[Frank Robinson was one of the greatest players of all time...his 586 home runs were not enhanced by any drugs and most of them came against pitchers throwing off mounds fifty percent higher than today's 10 inches. His intensity, perspective, and greatness will be missed. - jtf]
Trailblazing Career Is Likely at an End
By Barry Svrluga
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, October 1, 2006; A01
In 1975, when the Cleveland Indians needed a replacement for Ken Aspromonte as manager, owner Ted Bonda took what was, at the time, a bold step. He named Frank Robinson to the position, the first African American to manage a major league club.
Yesterday afternoon, as he formally was removed from a manager's job for the last time in his storied career, Robinson reflected on that status, one that always will be by his name: first black manager.
"And," Robinson said, making light of the situation, "the first one to be fired four times."
The official announcement that Robinson -- a 71-year-old Hall of Famer -- would not be asked back as manager of the Washington Nationals finally came yesterday, and the occasion was marked by remembrances not only of his role in bringing baseball back to the nation's capital, but with nods to his significance in the history of the game. When the Nationals took the field against the New York Mets in their penultimate game of the season, Robinson's counterpart in the visitors' dugout was another African American, Willie Randolph.
"I probably wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Frank," Randolph said.
Yet Robinson's absence will leave the club's most prominent faces -- owners Theodore N. Lerner and his son, Mark; President Stan Kasten; and General Manager Jim Bowden -- all white in a city that is majority black, at a time when baseball is desperately trying to spark interest among young urban African Americans.
Robinson has strong views on the importance of black participation in baseball, ones he occasionally expresses. Yet as much as Robinson has served as the face of the franchise since it came to the District last year -- he certainly was its most notable name -- the team didn't promote him as an icon. He admitted that he didn't get out in the city much, traveling between the ballpark and his apartment on Connecticut Avenue NW. His participation in civic affairs largely was low-key, mostly centered around Holy Comforter-St. Cyprian Roman Catholic School on Capitol Hill, where he spoke occasionally and participated in various activities.
Nationals officials did not go into detail about what qualities they will pursue when the search for Robinson's replacement officially begins tomorrow. But Bowden said the club is well aware of the issue.
"There'll be diversity in this entire organization from top to bottom," Bowden said. "It doesn't matter if it's scouting, player development, managers, coaches, players. This organization is all about diversity."
The ousting of Robinson as manager after five seasons -- three in Montreal, the last two in Washington -- was, Bowden and Kasten admitted, an awkward situation, largely because of Robinson's standing in the game. He ranks sixth on the career home run list, is the only man to win the most valuable player award in the American and National leagues, and has held nearly every position in baseball -- all-star player, coach, manager, front office member, Major League Baseball executive.
Robinson was told of the decision on Thursday, in part because he had requested advance notice so that he could, as he said, "say goodbye." The Nationals are planning to pay tribute to Robinson before, during and after today's season finale at RFK Stadium, and they will host a "Frank Robinson Day" next season. Though Robinson and Bowden have discussed the possibility that Robinson would take another job within the organization, no decision has been made. Robinson has been adamant that he would want a job only if it had real, decision-making power.
For two days, Robinson had danced around the questions about his future, his eyes watering from time to time. Yesterday, sitting next to Bowden at a news conference in a small room in the bowels of RFK, he tried to sound content.
"It's been a good ride for me," he said. "Fifty-one years. . . . I never walk away from anything. When I'm hired to do a job, I do the best I can as long as I can."
Robinson managed for parts of 16 seasons for four franchises -- Cleveland, the San Francisco Giants, the Baltimore Orioles and the Montreal Expos, who became the Nationals. He never won a division title, and he finished with a winning record just five times.
Neither Bowden nor Kasten would discuss the reasons behind the decision, other than to say "it was in the best long-term interest of the franchise," as Bowden put it. But several Nationals officials felt for some time that Robinson didn't keep up with modern statistical analysis and he didn't communicate enough with his players. Robinson, in turn, defended himself as he pursued the opportunity to stay on beyond this season.
Robinson has long said he wouldn't truly reflect on his accomplishments until he was out of baseball completely. Now, that time could be here.
"I want it one day to [be] where an African American or minority manager is hired, and there's no mention of" race, he said. "I think that's when we'll have achieved what we've been trying to achieve all these years in baseball as far as managers are concerned."
He understands, though, that Washington is a special case. Alphonso Maldon Jr., a former official in the Clinton administration, is a minority partner in the Nationals' ownership structure, the senior vice president for external affairs. He and Kasten have participated in community meetings in all eight wards in the District, and while he has no say in whom the next manager will be, he said the franchise is acutely aware that the racial makeup of the club's leadership will be noticed in the community.
"We are going absolutely as far as we have to go to make sure that everyone has an opportunity to experience the Nationals," Maldon said.
When Major League Baseball sold the Nationals to the Lerner group earlier this year, it did so only after the group expanded to bring in more racial minorities, and MLB officials at the time said they put such stress on the issue because of Washington's population.
"I think you have to feel the heartbeat of the city," said third base coach Tony Beasley, an African American who spent his first year in the majors this season. "I know it was a really important issue when they were talking about the ownership. I would think it would be something that would be in the forefront as far as coaches and things of that nature.
"You have to do your homework on each one of those decisions, but you also have to recognize who your fan base is -- and who you want it to be."
Last night, such thoughts were far from Robinson's mind. He had been pondering the end for most of the previous week, if not most of the entire season.
"Anytime you're looking at the end, it'll be emotional," he said. "How much? I don't know. That's not something you can think about or you can rehearse. They might all pffffff ," and he took his mammoth hands and waved them away from his body, as if the emotions were spewing out.
Before the first pitch, Robinson turned to the crowd and tossed out some baseballs. He will do the same again today, when he pulls on a baseball uniform for the final time. He is unsure of what comes next. He knows only one thing for sure.
"As far as I'm concerned, in my heart and my head, this is it," Robinson said. "Plain and simple."
© 2006 The Washington Post Company
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