Frank Robinson Quotes

The way we're going ... if I called up another pitcher, he'd just hang up the phone on me.

I just didn't have anything to say, so I said nothing.

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.

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.

Be anything you want to be, but don't be dull.

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?

You have to have a short memory as a closer.

But I'm not going to walk Barry Bonds, like some teams do, in the first inning with nobody on.

Whether you're trying to excel in athletics or in any other field, always practice. Look, listen, learn - and practice, practice, practice. There is no substitute for work, no shortcut to the top.

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.

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.

All in all, I wouldn't call it a bad outing. It was a short outing.

No. 1, these guys out here on this field. They keep my energy level up. They try hard, they don't complain about things - and I'd just like to be with them when things are good, and hopefully we can win a pennant together.

Close don't count in baseball. Close only counts in horseshoes and grenades.

The baselines belongs to the runner, and whenever I was running the bases, I always slid hard. I wanted infielders to have that instant's hesitation about coming across the bag at second or about standing in there awaiting a throw to make a tag. There are only twenty-seven outs in a ballgame, and it was my job to save one for my team every time I possibly could.

At least when it's in French, I won't know what the heck they're saying.

I know a lot of people on the field - players, coaches, managers - are glad that I'm gone.

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.

If the guys on the bench were as good as the guys you have out there, they'd be out there in first place.

I had no trouble communicating, the player's just didn't like what I had to say.

Managers don't have as much leverage as they used to have. We can't really be the boss.

No, I don't think my presence will cause an increase in black attendance at Cleveland.

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.