[Tell me about the first time you met Branch Rickey]

CLYDE SUKEFORTH: ...When I heard him speak.

[In some sort of formal situation?]

Yeah. I was kind of fascinated by the guy, and he got over to Brooklyn, after he got my release. Young Branch was there, too, and young Branch called him as soon as soon as I got my release and asked me to come to New York...[unintelligible]...And that was it. I knew he'd give me the job.

[I'm confused. We're talking about when Rickey came to Brooklyn?]

'43. Young Branch was there before. Young Branch was in charge of the farm system. [Larry] MacPhail gave him the job, and Rickey had given MacPhail his job in Columbus.

[What release did you have to get at that point?]

The Brooklyn club owns my services.

[But when Rickey came to Brooklyn, had you met him before that?]

Oh, yes. I'd met him, heard him speak. I didn't have any intimate conversations with him, I didn't know him well, but I had a pretty high opinion of him.

[Who decided to bring you to Brooklyn in '43?]

I wouldn't know. I think Rickey, I think he was instrumental in it, although Leo [Durocher] and I have always been good friends. I mean, he wouldn't have any objecitons. But I don't know who gave birth to the idea in the first place.

[Talk about Ted Williams versus Stan Musial and their role in WWII. Ted got more criticism from the press.]

Well, Ted was a pilot in the war... [Further attempts to explain the question fail]

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