J-Speaks: The Passing of An Iconic Legend In MLB

There are very few people not just in sports but in the world in general that can say they were the first and only to do something. That would take the mantle of responsibility of having the kind of impact that made the lives of others that came after him even better. On Thursday, Major League Baseball (MLB) and the nation said goodbye to the player that was the first to have a special impact on the game. 

On Thursday, MLB Hall of Famer Frank Robinson, the first African American manager in all of sports who was as one-of-a-kind as they come passed away after succumbing to bone cancer at his home in Los Angeles, CA. He was 83 years old. Robinson is survived by his wife of 58 years Barbara Ann Cole, his son Frank Kevin and daughter, Nichelle.  

“Frank Robinson’s resume in our game is without parallel, a trail blazer in every sense, whose impact spanned generations,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. “He was one of the greatest players in the history of our game, but that was just the beginning of a multifaceted baseball career.” 

That Hall of Fame resume consisted of him being selected to the All-Star Game 14 times and won Gold Glove in 1958. Won Rookie of the Year in 1956 with the Cincinnati Reds. Being the only player in MLB history to ever win MVP in both the National League (NL) with Reds in 1961 and the American League, in his first season with the Baltimore Orioles in 1966, where he won the triple-crown, leading the AL in batting average (.316), home runs (49) and runs batted in (RBI) with 122 as well as runs with 122. Robinson also led in on base percentage at .410 and on-base plus slugging (OPS) at 1.047. 

Robinson, who played 21 seasons in the majors led the Orioles to a World Series crown in 1966 hitting two homers in the Orioles 4-0 sweep of the defending champion Brooklyn Dodgers with the second coming off pitcher Don Drysdale in the 1-0 clincher. 

In 1971, Robinson won All-Star Game MVP and four years later became the first African American manager in the majors by the Cleveland Indians after general manager Phil Seghi fired Ken Aspromonte. 

After getting the axe two years later, where he compiled a 186-189 record with the Indians, Robinson managed the San Francisco Giants (1981-84), the Orioles from (1988-91) and the Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals (2002-06). He won Manager of the Year in 1989 as the Orioles rebounded from a 107-loss season to go 87-75 finished in second place in the AL East. 

In 1982 Robinson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame alongside another MLB great Henry “Hank” Aaron, the all-time home run leader at the time with 755 with Robinson in fourth place with 586, with only Babe Ruth (714) and Willie Mays (660) standing in between them at the time. Today Robinson is No. 10 on the all-time home run list. 

“Frank Robinson and I were more than buddies,” Aaron said on his official Twitter page. “We were friends. Franks was a hard-nosed baseball player who did things on the field that people said could never be done. I’m so glad I had the chance to know him all of those years. Baseball will miss a tremendous human being.”  

Born in Beaumont, TX on Aug. 31, 1935, the youngest of 10 children to Frank Robinson, Sr., and Ruth Shaw. His parents divorced when he was an infant and moved with his mother and siblings to Alameda, CA and then to Oakland, CA where at McClymonds High School played basketball with another barrier breaker in Hall of Famer Bill Russell. 

After being spotted by Bobby Mattick, a scout for the Reds in 1953, Robinson was signed to a $3,500 contract and made his professional debut at age 20 earning as mentioned Rookie of the Year in 1956 hitting .290 with 38 home runs and 122 runs scored. 

That started a dominant run where Robinson’s aura where his defiant plate-crowding stance, which got him drilled by pitchers 198 times by incensed pitchers was at his best when the stakes were at their highest. He also had a knack of proving his doubters wrong or tried to intimidate him. 

“Frank Robinson might have been the best I ever saw at turning his anger into runs,” Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Gibson once wrote, according to the “Associated Press.” “He challenged you physically as soon as he stepped into the batter’s box, with half his body hanging over the plate. As a rule, I’m reluctant to express admiration for hitters, but I make an exception for Frank Robinson.” 

When Reds’ owner Bill DeWitt traded Robinson to the Orioles in exchange for pitchers Milt Pappas and Jack Baldschun and outfielder Dick Simpson in December 1965, when DeWitt said Robinson was an “old 30”-he led the orange and black birds to four straight World Series leading them to two titles in 1966 and 1970. 

