RIP: HOFer Frank Robinson
- Thread starter RTRMR
- Start date
Sad day. I remember watching him play throughout the 1966 season, the year he won the Triple Crown with the Orioles. Really great player.
Great Great ball player. Those were some great O teams. Pre roids era, one of the top 5 power hitters. RIP
One of the best of all time. I rank him just a bit behind Aaron, Mays, Williams and Ruth. RIP, Robby.
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Exactly. 324 HRs. as a Red, 179 as an O.
1009 RBIs as a Red 545 as an O.
He was a terrific player and a class act. When you think of baseball royalty through the years, Frank would wear one of the crowns. May he rest in peace.
I grew up in Baltimore during the run of the great Orioles teams.
Frank Robinson was baseball royalty; a fierce competitor, great teammate, and very good person. Obviously one of the greatest players of all time. RIP.
Frank Robinson was baseball royalty; a fierce competitor, great teammate, and very good person. Obviously one of the greatest players of all time. RIP.
His wife once told the story that the first time she cooked for him was the first time she cooked, ever ."The peas were still frozen. He ate it all and told me he loved it."
Legend.
Met him in the os locker room at the first game I ever attended as a boy. Awe inspiring.
Met him in the os locker room at the first game I ever attended as a boy. Awe inspiring.
He hit it off Luis Tiant.
He also hit two grand slams in one game against the Washington Senators.
I remember watching him at Connie Mack when he was with the Cincinnati Redlegs. Vada Pinson was the CF on that team. Great days for me as a boy.
Frank brought a National League mentality to the O's and the American league was shocked. You had to be a hell of a player to make the national league all star outfield in the 50's and 60's... Mays, Aaron and right field was a choice between Frank and Roberto who was the greatest right fielder ever...
True, true as regards his Reds career. I'd argue he was the single greatest Red ever, better than Gambling Pete, Johnny Bench or Joe Morgan.
And to think, Frank Robinson could have been, in his later years, on some of the early Big Red Machine teams --- likely made that dynasty even more memorable.
The trade to Baltimore definitely makes no sense in retrospect. I wasn't alive then, but per a lot of stuff I've read and heard, it didn't make a ton of sense even at the time. One thing I often heard when I lived in Cincinnati was that Robinson was not universally beloved by white Reds fans (they loved Hustling Gambling Pete, of course), and Robinson was upset about Cincinnati's race relations at the time. Who knows, I wasn't alive then, but I believe it. Cincinnati's always had an issue in that regard (it's still there under-the-radar today, just all the racists now live outside the 275 loop).
Robinson was a left fielder. Clemente and Aaron were right fielders. In the all star games, Clemente played right due to his defensive prowess and Aaron played left.
Robinson played half again as many more games at RF than he did at LF. But he did play all over the place, he actually played some third base.
If you were a diehard fan of the team he was playing against, you hated him because he always won. If you were a baseball fan period, you loved the way he played the game. Hard and giving no quarter. A big majority of today's players could stand to watch the way he played the game.
A little side note. I went to the 1977 All Star game at Yankee stadium. Before the game, I watched Tommy Lasorda, who was standing in front of the 3rd base dugout, hit fungoes to Dave Parker, Ellis Valentine and Dave Winfield in right field who then made throws to Mike Schmidt who was standing on third. That was worth the price of admission to the game alone.
Yes I do but IMO, the best overall right fielder of that era had to be Dwight Evans of the Red Sox. Great arm and he knew how to play a ball off the wall.
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Doesn't really matter. There are so many elite players who played outfield. Williams, Musial and Bonds played left field. Aaron, Ruth and Clemente played right field. Mays, Mantle, DiMaggio and Junior played center field. Where do you put Robby? Somewhere, but where? All I know is that It makes for great debate over cocktails.
Ill never forget Robinson broke down regarding this
https://www.natsenquirer.com/2011/01/the-night-matt-lecroy-made-frank-robinson-cry.html
https://www.natsenquirer.com/2011/01/the-night-matt-lecroy-made-frank-robinson-cry.html
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