RIP Frank Robinson

I started following major league baseball in earnest in 1966 when I was 9 years old.  I picked up on the excited talk in our rural community about the bitter pennant race between the Giants and Dodgers in 1965.  I knew Willie Mays hit 52 HR's and was the MVP.  I knew about Juan Marichal and the Roseboro Incident.  Willie McCovey always seemed to get mentioned in the same sentence as Willie Mays.  I heard and read about the legendary left arm of Sandy Koufax and how he soaked his elbow in ice after every game he pitched.  I think I listened to part of one game between the Reds and the Giants.  The Reds seemed to have a some good players, Pete Rose, Vada Pinson, Deron Johnson and a player named Frank Robinson.  I started to hang out at the magazine rack when my mom was grocery shopping and read as much of the Sporting News as I could, so I knew Robinson was traded to the Orioles for Milt Pappas.

There were some legendarily lopsided trades back in those days:  Lou Brock for Ernie Broglio, Orlando Cepeda for Ray Sadecki and of course Frank Robinson for Milt Pappas.  The Reds GM thought the 30 year old Robinson was starting on the downside of his career and the Reds needed pitching.  Much like Ray Sadecki, Pappas actually pitched pretty well after the trade, but Frank Robinson's career exploded.  He won what was known as baseball's Triple Crown by leading the AL with a .316 BA, 49 HR's and 122 RBI's.  He also scored 122 Runs.  The Orioles swept to the AL Pennant then destroyed the Dodgers in 4 games in the World Series.

Among his many career accomplishments Frank Robinson was Rookie of the Year in 1956.  He was the first player to be MVP in both leagues having won in the NL in 1961.  He retired with the 4'th most career HR's up to that point with 568.  Robinson was part of a golden age of baseball when the game was dominated by several African-American players who got the opportunity after Jackie Robinson(no relation as far as I know) "broke the color barrier."   To me, Mays, McCovey, Hank Aaron, Robinson, Bob Gibson, Lou Brock and Bob Gibson will always be the greatest group of players the game has seen.

Robinson let it be known early on that he intended to break another color barrier and become the first African-American Manager, and he prepared himself.  While playing for the Reds, he took college classes in the offseasons at Xavier University.  Later, he started managing winter league teams in the Dominican Republic.  Toward the end of his career he openly lobbied for a manager's job.  He was traded to the Cleveland Indians in 1974 and they made him a player-manager in 1975.  He held the job until he was fired on June 19, 1977.

Frank Robinson's connection to the Giants came in 1981 when they named him manager.  That made him the first African-American Manager in the NL.  He held the position through 1984.  I was in medical school and residency during that time and didn't have a lot of time to watch or listen to ballgames.  I recall Robinson having a reputation as an old-school, hard-guy manager who wasn't afraid to challenge players or other teams on the field.  The one incident I recall was when he made a gesture to his nose in the dugout which the Dodgers interpreted as a reference to Steve Howe and cocaine. That sparked a typical baseball brawl on the field in front of the Giants dugout.  I happened to be watching that game on TV.  This was during the Lasorda Years and I was all about anything that could annoy the Dodgers that much, so I loved it!  He went on the manage the Orioles and Expos/Nationals and won Manager of the Year with the Orioles in 1989.

Robinson's other connection to the Bay Area is he grew up in Oakland, CA and was HS teammates with Bill Russell(Robinson played basketball and football too), Vada Pinson and Curt Flood.  He was inducted into the Hall of Fame when that still meant something in 1982, elected on the first ballot. Frank Robinson died from complications of cancer at the age of 83 on February 7, 2019.  RIP Frank Robinson.