Wilbert Robinson

Wilbert Robinson
Catcher/Manager
Born: (1863-06-29)June 29, 1863 Bolton, Massachusetts
Died: August 8, 1934(1934-08-08) (aged 71) Atlanta, Georgia
Batted: Right	Threw: Right
MLB debut
April 19, 1886 for the Philadelphia Athletics
Last MLB appearance
September 29, 1902 for the Baltimore Orioles (AL)
Career statistics
Batting average	.273
Home runs	18
Runs batted in	722
Teams
As Player: Philadelphia Athletics (1886-1890) Baltimore Orioles (AA/NL) (1890-1899) St. Louis Cardinals (1900) Baltimore Orioles (AL) (1901-1902) As Manager: Baltimore Orioles (AL) (1902) Brooklyn Robins (1914-1931)
Career highlights and awards
As Player: National League pennant: 1894, 1895, 1896 As Manager: Career record: 1399-1398 National League pennant: 1916, 1920
Member of the National
Baseball Hall of Fame
Induction	1945
Vote	Veterans Committee

Wilbert Robinson (June 29, 1863 – August 8, 1934), nicknamed "Uncle Robbie", was an American catcher, coach and manager in Major League Baseball. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1945.

Career

Born in Bolton, Massachusetts, Robinson was a catcher in the minor New England League in 1885 and made it to the major leagues in 1886 with the Philadelphia Athletics of the American Association, where he remained until 1890. He lasted in the majors until 1902, playing much of his career with two separate Baltimore Orioles franchises – from 1890 to 1899 with the Orioles team which folded after the 1899 National League season, and in 1901-02 with the American League team which moved to New York City in 1903 and became the Yankees. He also spent one season, 1900, with the St. Louis Cardinals.

1895 Baseball Card

Over the course of his career, Robinson played 1,316 games as a catcher, which prepared him for his second baseball career as a manager. The star catcher of the Orioles dynasty which won three straight titles from 1894 to 1896, he compiled a career batting average of .273, with a peak of .353 in the heavy-hitting season of 1894. Durable behind the plate, he caught a triple-header in 1896, followed by a double-header the following day. He also was the first catcher to play directly behind the batter at all times, as the previous practice had been to play farther back when there were fewer than two strikes. A highlight of his career was a seven-hit game June 10, 1892, still the major league record (Rennie Stennett tied it in 1975). He also batted in 11 runs in that game; on September 16, 1924, as manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, he saw that record eclipsed as Jim Bottomley of the St. Louis Cardinals batted in 12 runs. (Robinson, whose team was in contention for the pennant at the time, lamented, "Why did he have to save all those hits for us? Couldn't he have made some of them against [ Giants manager] McGraw?"

Career Stats

Year	Age	Team	Lg	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
1886	22	Philadelphia Athletics	AA	87	342	57	69	11	3	1	30	33		.202	.254	.260	.514
1887	23	Philadelphia Athletics	AA	68	264	28	60	6	2	1	24	15		.227	.269	.277	.545
1888	24	Philadelphia Athletics	AA	66	254	32	62	7	2	1	31	11		.244	.270	.299	.569
1889	25	Philadelphia Athletics	AA	69	264	31	61	13	2	0	28	9	34	.231	.251	.295	.546
1890	26	Philadelphia Athletics/Baltimore Orioles	AA	96	377	39	91	14	4	4	46	21		.241	.283	.332	.615
1891	27	Baltimore Orioles	AA	93	334	25	72	8	5	2	46	18	37	.216	.251	.287	.539
1892	28	Baltimore Orioles	NL	90	330	36	88	14	4	2	57	5	35	.267	.303	.352	.654
1893	29	Baltimore Orioles	NL	95	359	49	120	21	3	3	57	17	22	.334	.382	.435	.817
1894	30	Baltimore Orioles	NL	109	414	69	146	21	4	1	98	12	18	.353	.421	.430	.851
1895	31	Baltimore Orioles	NL	77	282	38	74	19	1	0	48	11	19	.262	.295	.337	.632
1896	32	Baltimore Orioles	NL	67	245	43	85	9	6	2	38	9	13	.347	.385	.457	.842
1897	33	Baltimore Orioles	NL	48	181	25	57	9	0	0	23	0	8	.315	.347	.365	.712
1898	34	Baltimore Orioles	NL	79	289	29	80	12	2	0	38	3	18	.277	.317	.332	.649
1899	35	Baltimore Orioles	NL	108	356	40	101	15	2	0	47	5	25	.284	.344	.337	.682
1900	36	St. Louis Cardinals	NL	60	210	26	52	5	1	0	28	7	20	.248	.291	.281	.572
1901	37	Baltimore Orioles	AL	68	239	32	72	12	3	0	26	9	16	.301	.335	.377	.711
1902	38	Baltimore Orioles	AL	91	335	38	98	16	7	1	57	11	17	.293	.321	.391	.712

