The manager who homered in his debut

A model of this story initially ran in April 2022.

It wasn’t an order a lot as a suggestion. Cleveland common supervisor Phil Seghi pulled Frank Robinson apart the morning of Robinson’s debut as player-manager on April 8, 1975, and stated, “Why don’t you hit a homer the first time you go to the plate?”

Robinson checked out his boss incredulously.

“You’ve got to be kidding!”

There was no kidding round mere hours later, when Robinson, Major League Baseball’s first African-American supervisor, made historical past in his first at-bat.

In the lineup as his crew’s designated hitter in simply the third season of that place’s existence, Robinson stepped to the plate towards the Yankees’ Doc Medich, bought a 2-2 fastball low and away and ripped it over the left-field wall for a solo shot.

The crowd of 56,204 followers at Cleveland Municipal Stadium went berserk.

“Any home run is a thrill,” Robinson stated afterward. “But I’ve got to admit, this one was a bigger thrill.”

What a thrill it was for a person to not solely break the managerial coloration barrier however to take action in such a dramatic manner. Cleveland had already established itself as a progressive group in 1947, when Larry Doby grew to become the second Black participant within the AL or NL.

Robinson, who would additionally go on to turn out to be the NL’s first Black supervisor (with the San Francisco Giants in 1981), added to that legacy.

So the 1975 season began with a bang. It did not finish that manner — Cleveland would go on to a 79-80 end, good just for fourth place within the AL East. Then once more, that was the membership’s finest file in additional than a decade, and it could end three video games over .500 in 1976.

Robinson, due to this fact, did not yank Cleveland out of its lengthy, fire-engine-red-clad doldrums, however he did oversee two respectable seasons earlier than issues went awry with a gradual begin in 1977, resulting in his dismissal.

The Hall of Famer went on to handle not simply the Giants but additionally the Orioles and Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals franchise. Robinson, who handed away in 2019, additionally served as a senior adviser to Commissioner Rob Manfred and the honorary president of the AL. In Cleveland, folks of a sure age nonetheless cite Robinson’s Opening Day dwelling run as one in every of their extra cherished recollections from the native sports activities scene.

As far as how Robinson celebrated that second in its quick aftermath, effectively, he did it in a wonderfully understated manner — with a hamburger, a Coke and a chunk of cake.