Presented by HARMON TRAVEL.
This Day In Sports…April 8, 1975, 50 years ago today:
Baseball’s first Black manager, Frank Robinson, makes his debut a winning one—both in the dugout and on the field. The Cleveland Indians’ player-manager hit a first-inning home run, and Cleveland went on to a 7-5 win over the New York Yankees. Robinson would continue the dual role through 1976, ending up with 586 career homers, currently 10th on the all-time list. As a manager, he’d go on to skipper the Giants and Orioles—and the lame-duck Expos during their final season in Montreal.
Robinson burst onto the scene with the Cincinnati Reds in 1956 at the age of 20. By the All-Star break, Robinson had hit 18 home runs and was named starting left fielder for the National League in the Midsummer Classic. He would only get better in the second half of the season. After 11 straight losing seasons, the Reds would finish second in the NL to the Brooklyn Dodgers with a 91-63 record, and Robinson earned NL Rookie of the Year honors. For the season, he hit .290 with 38 homers and an NL-leading 122 runs scored.
By 1961, Robinson was at his peak and led the Reds to the National League pennant. He batted .323 with 37 home runs and 124 runs batted in and was named the NL’s Most Valuable Player. Robinson managed only three hits in the four games-to-one loss to the Yankees in the Series, but no matter. He hit a career-high .342 in 1962 and missed the NL batting crown by just four points. Robinson spent three more seasons with Cincinnati before he was the focal point of one of the worst trades in major league history—Cincy received pitchers Milt Pappas and Jack Baldschun from Baltimore in exchange. The Reds’ loss with the Orioles’ gain.
In Baltimore, the payoff was instant in 1966. After being called “not a young 30” when he was dealt by Cincy owner Bill DeWitt, Robinson went off, winning the American League Triple Crown. He batted .316 with 49 homers and 122 RBI. (Keep in mind that only two players have won the Triple Crown in the 59 years since.) Consequently, Robinson became the first player ever to be named MVP in both leagues. For good measure, he also earned World Series MVP honors when he led the Orioles to a sweep of the L.A. Dodgers. Robinson got another ring when Baltimore won the 1970 Series over…the Cincinnati Reds.
As a manager, Robison stayed with Cleveland two months into the 1977 season before being fired. He returned to the dugout in 1981 with San Francisco and spent four seasons with the Giants, ending with another firing. Then came four years as skipper in Baltimore from 1988-91—and he was fired again. His final managerial stint began 11 years later in Montreal (three seasons) and ended in Washington (two seasons, as the Expos moved to D.C. and became the Nationals in 2005). Robinson never had a winning overall record with any of those teams, but he was named AL Manager of the Year with the Orioles after an 87-75 campaign in 1989.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
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