letters from the Jackie Robinson fan club.
Pee Wee Reese: [Reading them] "Get out of baseball or your baby boy will die." "Quit baseball or your **** wife..." "Get out of the game or be killed." Does Jackie know?
Branch Rickey: Well, of course he does. And the FBI. They're taking a threat in Cincinnati pretty seriously. So excuse me if I don't get too upset about you getting called a carpetbagger. You should be proud.
Pee Wee Reese: Well, I'd just like to play ball, sir. That's all.
Branch Rickey: Oh, I understand. I bet Jackie just wants to play ball. I bet he wishes he wasn't leading the League in hit by pitch. I bet he wishes people didn't want to kill him. The world's not so simple anymore. Guess it never was. We just, uh... Baseball ignored it, now we can't.

View Quote Jackie Robinson: [While his leg is healing] Why'd you do this Mr. Rickey?
Branch Rickey: We had a victory over fascism in Germany. It's time we had a victory over racism here.
Jackie Robinson: No. Why? Why'd YOU do it? Come on.
Branch Rickey: I love this game. I love baseball. Given my whole life to it. 40 odd years ago I was a player-coach at Ohio Wesleyan University. We had a Negro catcher. Best hitter on the team. Charlie Thomas. Fine young man. I saw him laid low, broken because of the color of his skin and I didn't do enough to help. Told myself I did but I didn't. There was something unfair at the heart of the game I loved and I ignored it. But a time came when I could no longer do that. You... you let me love baseball again.