From the Library of Congress:

The approximately 1,750 baseball scouting reports from the 1950s and 1960s presented here are part of the papers of Branch Rickey (1881-1965), best known as the executive who broke Major League Baseball's color line by signing Jackie Robinson to the Brooklyn Dodgers roster in 1947. By that date, however, Rickey had already built an impressive career as a player, manager, and baseball executive, which eventually earned him a place in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. The scouting reports, which are located in a series of baseball files in the Rickey collection, were compiled between 1951 and 1964. They are mostly concentrated in the years 1951-1956 and 1962-1963, while Rickey was associated, respectively, with the Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals.

The reports document Rickey's skill in analyzing various aspects of a player's game. They reveal his candor in assessing a player's talent and sometimes include blunt comments about a player's upbringing or family background. Some of the better-known names featured include Hank Aaron, Lou Brock, Steve Carlton, Roberto Clemente, Don Drysdale, Bob Gibson, Harmon Killebrew, Sandy Koufax, Willie Mays, Bill Mazeroski, Stan Musial, and Frank Robinson. Future managers George Lee "Sparky" Anderson and Albert Fred "Red" Schoendienst are also evaluated as players. In addition to these Hall-of-Famers, Rickey also evaluated hundreds of players who had varying degrees of success in the minor and major leagues. Many players rated multiple reports over the course of several years.

The scouting reports are arranged by year and then alphabetically by last name within that year.

Some interesting reading here. Check out Rickey's 1964 report on Koufax.

extremely cool.

I love some of his comments on lesser-known talent:

"One time he will swing with abandon, then he comes with a half-hearted wave of the bat. Seems to be fooled early and often."

"Gives the impression of 'not giving a damn.' He drops a lot of balls and he didn't go after them when he missed them."

"He says it hurts his arm to hit left handed against right hand pitching. Which arm? You can have him."

Trivia question

Rickey wrote a three-word report on a minor league second baseman in 1963. The three words were "Of no interest." The subject of the report has since been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Who is he?

Joe Morgan?

Good guess, but no.

Here's a hint: the player did actually suck.

Maz?

Can't be, Maz didn't "Suck"

Gotta be someone who became a HOF manager...

Yes, HOF manager.

Not that many HOF managers -- must have been Tony LaRussa.

Bobby Cox?

La Russa and Cox fit the time frame, but no.

Final hint: A writer once wrote, after this man was hired to manage a ML team, that he had vowed "... to make the team over in his image. So for the next 10 years all the scouts went hunting for little white-haired infielders who could hit .215."

The White Rat! Rickey must have scouted him at the end of his career. Thanks so much for posting these scouting reports. They're amazing.

Ha ha, wrong again! I figured this would be an easy one what with the person in question being mentioned in the first post. The correct answer is Sparky Anderson, seen below in 1973 when he was young bantling of 39 (no kidding!):