Ohio hometown of baseball exec Branch Rickey awaits "42" tourism boom
Skift Take
Destinations that serve as film sets are usually on the receiving end of a film tourism boost, so awareness more than droves of visitors would be a more accurate expectation for the homeland of this iconic character.
The southern Ohio home county of late baseball executive Branch Rickey expects increased interest from his depiction in the movie "42" as the baseball executive who signed Jackie Robinson to break the color line.
The movie, which opened nationally this weekend, tells the story of how Robinson became the first black player in modern Major League Baseball. Actor Harrison Ford portrays Rickey, who decided Robinson was the right player to endure playing amid the harsh prejudice a black man would face.
Rickey was born in southern Ohio in 1881 and is buried there, in Rushtown Cemetery in the community of Rushtown. He is also among those featured on Portsmouth's Floodwall Murals, colorful artwork stretching along a 20-foot-tall floodwall showing the history and famous figures of the O
