Frank Robinson

Frank Robinson crowded the plate so aggressively that pitchers assumed he wanted to get hit, and they obliged often enough that he was struck 198 times across 21 seasons. Robinson hit 586 home runs, won the MVP award in both leagues, won the Triple Crown, and became the first black manager in major league history. He played the game with a ferocity that his teammates respected and his opponents feared. Earl Weaver said, "Nobody had more guts at the plate than Frank." Jim Russo called him "the greatest clutch hitter I've ever seen, better than Mantle, better than Mays, better than Aaron." The BBWAA elected Robinson to the Hall of Fame in 1982 on 89.2 percent of the ballot.

Beaumont

Robinson was born on August 31, 1935, in Beaumont, Texas, the youngest of his mother Ruth Shaw's 10 children. His father left when Robinson was an infant. The family moved to Alameda, California, and then to West Oakland, where Robinson grew up in ethnically diverse tenements. Robinson attended McClymonds High School, where his basketball teammate was Bill Russell and his baseball teammates included Vada Pinson and Curt Flood. American Legion coach George Powles became Robinson's mentor beginning in 1949 and taught him, as Robinson said, "how to think baseball."

The Reds signed Robinson for a $3,500 bonus in 1953 and sent him to Ogden, Utah, where he hit .348 with 17 home runs at 17 years old. Robinson spent two more years in the minors before reaching Cincinnati for good in 1956.

Cincinnati

Robinson hit 38 home runs as a rookie in 1956, tying Wally Berger's major league rookie record, which stood until Mark McGwire hit 49 in 1987, and won Rookie of the Year. Robinson hit .322 in 1957, won a Gold Glove in 1958, and hit .311 with 36 home runs and 125 RBI in 1959. By 1961 Robinson was the best player in the league, hitting .323 with 37 home runs and 124 RBI and winning the NL MVP as the Reds won their first pennant in 21 years.

Robinson hit a career-high .342 with 39 home runs, 136 RBI, and 51 doubles in 1962 and led the league in slugging and OPS. He curled his upper body over the plate and dared pitchers to come inside, and when they did, he punished whatever came next. Robinson hit above .300 nine times and drove in 100 runs six times in his career. After the 1965 season, Cincinnati general manager Bill DeWitt traded Robinson to the Baltimore Orioles for pitcher Milt Pappas and two other players. DeWitt explained that Robinson was "not a young 30."

Baltimore

Robinson answered DeWitt in the most complete way a ballplayer can. In 1966 Robinson hit .316 with 49 home runs and 122 RBI, winning the American League Triple Crown. The 49 home runs were the most ever by a right-handed Triple Crown winner. On May 8 Robinson hit a home run off Luis Tiant estimated at 541 feet, the only fair ball ever hit completely out of Memorial Stadium. A flag reading "HERE" flew at the landing spot until the stadium closed in 1992. Robinson won the AL MVP, becoming the first and still only player to win the award in both leagues, and was named World Series MVP after the Orioles swept the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Robinson established a kangaroo court in the Baltimore clubhouse, presiding as "da Judge" in a robe and a mop wig, fining teammates for mental errors and missed signs. The Orioles won three consecutive pennants from 1969 through 1971 and two World Series in 1966 and 1970. On June 26, 1970, Robinson hit two grand slams in the same game against the Washington Senators, the same three runners on base both times. Robinson hit his 500th career home run on September 13, 1971.

Jim Palmer said Robinson was "the best player I ever saw." Dave McNally said, "The intensity the man had was just incredible." Robinson played for the Dodgers in 1972, the California Angels in 1973 and 1974, and the Cleveland Indians from 1974 through 1976.

Cleveland

On October 2, 1974, the Indians named Robinson player-manager, making him the first black manager in major league history. Jackie Robinson expressed the hope for a black manager before his death on October 24, 1972, and Jackie's widow Rachel attended the opener. On April 8, 1975, Robinson hit a home run off Doc Medich in the first inning as the designated hitter against the Yankees before a crowd of 56,715 at Municipal Stadium. The Indians won 5-3.

Robinson managed four teams across 16 seasons, compiling a 1,065-1,176 record. Robinson won the 1989 AL Manager of the Year after turning the Orioles from a 54-107 team into an 87-75 contender. Robinson finished his managerial career with the Washington Nationals in 2006 and spent his final years as a senior adviser to the Commissioner's office.

President George W. Bush presented Robinson with the Presidential Medal of Freedom on November 9, 2005. Three teams retired Robinson's number 20 (the Reds, Orioles, and Indians), and bronze statues of him stand outside ballparks in Cincinnati, Baltimore, and Cleveland. Robinson died of bone cancer on February 7, 2019, in Los Angeles, at 83.