Up for auction the "Cincinnati Reds" Frank Robinson Hand Signed 4X6 Color Photo.
ES-2621C
Frank Robinson (August 31, 1935
– February 7, 2019) was an American professional baseball outfielder and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB)
who played for five teams, from 1956 to 1976. The only player to be named Most Valuable Player (MVP)
of both the National League (NL)
and the American League (AL),
he was named the NL MVP after leading the Cincinnati Reds to the pennant in 1961 and was named the AL MVP in 1966 with the Baltimore Orioles after winning the Triple Crown; Robinson‘s
49 home runs (HR) that year tied for the most by any AL
player between 1962 and 1989, and stood as a franchise record for 30 years. He helped
lead the Orioles to the first two World Series titles in franchise history in 1966 and 1970, and was named the Series MVP in
1966 after leading the Orioles to a four-game sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
In 1975, Robinson became the
first black manager in big
league history, as the Cleveland Indians’ player-manager. A
14-time All-Star,
Robinson batted .300 nine times, hit 30 home runs eleven times, and led his
league in slugging four times
and in runs scored three
times. His 586 career home runs ranked fourth in major league history at the
time of his retirement, and he ranked sixth in total bases (5,373) and extra-base hits (1,186), eighth in games played (2,808), and ninth in runs scored (1,829). His
2,943 career hits are the most
since 1934 by any player
who fell short of the 3,000-hit mark. He was elected to the Baseball
Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 1982. Robinson went on to
manage the San Francisco Giants,
Baltimore Orioles, and Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals. For
most of the last two decades of his life, Robinson served in various executive
positions for Major League Baseball, concluding his career as honorary
President of the American League.