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I don't see anyone playing in the major leagues today (1982) who combines both the talent and the intensity that I had. I always tried to do the best. I knew I couldn't always be the best, but I tried to be.

Frank Robinson

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Frank Robinson
Age: 83 †
Born: 1935
Born: August 31
Died: 2019
Died: February 7
Baseball Manager
Baseball Player
Baseball Player-Managers
Beaumont
Texas
Today
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More quotes by Frank Robinson

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Listen, I was the first black manager in baseball and there was incredible pressure. I don't blame anyone else. I was too tough . . . I lack patience. I probably got on guys a little too hard, with the wrong tone of voice.
Frank Robinson
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The fan is the one who suffers. He cheers a guy to a .350 season then watches that player sign with another team. When you destroy fan loyalties, you destroy everything.
Frank Robinson
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Close don't count in baseball. Close only counts in horseshoes and grenades.
Frank Robinson
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Be anything you want to be, but don't be dull.
Frank Robinson
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There's absolutely no way you can go barreling into second and dump a guy on a double play, like you should do, when you've been fraternizing with him before a game.
Frank Robinson
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Pitchers did me a favor when they knocked me down. It made me more determined. I wouldn't let that pitcher get me out. They say you can't hit if you're on your back, but I didn't hit on my back. I got up.
Frank Robinson
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If the guys on the bench were as good as the guys you have out there, they'd be out there in first place.
Frank Robinson
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I haven't seen a player in this game, as long as I've been in it, that can't be pitched to... Barry is an outstanding ballplayer. I respect him an awful lot. I also have confidence in my pitchers that they can pitch to Barry Bonds and get him out.
Frank Robinson
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I have heard of managers who encourage players not to slide hard for fear they will get hurt and be lost from the lineup for a time. That is why you occasionally see a player go into second base on a double-play ball and not even bother to slide. I wonder, could Ty Cobb sit though plays like that and hold his lunch?
Frank Robinson
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No, I don't think my presence will cause an increase in black attendance at Cleveland. People come out to see the players. When do you see a manager anyway? When he's out on the field arguing with the umpires, making a fool of himself and you know you can't win, and when he brings out the line-up card.
Frank Robinson
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I expect that [trying to do the best] of my players today and of my kids. My wife says I shouldn't expect that of my children, but I don't think that's asking too much.
Frank Robinson
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You have to have a short memory as a closer.
Frank Robinson
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The way we're going... if I called up another pitcher, he'd just hang up the phone on me.
Frank Robinson
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It's nice to come into a town and be referred to as the manager of the Cleveland Indians instead of as the first black manager.
Frank Robinson
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I always tried to do the best. I knew I couldn't always be the best, but I tried to be.
Frank Robinson
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But I'm not going to walk Barry Bonds, like some teams do, in the first inning with nobody on.
Frank Robinson
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Probably the most dramatic change in pitching I've observed in my years in baseball has been the disappearance of the knockdown or brushback pitch. This is why record numbers of home runs are flying out of ballparks, why earned run averages are soaring, and why there are so few twenty game winners in the majors.
Frank Robinson