The headline in today's New York Times reads, "Baseball Could Use More Frank Robinsons" - I would disagree, I think limiting a "Frank Robinson" to the field of baseball is far too narrow, I would argue that the world could use more Frank Robinsons.
First, lets talk baseball. Frank is a Hall of Famer, he hit 586 Home Runs in the pre-steroid era when 500 homers was a guaranteed invite to Cooperstown. He was feared by every pitcher in the game, the only man to win the MVP award in both leagues, Sports Illustrated famously said of Robinson in the 1960s that, "the only way to deal with Robinson is to hit him before he hits you." - and he would never back down - that was Frank.
He was also baseball's first black manager taking over a bad Cleveland Indians team in 1975, a team on which he was also still an active player. At the press conference to announce him as manager he famously said, "I'm not a nice guy" - and he wasn't.... to a point.
Frank was a pioneer in baseball, opening up management for the African American community in a similar way that Jackie Robinson did for players. Yet today's game once again finds itself deficient in terms of African American representation both at the player and management levels. Currently there are 25 white managers in major league baseball and 1 African American (there are 4 Latino managers).... And currently only 8% of major players are African American.
Frank's importance to the game cannot be overstated. He was a great man and great for the game of baseball.
Thoughts?
First, lets talk baseball. Frank is a Hall of Famer, he hit 586 Home Runs in the pre-steroid era when 500 homers was a guaranteed invite to Cooperstown. He was feared by every pitcher in the game, the only man to win the MVP award in both leagues, Sports Illustrated famously said of Robinson in the 1960s that, "the only way to deal with Robinson is to hit him before he hits you." - and he would never back down - that was Frank.
He was also baseball's first black manager taking over a bad Cleveland Indians team in 1975, a team on which he was also still an active player. At the press conference to announce him as manager he famously said, "I'm not a nice guy" - and he wasn't.... to a point.
Frank was a pioneer in baseball, opening up management for the African American community in a similar way that Jackie Robinson did for players. Yet today's game once again finds itself deficient in terms of African American representation both at the player and management levels. Currently there are 25 white managers in major league baseball and 1 African American (there are 4 Latino managers).... And currently only 8% of major players are African American.
Frank's importance to the game cannot be overstated. He was a great man and great for the game of baseball.
Thoughts?