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Via NBC Los Angeles
Joanne Murphy, right, is a library booster and former emergency room physician who realized that an old Bible had belonged to baseball great Branch Rickey, who broke the color barrier by hiring Jackie Robinson for the then-Brooklyn Dodgers. At left, Rickey's grandson, Christopher Jakle.
Joanne Murphy didn't see much in the old Bible that someone had left in a pile of books donated to the Sacramento Public Library’s volunteer fundraising group.
Its cover – which wasn't high-end to begin with – was cracked and dry, ripping along a crease more than 50 years in the making.
It had lain in a box for months – and then languished in her workshop as she avoided the tough work for restoration.
Finally, about a week ago, Murphy, a retired emergency room physician who has been learning how to restore books, picked it up. She glanced at the water damage on some of its pages, and frowned at the work that would need to be done to restore its brown and gold cover.
The only interesting thing about it was the inscription page. "Pirates," it said, "1953," followed by a long list of signatures.
It almost didn't seem worth it.
But then Murphy thought about her teacher, a rare book expert who was helping her learn how to fix the binding on old books. Always check the signatures, he'd taught her. That's one thing you don't ever want to neglect.
She peered at the list. Maybe, she thought, she recognized a name: Joe Garagiola.
She took the book to her husband, who immediately recognized the name of the baseball great, along with several others.
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The Bible, it turned out, had been a gift to baseball legend Branch Rickey, the baseball executive who broke the sport's color barrier by hiring Jackie Robinson for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. Robinson made baseball history again two years later when he was named Most Valuable Player, and he moved in 1958 with the team to Southern California, where he had grown up.
In 1953, when he received the Bible, Rickey was president of the Pittsburgh Pirates. According to an obituary posted on the website of The New York Times, Rickey came from a religious Methodist family, never once in his long career playing, directing or attending a game on a Sunday.
As a young man, Rickey had lobbied in support of Prohibition, and had a reputation as a lay preacher, according to the obituary, which was written by United Press International after Rickey’s death in 1965.
In her attempts to authenticate the Bible, Murphy tracked down one of Rickey’s grandsons, Christopher Jakle, who lives in the Sacramento area. Rickey's daughter, identified as Mrs. Edward Jakle in the obituary, had lived in the Bay Area suburb of Los Altos, Calif., at the time of its 1965 writing.
But Jakle had never seen the Bible, and did not know how it might have ended up among 500 boxes of donated books in a Sacramento warehouse.
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Now repaired, the book will be put on display at the library for Black History Month in November, said Don Burns, a spokesman for the Sacramento library system.
He said it was highly unusual for a rare book to show up in the thousands of boxes that the system receives each year.
"I've been here for almost 21 years and this is the first I've heard of something of that sort," Burns said. "It’s like 'The Antiques Roadshow.'"
Leave a Comment:
To the Trash heap!
Some idiot might give you alot of money for it. So good for you. I wouldn't give you $hit for it. It's been repaired.
Nice story, great human interest tale, etc.,etc., however...Joe Garagiola? Nice guy, funny media character, etc., etc. But, baseball great? Sorry, but no. Not even close.
I was thinking more along the lines of Branch Rickey being the baseball great and that Garagiola's name was just one that she recognized.
I also think that you manage a baseball team on Sundays, not direct it. Makes it sound like a play!!!!
Replying to me....Nope...I was wrong. They did think old Joe was the baseball great. Oh well. Or maybe MSNBC thinks he is a great since he spent all those years at NBC and The Today Show....
Much like your lack of religion and the fairy tales that YOU promote, Sees Thru Gloss? Seriously, this is not only a valuable part of baseball history but it is also a valuable part of this country and it is truly an antique. Sure, it might not be a baseball card, but it is at least worth something to the descendants of this man and a priceless family heirloom is worth far more than your drivel and claptrap. People like you are a dime a dozen and you will never be remembered after you die.
I just don´t see why this is in the news, this is a very small finding - what basketball legend are we talking about? was the gift relevant to the story behind this Rickey? this is written like OMG what if she didn´t read the signatures
what basketball legend are we talking about? - Nestor wrote
Ans: Branch Rickey. Please - Do try and keep up
S
What a wonderful find!
