April 8, 1975, 50 years ago: The Cleveland Indians beat the New York Yankees, in their season opener at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. The Indians are managed for the 1st time by Frank Robinson. This makes Robinson the 1st black manager in Major League Baseball.
In 1961, Frank Robinson led the Cincinnati Reds to the National League's Pennant, and was named its Most Valuable Player. For the 1966 season, they traded him to the Baltimore Orioles. It was a big mistake, and the best thing that ever happened to the Orioles other than their move from being the St. Louis Browns in 1954: Robinson was immediately named team Captain, won the Triple Crown, led them to their 1st American League Pennant and their 1st World Series win, and was named the AL's MVP. Until Shohei Ohtani did it in 2024, he was the only player to win the MVP in both Leagues. The Orioles won the Pennant again in 1969, 1970 and 1971, and the World Series again in 1970.
After the 1973 season, New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner saw manager Ralph Houk quit, and he had to scramble to find a new manager. He considered hiring Frank Robinson, who was then playing for the team then named the California Angels. This would have made him the 1st black manager in the major leagues, a little over a year after a dying Jackie Robinson spoke at the 1972 World Series, and said he wanted to "see a black face managing in baseball."
George didn't care about making history: He wanted the best man for the job, and, in the Autumn of 1973, having already been denied the right to hire Dick Williams, winner of the last 2 World Series as manager of the Oakland Athletics, by A's owner Charlie Finley, he thought the best remaining choice that might be available was Frank Robinson.
Gene Autry, the legendary entertainer who owned the Angels, wouldn't let Robinson go. Was it because Autry didn't want a black manager in MLB? No. Was it because he simply didn't want to lose Frank? No, as you'll soon see. It was because he didn't like George, and didn't want to give him the satisfaction.
Nevertheless, Autry could have named Frank the 1st black manager in the major leagues, but on September 12, 1974, he traded Frank to the Cleveland Indians for Ken Suarez, Rusty Torres and cash. (The last part is ironic: The Indians were constantly short on cash, and Autry was one of the richest owners. In another irony, the next manager Autry hired was Dick Williams.)
After the season, Indians manager Ted Bonda fired manager Ken Aspromonte. Who to hire? Bonda knew that, racial history aside, Frank was qualified for the job. He'd been Captain of a 2-time World Series winner, and had managed in the Caribbean Winter Leagues. Bonda knew that if he didn't hire him as manager, somebody else might, and he didn't want to lose him, either as a still-active player or as a potential manager.
So, on October 3, 1974, he did the right thing for history, as well as the right thing for his team. He signed Frank at a salary of $175,000 to do both jobs. Frank said his only regret was that Jackie, no relation, didn't live to see the day.
I could have done this entry for that day. But it wouldn't have been official until he actually managed a regular-season game. And, besides, that 1st such game makes for a better story.
On April 8, 1975, for the 1st time, a regular-season game in Major League Baseball was played with a black man managing one of the teams. Frank had already posed for the cover of Sport magazine, handing a lineup card to the cameraman. Now, at Cleveland Municipal Stadium, in front of 56,715 fans, he did it for real, giving his lineup card to home plate umpire Nestor Chylak, who would join Frank in the Hall of Fame.
Gaylord Perry, also on his way to the Hall, started for the Indians, and George "Doc" Medich did so for the Yankees. In the bottom of the 1st inning, after Oscar Gamble popped up to 3rd base, Frank Robinson, having made himself the Indians' designated hitter and put himself 2nd in the batting order, hit a home run off Medich, the 575th of his career, which would end with 586.
The Yankees took a 3-1 lead in the top of the 2nd, the Indians made it 3-2 in the bottom of the 2nd, and, in the bottom of the 4th, Robinson's former Baltimore teammate John "Boog" Powell -- who said the Indians' all-red uniform made him, rotund as he was, "look like the world's largest Bloody Mary" -- hit a home run to tie the game. Boog broke the tie with an RBI double in the 6th, and the Indians went on to win, 5-3.
Boog had a point.
But the Indians never had enough money to build a contending team. Early in the 1977 season, Frank Robinson became the 1st black manager to get fired -- not because he wasn't as good as most white managers, but because he was as good as most of them, and that wasn't good enough.
In 1981, he achieved another both-leagues distinction: The San Francisco Giants made him the 1st black manager in the NL. The next year, in his 1st year of eligibility, he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
He would later return to the Orioles, coming within 2 games of managing them to an AL Eastern Division title in 1989. He was also the manager of the Montreal Expos when they moved to become the Washington Nationals in 2004-05. He died in 2019, at age 83.
In 1978, having been the 1st black player in the American League and the 2nd black player in the previously all-white major leagues, Larry Doby became the 2nd black manager in MLB, finishing out the season with the Chicago White Sox.
As of Opening Day of the 2025 MLB season, 10 of the 30 current teams have never had a black manager: The New York Yankees, the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Atlanta Braves, the Boston Red Sox, the Miami Marlins, the Minnesota Twins, the Oakland Athletics, the Philadelphia Phillies, the St. Louis Cardinals and the San Diego Padres.
The the D-backs, Braves, the Red Sox, the Marlins, the Cardinals and the Padres have each had a Hispanic manager, but not an African-American one. Dave Roberts was interim manager of the Padres for 1 game, but not a "permanent" manager for them, as he has been for the Los Angeles Dodgers, so the Padres still count as not having hired a black manager.
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