Frank Robinson

Lore & Background

The first player to be named Most Valuable Player (MVP) of both the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), Robinson was named the NL MVP after leading the Cincinnati Reds to the pennant in 1961 and was named the AL MVP in 1966 with the Baltimore Orioles after winning the Triple Crown; Robinson's 49 home runs (HR) that year tied for the most by any AL player between 1961 and 1977, and stood as a franchise record for 30 years. He helped lead the Orioles to the first two World Series titles in franchise history in 1966 and 1970, and was named the Series MVP in 1966 after leading the Orioles to a four-game sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

A 14-time All-Star, Robinson batted .300 nine times, hit 30 home runs 11 times, and led his league in slugging four times and in runs scored three times. His 586 career home runs ranked fourth in major league history at the time of his retirement, and he ranked sixth in total bases (5,373) and extra-base hits (1,186), eighth in games played (2,808), and ninth in runs scored (1,829). His 2,943 career hits are the most since 1900 by any player who fell short of the 3,000-hit mark.

He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 1982. After managing the Indians, Robinson went on to manage the San Francisco Giants, Baltimore Orioles, and Montreal Expos / Washington Nationals. For most of the last two decades of his life, Robinson served in various executive positions for Major League Baseball concluding his career as honorary president of the American League.

Reader's Guide

Robinson was born in Beaumont, Texas. He was the youngest of Ruth Shaw's ten children and the only child of her marriage to Frank Robinson. His parents divorced when he was an infant, and his mother moved with her children to Alameda, California, and then to the West Oakland neighborhood of nearby Oakland. He attended McClymonds High School in Oakland where he was a basketball teammate of Bill Russell.

He was a baseball teammate of Vada Pinson and Curt Flood. He also played American Legion Baseball. In 1953, Bobby Mattick, a scout for the Cincinnati Reds, signed Robinson to a contract worth $3,500. He made his professional debut for the Ogden Reds of the Class C Pioneer League.

He batted .348 with 17 home runs and 83 runs batted in (RBI) in 72 games played. He was promoted to the Tulsa Oilers of the Class AA Texas League in 1954, but was demoted to the Columbia Reds of the Class A South Atlantic League. He returned to Columbia in 1955. Robinson made his major league debut on April 17, 1956 at the age of 20.

After posting 11 consecutive losing seasons, the Reds surprised their opposition by jumping to first place at the mid-point of the 1956 season. Robinson led the team with 18 home runs at mid-season, earning him the role as starting left fielder for the National League in the 1956 All-Star Game. He became only the sixth rookie player in MLB history to start in an All-Star Game after Joe DiMaggio (1936), Dick Wakefield (1943), Richie Ashburn (1948), Eddie Kazak (1949) and Walt Dropo (1950).

The Reds stayed in the pennant race until the last day of the season, ending up with a 91–63 record, two games behind the Brooklyn Dodgers. Robinson ended the 1956 season with a .290 batting average and 83 RBIs, and his 38 home runs tied the Major League Baseball record for home runs hit by a Rookie player previously set by Wally Berger in 1930. His rookie home run record stood for 31 years when it was broken by Mark McGwire's 49 home runs in 1987.

His impressive power hitting display earned him the 1956 National League Rookie of the Year Award. In 1957, the Reds were once again in first place at mid-season when, Robinson and six of his Redleg teammates—Ed Bailey, Johnny Temple, Don Hoak, Gus Bell, Wally Post and Roy McMillan—were voted into the National League starting lineup for the 1957 All-Star Game. An investigation launched by Commissioner Ford C.