AL Orioles

Robinson and McGraw joined as business partners in the Baltimore Orioles, a team that would debut in the new American League in 1901. McGraw served as player-manager of the AL Orioles in 1901 and the beginning of the 1902 season, at which point he departed to the New York Giants. Robinson succeeded McGraw as manager of the Orioles.

After the season, McGraw enticed Robinson to be his pitching coach from 1903 to 1913, during which time the Giants won five NL pennants.

Brooklyn Dodgers

Robinson would not don the manager's cap again in the majors until 1914, when he took over the Brooklyn franchise in the National League. The team was known by various nicknames, including Bridegrooms, Superbas, and Dodgers, but during Robinson's managerial tenure, which lasted until 1931, the club was as often referred to as the "Robins" in honor of their manager, who had acquired the nickname "Uncle Robbie". (The frequently error-prone Dodger teams of this era were also sometimes derisively known as "Uncle Robbie's Daffiness Boys".)

In his 18 years at the helm of the Brooks, Robinson compiled a record of 1375–1341, including National League championships in 1916 and 1920 - Brooklyn's only pennants between 1901 and 1940. Those two clubs lost in the World Series to the Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Indians, respectively. His 1375 NL victories were, at the time, the 3rd-highest total in NL history, trailing only the totals of McGraw (then with 2652) and Fred Clarke (1602).

Robinson was highly regarded for his ability to draw outstanding performances from his pitching staffs, a result of his many years as a catcher. Among the pitchers he guided to success were Joe McGinnity with both Orioles teams and the Giants, Rube Marquard with the Giants, and Dazzy Vance and Burleigh Grimes with the Dodgers. Another pitcher who would later recall Robinson's excellent advice, although they never played together during a regular season, was John Tener, who in the 1910s served simultaneously as NL president and Governor of Pennsylvania.

Robinson and Aviatrix Ruth Law

On March 13, 1915, at spring training in Daytona Beach, Florida, Robinson decided to try to set a record of sorts by catching a baseball dropped from an airplane being flown 525 feet (160 m) overhead. Ruth Law, the aviatrix, supposedly forgot to bring a baseball and instead dropped a grapefruit, which splattered all over the manager. The grapefruit made such a mess that Robinson thought he had lost his eye because of the acid and the bloodlike splatter that covered him. He quickly realized that it was a joke when he saw his teammates burst out in laughter. Outfielder Casey Stengel, later a successful manager himself, is generally believed to have convinced Law to make the switch. From this point on Robinson referred to airplanes as fruit flies.

Robinson was manager when Al Lopez started out as a catcher in the majors. Robinson watched Lopez' style and finally hollered, "Tell that punk he got two hands to catch with! Never mind the Fancy Dan stuff." But Lopez went on to eventually surpass Robinson's record of games behind the plate.

After his retirement from managing, Robinson became the president of the Atlanta Crackers minor league team. He died in Atlanta, Georgia at 71 years of age following a brain hemorrhage, and was buried in the New Cathedral Cemetery in Baltimore.

Robinson's brother, Fred Robinson, also played briefly in the majors, appearing in 3 games for the 1884 Cincinnati Outlaw Reds of the Union Association.

See also

• List of Major League Baseball leaders in career stolen bases
• List of Major League Baseball RBI Records
• List of Major League Baseball player–managers

External links

• Wilbert Robinson at the Baseball Hall of Fame
• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
• The Deadball Era
• Ruth Law at Daytona Beach 1913-1916