...and the other signatures???
...that's exactly what I was thinking too Former!
what do they teach 'em at reporter school ?
Go figure. Just in time to promote the new movie on Jackie Robinson. Sounds a little too coincidental.
baseball legend? never heard of him.
obviously you're not a baseball fan then. on the other hand, there are 750 major baseball players who have never heard of you either, and that's just this year's rosters.
so nice that nbc gives me a few minutes chance to edit my post. too bad i didn't notice i neglected to put the word "league" after "major" in my original post. to make an error regarding is disappointing.
Fewer and fewer baseball fans out there--it requires the existence of an attention span. And besides, folks might miss out on the next episode of Pregnant Redneck Teenage Midget Kardashian Housewives Who Make Fish Tanks and Choppers!
Honey Bobo's making a guest appearance! Tune in to see if she'll eat the whole thing!
Can you blame him? Garagiola had a career line of .257 with 42 HR and 255 RBI. That doesn't exactly scream "legend".
He must have been a legend in the broadcasting booth because he certainly wasn't one on the field.
fred and ry must not be baseball fans! Pity the fools!
Apparently, Mark, writers, editors, and proofreaders at MSNBC don't know much about baseball history either. Jackie Robinson may have moved back to SoCal in 1958, but he retired from baseball after the '57 season.
And for all you non-baseball fans out there, IMHO Branch Rickey and the late Marvin Miller are quite likely the most influential men in the history of our national pastime.
Dont worry .. No one anywhere has ever heard of you and never will
Mark ... North or South Shore .. I use to have a ski shop on North Shore back in the early 90s
"Now repaired, the book will be put on display at the library for Black History Month in November, said Don Burns, a spokesman for the Sacramento library system."
Isn't February Black history month?
good catch (yet another baseball pun), thinkgrl, it certainly is. what more fitting tribute to branch rickey than that this should coincide?
Jackie Robinson never moved back to California. He lived in Stamford, Connecticut for the remainder of his much too short life.
They must have meant Branch Rickey moved back. Or maybe Rickey Henderson... well, no matter.
You're right, I MUST not be a baseball fan since I'm not familiar with another team's "legendary" broadcasters from 20+ years ago.
try "baseball is a funny game," a light-hearted, very amusing book by joe garagiola. it's also a classic of baseball literature, ranking alongside the best of ring lardner. for, you see, baseball is more than just this year's hero, or winning team. it's a 150 plus year-old tradition that savors its history and its characters, as well as its stars and superstars. to a real baseball fan three-finger brown is just as relevant as justin verlander. the 1914 miracle braves, and the "shot heard round the world" are as alive as this year's pennant race. to be a baseball fan you have to have at least a nodding understanding of the continuance of life -- something came before me, there'll be something after me. zupercam put it accurately, if somewhat sarcastically, in an earlier post, "it requires an attention span." by that i take him to mean that you can't get so caught up in the latest big deal, that you lose sight of a bigger picture; its bigger than you. sort of what baseball annie refers to as, "the church of holy baseball," (if you're any baseball fan at all, you know the movie). the branch rickeys, the mel allens, are as much a part of baseball as ty cobb, moonlight graham, babe ruth, barry bonds, dizzy dean, kevin youkilis, or a-rod, jeter. or chipper.
This article tells you nothing........typical of MSNBC
Does that mean the article is not even half full?
Nothing more heartwarming than reading a book about war, slavery, genocide, infanticide, rape, hatred, spite and intolerance. What a treasure!
I agree with that other guy: straight to the garbage bin or furnace. They're less than a dime a dozen, anyway.
spiritascent888, like your comments, you also stink. Furthermore, people like you that promote a lack of religion are equally as guilty of promoting those things as people WITH a religion AND you disguise a religion as a lack of religion and you get free reign in society. You want to talk about intolerance, let me show you things such as the Long March, gulags, and the Holocaust, among many, MANY other things that the people did in the names of atheism, agnosticism, humanism/secular humanism, hedonism, naturalism, and the like.