While his numbers and ability to perform under pressure got him to Cooperstown, and his No. 20 retired by the Reds, Orioles and Indians, with each of their ballparks featuring a statue of him, Robinson had a determination and integrity that earned him the highest honor one could ever receive when then President George W. Bush awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom 14 years ago symbolizing his breaking of the color barrier that were transformational in not just baseball but all sports in America. 

That determination and integrity by Robinson came from a fierce pride that was not always endearing to the players he managed but did not deter him then or when he faced discrimination when trying to purchase a home in a white neighborhood in Baltimore, MD in 1966. 

“I can be tough when I have to be tough. I can be mean when I have to be mean, but I can adjust to the situation I’m not a nice guy and I hope you fellas don’t get that impression,” Robinson said once.

A perfect example of this occurred when now co-host of ESPN’s “Pardon the Interruption” Tony Kornheiser was doing a column for the Washington Post on Robinson when he was managing the Orioles. When Kornheiser tried to interview him, Mr. Robinson did not want to even talk to him. 

After then Orioles public relations (PR) man Rick Vaughn talked with Robinson in private he re-emerged and gave Kornheiser what he needed to do a fluff piece about the Hall of Famer. 

Two years later when Kornheiser and Vaughn spoke, he said to Robinson that Kornheiser will “kill you” in his column. “That he doesn’t care. He’s really mean. But if you just give him a little it’ll be such a nice piece.”

Kornheiser added on the Thursday edition of the show in remembrance of Mr. Robinson said, “He was the most respected player I ever saw by both black and white teammates.” 

“He ran the kangaroo court. He was the ruler. All fines were levied by Frank Robinson. Nobody ever said, ‘Appeal.’

Longtime sports columnist for the Washington Post and now co-host of ESPN’s “Pardon the Interruption” Michael Wilbon who covered MLB as a young adult when Robinson was a coach and manager for the Orioles said he was never in awe of anybody than he was of Mr. Robinson, who he talked with a lot when the two went to Los Angeles Lakers games at the Great Western Forum when Mr. Robinson was a season ticket holder then he did at the ball park. 

“It was just great. The life lessons, the stories, the pat on the back,” Wilbon said on the Thursday edition of “PTI” about his conversations with Mr. Robinson. “He once told me I had to come to the Civil Rights Game and introduce people and talk, and I was like, ‘Yes sir Mr. Robinson,’ which was five years ago.” 

To put into perspective how much Mr. Robinson loved the game of baseball in an interview back in 2005 with Jim Axelrod of CBS News when he was the manager of the Nationals his unhappiness with the decreasing number of African Americans on major league rosters. 

“This is a great game. This is America’s game, and we have to get the Afro-American people involved in this game again,” Mr. Robinson said to Axelrod. 

On Thursday, the sports world at large and Major League Baseball lost a titan and representative who spent six decades as a player, manager and executive who did his best to make sure that the game of baseball was played the right way. He had a flare for being great in the most important of moments. He made an impact on everyone, very often good and sometimes tough but he was always himself and earned the respects of teammates, opponents, and media people along the way. 

Frank Robinson was a proud, prideful, determined man who changed the game of baseball and sports for the better. His passing closes the book on a life that he lived on his own terms and was never afraid to stand up for what was right. Who was never scared of speak his mind and always had a passion for a sport that gave him a life many people dream can only see in their dreams? 

Information, statistics, and quotations are courtesy of 2/7/19 5:30 p.m. ESPN’s “Pardon in Interruption,” with Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser; 2/7/19 6:30 p.m. edition “CBS Evening with Jeff Glor,” with report Jim Axelrod; 2/7/19 The New York Times article, “Frank Robinson, Hall of Fame Slugger and First Black Manager, Dies at 83,” by Richard Goldstein;  and 2/8/19 Newsday article “Franke Robinson (1935-2019) Relentless Force Who Did It All,” by David Lennon; and http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Robinson.