To see a man like Robinson ascending the all-time lists is nothing new for baseball fans of any generation: it's only fitting. As a player, he was one of the very best in the game, amassing record-setting statistics in the shadows of contemporaries such as Willie Mays and Hank Aaron. Now, still overshadowed by legendary managers Bobby Cox, Tony LaRussa and many others, Robinson is the respected veteran manager you never hear about.
The 1,000th-win milestone came right on the heels of an anniversary: on April 17th, 1956, Robinson got his first career hit. Rather than focusing on Frank's frustrations as manager of an oft-hapless squad without an owner or a permanent home, it's high time to look back at his incredible performance as a rookie fifty years ago. Before the 1956 season, Reds manager Birdie Tebbetts had no problem handing the leftfield job to the 20-year-old rookie, calling him "one of the finest young hitters I've ever seen." Birdie was hardly alone in his praise, but despite the favorable reports coming from Reds camp, Robby's teammate Pat Scantlebury--a 38-year-old hurler from Panama--got more buzz as a pre-season Rookie of the Year candidate. Brooklyn Dodger second sacker Charley Neal also figured to be in the running. In fact, Frank had been impressing big-league decision makers since the previous spring: only a mysterious arm ailment prevented him starting the '55 season in left field for the Reds.
Instead, Robinson started the 1955 season in Columbia of the Class A South Atlantic League. It would be his second trip through the circuit, but only his third year in the minors. In 1953, Robby toiled in Ogden of the Pioneer League. He didn't know it at the time, but before advancing any further, he would be a coveted target of Brooklyn Dodgers GM Branch Rickey. Tebbetts told sportswriter Oscar Ruhl: "Branch Rickey was talking to [then Reds GM] Gabe Paul, trying to make a deal for Danny O'Connell. When Rickey said he must have a kid named Robinson in the deal, I pricked up my ears. I knew the kid must be good. Gabe turned him down and now am I glad." According to Paul's recollection, he told Rickey, "Any deal with Robinson in it is out. He's the type of kid you dream about having in your farm system. He can do everything."
The national baseball press soon took note. On April 18th, 1954, Robinson made a splash in the South Atlantic League--a vicious testing ground for young Black players. Only four days after his Columbia teammate John Jackson became the first African-American pitcher to start a game in the league, Robinson homered three times, earning his first headline (albeit a small one) in the following week's issue of The Sporting News. The home run was hardly a fluke: when he hit his 18th homer on July 19th, he established a new team record.
For those of you who are inclined to listen to scouts over stats, Robby got another ringing endorsement in '54. Hall of Fame batsman Paul Waner called him "the greatest hitter I ever saw in the minors."
Robinson remembers following that first hit on April 17th, 1956 with an 0-for-23 slump. Looking at his batting line for the season, it's difficult to imagine he went hitless for even a single game. He hit .290/.379/.558 over the course of the season with 38 HRs and 27 2Bs. He even threw in 8 stolen bases for good measure.
Accordingly, it didn't take long for Frank to get noticed. On May 6th, he nearly hit for the cycle He missed only the single, which was stolen by a "dazzling stop" by Phillies shortstop Gran Hamner. By June, Robinson had pushed aside Charley Neal and was clearly the front-runner for the National League Rookie of the Year award.
Robinson didn't just gain attention for his power, his very batting stance caught the eye of even casual onlookers. "Robinson has the oddest batting stance of any big leaguer," one reporter wrote. "Swinging righthanded, he stands up there like a boxer, with his left hand up. He takes a terrific cut at the ball."
At the mid-season mark, he found himself in the middle of controversy: along with teammates Johnny Temple, Roy McMillan, Gus Bell, and Ed Bailey, Robinson made the All-Star team, perhaps due to the suspiciously high vote total from Cincinnati. After all, Duke Snider, a fan favorite (not a bad player, either!), was in the middle of a near-MVP season of his own, but lost the All-Star voting to the young Reds leftfielder. As the fans had decreed, Robinson started and played the first half of the game. In the fifth inning, NL Manager Walt Alston replaced him with Snider.
In his rookie year, Robinson set another team homer record --this time in the big leagues, again well before the end of the season. Surpassing Jim Greengrass's 1953 mark, he hit his 21st HR on July 22nd, the most ever for a Cincinnati rookie. The home runs would keep coming. Robinson contributed to an impressive feat accomplished by the Redlegs outfield: Frank, Wally Post, and Gus Bell combined for 103 HRs, easily beating the previous record of 94, set by the 1941 Yankee outfield of Joe DiMaggio, Charlie Keller, and Tommy Henrich.
By the time the results of the Rookie of the Year voting were announced, it surprised no one that Robinson's name appeared on every single one of the 197 ballots. Birdie Tebbetts, always ready with a quote, cooed over his rookie slugger with praise that would apply just as well to Albert Pujols, circa 2001: "Frank Robinson is ambitious; he wants to learn. Every day he watches the hitters and every day he learns something new. He's going to be the greatest of them all some day."
Not long after winning the ROY and garnering a handful of votes for National League MVP, Robinson was playing again, barnstorming with fellow young star Willie Mays in October and November. Traveling througout Texas and the South, playing nearly a game per day with a roster of talented young players, Mays provided the star power to advertise an all-Black team. Managed (and backed up by) Monte Irvin, the outfield must have been a sight to see: joining Robinson in left and Mays in center was another amazing youngster: Hank Aaron.
The tour didn't go nearly as well as the season had for Frank. He left the team early with an injury, and the tour as a whole was a disappointment. Its failure was blamed on the team's lack of Brooklyn Dodgers--ever since Jackie Robinson broke into the league, African-Americans across the country had been Dodger fans. But with or without barnstorming success, Robinson's future was in no doubt.
Over the last 50 years, Robby's accomplishments have been enough to fill a book: two MVPs, two World Series victories, the 1966 triple crown, the 1989 Manager of the Year award. For most baseball men, that rookie season would be the highlight of a half-century in the game. For Frank Robinson, it was only the beginning.
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