Thats how i feel everytime obama opens his mouth .. amazes me how stupid he is and how disgusting it is liberals wont think for themself .. Rep are bad enough ... Dem in DC are worse .. add em both up and we will be lucky to still have a country by 2025
Much to his chagrin, Robinson was traded to the Giants. Rather than report, he retired.
so what
Oh this story pisses off all you atheist leftists!
Spirt by your logic if someone throws a bible at me all bibles should be burned . My cousin threw a rock at me when I was young as did other kids once in a while . Never did I wonder if the rock was religious . Damn sure the kids weren't .
spiritascent888 - the Bible does have those things, but they are there to show that man is totally depraved without God. The Bible also shows that believing in Jesus Christ (the Son of God) is THE only way to eternal life in Heaven. He is the only one who can forgive sins because of His death on the cross. Belief in Him and turning one's life over to Him is the only way for forgiveness of sins. Without the forgiveness of sins, a person cannot get to heaven. So, although the Bible shows a lot of bad things that happen when people turn away from God, it also shows great things that happen when people turn TOWARD God and accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Refusing to believe in Jesus will result in an eternity in hell which the Bible describes as a lake of fire where there is continual crying and pain. It seems easier to believe the Bible and go to heaven than to gamble on one's life as to which way you will go. Read the Gospel of John and see Jesus and His love and care for you and for all people.
Sounds great, Samantha. Maybe you could pass your message to all of those hellfire evangelicals who spout hateful words from the pulpit.
They only seem like hate to you because you hate it when someone interferes with your con games and that is the undeniable, inarguable, and complete truth. You simply hate competition when it comes to promoting a belief structure, even IF it is a lack of a religion.
"Beware of the power of stupidity in numbers." Makoto Kino/Lita Anne Keno, Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon
As for the other signatures on the book, probably the players from the '53 team that included Garagiola, Ralph Kiner, Bob Friend, El Roy Face and others all very well known names to baseball fans......As for repairing the book, whatever it's worth might have been as a collectible has diminished by at least 50% by being "fixed'. Rare books like those should remain as is to bring the highest amount at an auction or sale....I asked a baseball collector friend of mine for over 30 years what that Bible might have beenm worth....He said in the worn condition, but inscribed to Branch Rickey and the signatures of those players and others, probably in the $10-$15,000 area.....But since has been repaired it's value is probably about$3-$5,000.......NEVER EVER try to make an old collectible look new again!
Repairs diminished value as a collectible?
Perhaps, in the market today. In ten, fifty, or one hundred years, who knows.
Although not explicit in the story, I suspect that some preservation techniques were used in the repair. The people involved seem to be more concerned with history than collectability. A kudos to them.
I love that this Christian man was the first to hire a black player. I wish people would stop quoting from the old testament. Read the new testament and you will see what Jesus preached.
The should track down every one of those signatures and fine them for writting in a library book.
It wasn't a library book. It was one of a box of books donated to the library by an unknown individual, had not been processed and added to the collection and was unlikely to be added. Very few donations of used items are, mostly they are sold at fundraisers for the library in question at used book sales. The value was not in the book itself but in its ownership (Rickey's) and the signatures. I have a copy of ALONE signed by author by Admiral Richard E. Byrd that was de-accessioned from a library collection - I'm sure they never saw the signature or it wouldn't have been processed and put on the shelf but sold off for a few hundred dollars.
MoronicInjustice, you brain cell deficient mook, the Bible, gasp, BELONGED to the guy! He either bought and paid for his own Bible or someone bought the Bible for him. Either way, my call on it is to return it to the descendants of this guy so that they can let the legacy of their famous ancestor live on in the modern era.
I keep hoping to find a Bible signed by God ...
I have the first bat Brown used to beat Tina Turner... what's that worth. Come on... get over it. The only worth it has is as a bible. Stop honoring false gods.
Holy crap. Did it take long enough for this article to tell us whose bible it was? It's not a suspense novel, NBC. Also, using the word "legend" to describe Rickey is pushing it.
How nice it is to see an article about how Christian ethics prompted such a great act of purposeful integration and how biblical values once again made a huge and positive change in the course of history! Branch Rickey's faith in God compelled him to do something positive, and this bible is a nice reminder of his courage and vision. Glad it will be on display for all to appreciate.