Rickey is the grandson of Branch Rickey,[1] who is best known for spearheading the movement within Major League Baseball to break the color barrier and for creating the framework for the modern minor league farm system.
[2] His father, Branch Rickey Jr., served as farm system director for both the Brooklyn Dodgers and Pittsburgh Pirates.
[4] Rickey began his professional baseball career with the Pittsburgh Pirates organization in 1963 at age 17 when he became business manager of their Rookie League affiliate, the Kingsport Pirates of the Appalachian League, in Kingsport, Tennessee.
The directors of each league voted to disband the American Association and disperse its teams among the other two.
[4] That same year, he was selected as the recipient of MiLB's Warren Giles Award, which honors outstanding service as a league president.