In Memory of Frank Robinson

The baseball world lost a true pioneer today in Frank Robinson, at 83 years old. Frank was a legendary player but also a barrier breaker as he was the first African American manager in Major League Baseball. While he as on the field he is the only player in the history of the league to win a MVP in both the American and National League. The first came in 1961 with the Cincinnati Reds in the National League, and the second came in 1966 with the Baltimore Orioles. Frank Robinson was also inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. There is much to say about his career but I feel we should truly appreciate what he did off the field in trying to bring more equality to the world of sports. Without further adieu I decided to make a card of Frank Robinson from each of his MVP seasons. Lets sit back and enjoy this great person and player and appreciate what he brought to the game in the form of two different styles of player.

First up is the 1961 NL MVP of the Cincinnati Reds coming at you with a .404 OB% he hit 32 doubles, 7 triples, and 37 home runs, while stealing 22 bases. Defensively he was a monster as well throwing out 15 runners and only having 3 errors.

After the 1965 season the Reds felt that Frank Robinson was too old at 30 years old and shipped him off for a few bags of chips and Robinson proves he still had a ton in the tank winning the 1966 AL MVP for the Baltimore Orioles. Not only did he win MVP but he also won the triple crown that season with a .410 OB%  34 doubles and 49 home runs. The speed numbers dropped off as did his defensive numbers. Was this what the Reds were worried about? The rest of his game sure was impressive.

I hope you all enjoyed the little history lesson of a true legend in sports history and can find some room for him on your rosters because he sure can add some pop to your lineup. 

And if you've been following Twitter, you'll see that David Bush actually made some Frank Robinson tribute cards too!  We independently started working on them after the news of Frank's passing, and it's cool to see the slight differences in how we calculated the stats! (Note: Matthew made better charted cards, and his charts should be used as official, as these other cards' charts were made more hastily... the Player-Manager DH card checks out though!)  Enjoy!