List of illustrations
Acknowledgments
List of abbreviations
Prologue
The making of a baseball brain, 1899-1918
Diamond in the rough
From catcher to coach
Branch Rickey and the St. Louis Browns
"War overshadows everything"
The St. Louis prime of Branch Rickey, 1919-1942
Necessity is the mother of invention
Years of contention and frustration
That championship season
The near-dynastic years and a place in who's who
Another championship season and then decline
Prelude to the Gashouse Gang
The triumph of the Gashouse Gang
Years of frustration
More years of loss, and farewells to Dizzy Dean and Charley Barrett
Going out on top
The birth of the Mahatma, 1943-1950
A branch grows in Brooklyn
The secret path to the "young man from the West"
An historic meeting in Brooklyn
Prelude to a pennant
When all hell almost broke loose
When most of Heaven rejoiced
A year of disappointment, odd choices, and an adieu to Leo
A branch bends in Brooklyn
A branch is chopped in Brooklyn
"My greatest thrill in baseball hasn't happened yet," 1951-1965
A branch doesn't grow fast enough in Pittsburgh
Mr. Rickey prepares to do the continental
The continental dance card goes blank
Meet me in St. Louis, final chorus
Notes
Bibliography
Index.