It actually snowed the day Frank Robinson won his first game as a Major League manager.
Not only did he win his first game on April 8, 1975; he won the game with a dramatic home run against the New York Yankees.
The final score was 5-3 and baseball’s first black manager had his first win.
Thirty-one years later, Robinson recorded his 1000th win when the Washington Nationals tripped the Philadelphia Phillies 10-4 on April 20. He’ll bring at least 1002 wins into Busch Stadium when the nationals open a weekend series here on Friday night.
I first met Robinson at Fountain Valley High School in Veedersburg, Ind. It was a frigid afternoon and ice and snow covered the barren cornfields as I drove from Danville, Ill., to the school, which was just across the state line.
Robinson was between managerial and front office stints and was serving as an MLB executive at the time. He was there to conduct a workshop on proper exercise for baseball players. The then-48-year-old Robinson led gathering of players and coaches through a series of exercises, and the man looked like he could have grabbed a bat and still hit .300.
Robinson is older and heavier now, but still doesn’t look like he would be any worse than the St. Louis Cardinals’ Aaron Miles at the plate.
He managed the Cleveland Indians (1975 – 1977), San Francisco Giants (1981 – 1984), Baltimore Orioles (1988 – 1991) and Montreal Expos (2002 – 2004). When the Montreal Expos relocated to Washington, D.C. after the 2004 season, Robinson remained the team’s field general.
He was awarded the American League Manager of the Year Award in 1989 for leading the Orioles to an 87-75 record, a huge turnaround from their previous season in which they went 54-107.
Always one to put team before personal accomplishment, Robinson told MLB.com following his one-grand victory, “It feels good, because it was a win and this ball club is starting to play good baseball.”
“One thousand wins is a 1,000 wins. It means you have been around a while and you had some pretty good ball clubs and you won a few games.”
Hopefully, Robinson will remain at the helm long enough to get his Nationals into the postseason.
While the former Montreal Expos are not a National League doormat, the team has many holes. Robinson had to deal with Alfonso Soriano’s antics about playing outfield during spring training and is now trying to right ineffective ace Livan Hernandez.
The Nationals are just 5-12 in 2006, five games behind the Mew York Mets in the National League East.
Unlike last season, the Nationals are off to a slow start. But Robinson hopes the season does not follow 2005’s pattern.
In the team’s first season in Washington, the Nationals were 16 games over .500 and the talk of the league at the end of June. The team then went 16 games under .500 the rest of the way. The good news was that it was the 156th game before the Nationals were eliminated from the playoffs.
But the Nationals have a tough task in righting the ship in St. Louis. While the Redbirds have not featured dominating offense this season, it is again on pace to win 100 games.
The Nationals are far from a 100-win team, but their manager is now in a select club of managers that has 1000 wins.
Robinson even had to enjoy a “warm” toast with his team after the game.
“They didn’t have the (champagne) iced down, though, because they weren’t to sure (when the win would come). But it tastes pretty good, even hot,” he said in the clubhouse.
