JOE BRANZELL: THE SPIRIT OF THE CLARK GRIFFITH LEAGUE

Joe Branzell was born in Washington, D.C. on December 6, 1918 and grew up in Georgetown. After a tour in the Navy, he joined the staff of the Jelleff branch of the Washington Boys Club in Georgetown in 1939 and was named its director in 1953.

 

Bob Glazer played for Branzell in 1953 and 1954 and continued a friendship with the coach after his playing career. Glazer says: "I really liked playing for Branzell. When you were on one of his teams, you were there to play. We played 80 games each summer, so you were always playing somebody. We played service teams at Bolling and Quantico, and Industrial League teams. They were much better than we were, but that's how you get better."

 

Glazer recalls an incident that epitomized Branzell's no-nonsense approach to the game of baseball. "One fellow came up to him and said he wanted to go to Ocean City for a week. Branzell asked him, 'Do you want to play ball or go to the beach?' The guy said, "It's only for a week." Joe said, 'Well, if you go to Ocean City, leave your uniform on the bench, "cause you're finished here. "The guy left his uniform on the bench."

 

Tom Brown, former major leaguer with the Washington Senators and a member of Federal Storage from 1957–1959, remembers Branzell fondly: "He taught us how to dress like a ballplayer; how to act like a ballplayer. He taught us how to be men. He was the first one to organize an All-Star team of D.C. guys, and we played all around the area. We played service teams who were much better than we were. But he said that's how you get better, by playing teams that were better than you were." Summing up this overall impression of Joe Branzell, Brown continued, "He'd do anything for you even if you weren't a ballplayer."

 

Jack Pope, who pitched for the 1950 Boy's Club team in Johnstown, Pennsylvania remembers: "Branzell had a great eye for talent. He would travel to places like Front Royal and other places way out in Virginia and pick up really good ballplayers no one was even aware of. That's why his teams were so good. He would take the time to find the best players."

 

Branzell coached the Washington Boys Club teams in the Clark Griffith League form 1949 until 1962. Regarding his tenure with the Boys Club he once said, "They didn't have to pay me. All I wanted to do was coach kids." In 1955, Federal Storage began sponsoring the team. The Boys Club/Federal Storage teams won twelve consecutive CGL championships from 1951–1962 and three national championships. Branzell commented: "We won it because we had players. We didn't win it because of me."

 

During this time as Boys Club director, he was known primarily for his role as coach, but he was much more than a coach to his players. Bob Rohr, who played on the Marx Jewelers AAABA championship team of 1947 and accompanied Branzell to his last championship game in Johnstown in 1997, says, "Joe had no children of his own, but he was a father to hundreds."

 

Branzell left the Boys Club in 1962 to begin a 35-year career as a major league scout. While scouting for the Washington Senators and later the Texas Rangers, he signed major leaguers Tom Brown, Mike Stanley, Dick Bosman, and Billy Sample to contracts.

 

After his death in September of 1997, the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York acquired his radar gun (one of the first in the country) and his souting reports on such major leaguers as Nolan Ryan ("He won't get past AA.") and Cal Ripken, Jr. ("He'll make it to the major leagues, but not as a pitcher."). Many of his other artifacts are housed in the Babe Ruth Museum in Baltimore and at the Washington Historical Society in Washington, D.C.

 

Joe Branzell's name is now permanently linked with the Clark Griffith League All-Star Game, honoring his lifelong contributions to the success of the league. In 1999, the first annual "Joe Branzell All-Star Game" was held at Shirley Povich Field and featured a team of Griffith League All-Stars against the All-Stars from Maryland's Eddie Brooks League. The Griffith League prevailed 2-1.