League. He was promoted to the Indianapolis Indians of the American Association for the 1947 campaign when Indianapolis owner Frank McKinney bought controlling interest in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization. Allegedly, Bickford stayed as part of the Braves organization due to a flip of a coin at a local bar. An argument endured between McKinney, Braves president Lou Perini and Braves general manager John Quinn during spring training over the fate of the players in the organization, with McKinney wanting to move Indianapolis and all its players to the Pirates organization. Via a gentleman's agreement, they decided to split the players with a flip of a coin. They flipped a coin for the first selection, similar to a sports draft. If the coin landed heads, the player was headed to the Pirates organization and if it landed tails they stayed in Braves organization. The coin landed on tails, and the Braves picked Bickford and took over his contract. Perini later recalled on why he selected Bickford. Brooklyn's general manager Branch Rickey had interest in the young right-hander, and Perini thought that "if Bickford was good enough for Rickey, he was good enough for the Braves". Bickford played for the Milwaukee Brewers in 1947, where he had a 9–5 win–loss record with a 3.78 earned run average in 29 games, 14 of which were starts. Major League career Bickford was expected to start the 1948 season in the minor leagues due to lack of control. However, a friend of Boston Braves manager Billy Southworth stated that Bickford was likely better as a starting pitcher and reached the major league roster. His Major League debut was on April 24, 1948 in a 16–9 loss against the New York Giants. He entered in relief at the top of the fourth inning, after Al Lyons gave up three earned runs to start the inning. He got Sid Gordon to hit to a double play and after giving up a single to Johnny Mize, he retired Willard Marshall on a grounder to end the inning. He made his first career start against the Pirates, a 4–1 victory on May 19 in which he only gave up five hits. On June 7, he pitched a four-hitter in an 11–1 victory over the Chicago Cubs, throwing five perfect innings before giving up a hit to Dick Culler to start the sixth inning. He finished with an 11–5 mark