Frank Robinson - Managing Career

Managing Career

Robinson managed in the winter leagues late in his playing career. By the early 1970s, he had his heart set on becoming the first black manager in the majors. In fact, the Angels traded him to the Cleveland Indians midway through the 1974 season due to his open campaigning for the manager's job.

In 1975, the Indians named him player-manager, giving him distinction of being the first black manager in the Majors. In his first at bat as player/manager of the Indians, he homered at Cleveland Stadium off Yankees pitcher Doc Medich.

His managing career would go on to include Cleveland (1975–1977); the San Francisco Giants (1981–1984); the Orioles (1988–1991); and the Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals franchise (2002–2006).

In addition to being the first black manager in the major leagues with the American League's Indians, upon joining the Giants, he also became the first black manager in the National League.

He was awarded the American League Manager of the Year Award in 1989 for leading the Baltimore Orioles to an 87–75 record, a turnaround from their previous season in which they went 54–107. After Robinson had spent some years known in baseball as the Director of Discipline, he was chosen by Major League Baseball in 2002 to manage the Expos, which MLB owned at that time. The 2002 Expos performed surprisingly well, finishing 2nd in the NL East, and posting a 19-game improvement over 2001.

In 2005, the Montreal Gazette's Stephanie Myles reported that Robinson had devoted much time playing golf during his years in Montreal, sometimes spending 16-hour days between the course and the games at night. Some journalists have questioned his disregard of statistics to determine pitching match-ups with his hitting line-ups. Robinson defended his style of managing by saying that he goes by his "gut feeling".

In a June 2005 Sports Illustrated poll of 450 MLB players, Robinson was selected the worst manager in baseball, along with Buck Showalter, then manager of the Texas Rangers. In the August 2006 poll, he again was voted worst manager with 17% of the vote and 37.7% of the NL East vote.

In 2005, one of Robinson's Nationals players asked him if he had ever played in the majors. This was reported on Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel as an illustration of how little some current players are aware of the history of the game.

On Thursday, April 20, 2006, with the Nationals winning 10–4 against the Philadelphia Phillies, Robinson got his 1000th win, becoming the 53rd manager to reach that milestone. He had earned his 1000th loss two seasons earlier.

During a game against the Houston Astros on May 25, 2006, Robinson pulled Nationals catcher Matt LeCroy during the middle of the 7th inning, violating an unwritten rule that managers do not remove position players in the middle of an inning. Instead, managers are supposed to discreetly switch position players in between innings. However, LeCroy, the third-string catcher, had allowed Houston Astros baserunners to steal seven bases over seven innings and had committed two throwing errors. Although the Nationals won the game 8–5, Robinson found the decision so difficult to make on a player he respected so much, he broke down crying during the post-game interviews.

On September 30, 2006, the Nationals' management declined to renew Robinson's contract for the 2007 season, though they stated he was welcome to come to spring training in an unspecified role. Robinson, who wanted either a front office job or a consultancy, declined. On October 1, 2006, he managed his final game, a 6–2 loss to the Mets, and prior to the game addressed the fans at RFK Stadium.

Robinson's record as a manager stands as (1065–1176).