So the mighty Frank Robinson is dead at 83. As Sports Illustrated wrote in the 1960s, pitchers figured “the only way to deal with Robinson is to hit him before he hits you.”He was also the first black manager in baseball. He was given a crappy team, of course, an old Buick station wagon of a Cleveland Indians squad. You thought white owners would give the first black manager the keys to a Mercedes? He played designated hitter on that team and at age 39 hit nine home runs with a .508 slugging percentage in 118 at-bats.

Source: New York Times February 08, 2019 00:00 UTC