Frank Robinson Hits His First Career Home Run

On April 28, 1956, Cincinnati Redlegs rookie Frank Robinson hit his first career home run off Paul Minner of the Chicago Cubs at Crosley Field. The Redlegs won 9-1. Robinson was 20 years old and 11 days into a major league career that would span 21 seasons and 586 home runs.

Robinson had debuted on April 17, looking every bit like a player who belonged. But the first home run confirmed what scouts had been saying since he starred at McClymonds High School in Oakland, where he had been teammates with Curt Flood and Vada Pinson. Robinson could hit for power, and he could do it immediately against big league pitching.

The rest of his rookie season backed up the promise. Robinson hit .290 with 38 home runs, tying Wally Berger's record for home runs by a rookie, set in 1930. He drove in 83 runs and won the National League Rookie of the Year award going away. His 38 home runs led the team and announced Cincinnati as a legitimate offensive club in the NL.

Robinson played ten seasons in Cincinnati, winning the 1961 NL MVP and establishing himself as one of the best players in the game. After the 1965 season, the Reds traded him to Baltimore in a deal that general manager Bill DeWitt justified by calling Robinson "an old 30." The comment became infamous. Robinson won the Triple Crown in his first year in Baltimore and swept both the regular season and World Series MVP awards, the only player to win MVP in both leagues.

That April afternoon at Crosley Field was the first swing in a Hall of Fame arc. Robinson finished his career with 586 home runs, two MVP awards, and a legacy that extended into managing, where he became the first Black manager in major league history when Cleveland hired him in 1975.