Sunday, March 8, 2015

World Series: Did You Know?

Frank Robinson, who was a man of many first in baseball, is the first player to be hit twice in one game. The 1961 Cincinnati Reds may have only won one game (And it was not the game Robinson was hit twice), but they had someone who the New York Yankees were careful with. Careful enough to hit? I guess so!

Frank was ever so dangerous in 1961, but New York seemed to have his number for a while. Whitey Ford stopped him and the Reds cold in game one. Frank didn't get a hit, but he walked. In game two, Robinson and his teammates did better. They won 6-2. Frank didn't get a hit, but reached base via and error and walk. And both times he scored.



In game three, at home, Frank hit a double in the bottom of the third to score Elio Chacon. That was the game's first run. The Yankees ultimately won this see-saw affair, 3-2. Robinson was held to just that one hit and fanned twice.

Game four was close for a while, but it was Whitey Ford, back with his World Series record book. He not only broke Babe Ruth's record for most consecutive scoreless innings, but he pitched New York to a 7-0 win. Robinson and hit teammates must have had a handful with Whitey.

In the bottom of the fourth, though, it looked like Cincy would tie it. New York was only ahead 1-0 at this point, and Eddie Kasko got things off on the right foot with a leadoff single. One out later, Ford hit Robinson. All this for naught as Wally Post grounded into an inning-ending double play.

New York was only up 2-0 in the top of the sixth, when they salted things away. The scored twice to make it a 4-0 game, and looked poised for more with the bases loaded, Ford up, and only one out. Ford tried to squeeze Moose Skowron home. Clete Boyer motored towards third as Ford bunted, but Gordie Coleman made the putout unassisted, then raced across to third, where Moose retreated, only to find Boyer there. Coleman made the putout, unassisted again!

Chacon led off the bottom of the frame with a single. Ford had been hurt after fouling a ball of his foot. So he left for Jim Coates. Coates was known to throw at batters, and Robinson would bat that inning. So with two outs, he did just that to Frank. The Reds were unable to score, alas. And at this point, the Bombers had extended their lead to 7-0.

Frank batted again in the bottom of the ninth. The Reds could not hit Coates. But Robinson walked this time. Wally Post did not hit into a double play. Instead, he singled for Cincinatti's fifth hit of the ballgame. But Coates fanned Jim Freese and got Gordie Coleman to fly out to Hector Lopez in left to end the game.

Robinson took no such abuse in game five. He hit a three-run home run off Ralph Terry in the bottom of the bottom of the third. Then, he added a double in the bottom of the seventh. The Reds did not score a run that inning. Wally Post added a two-run home run in the bottom of the bottom of the fifth to give the Reds five runs in five innings. But New York scored thirteen runs in that game, and the Reds failed to score outside of Robinson's and Post's home runs.



The 1961 New York Yankees were one of the all-time great teams. The Reds? Well, they weren't pushovers. And it is good to see that Robinson made sure Cincy made the two Yankees blowouts interesting somewhat. Frank would go on to win a World Series later with Baltimore, their first. That was in 1966, the year he became the first player to win an MVP in both leagues. Later, he became the first black manager in baseball when Frank managed the Cleveland Indians in 1975. So who was the first black manager in the National League? That was also Frank Robinson, with San Francisco in 1981. Frank was the last manager of the Montreal Expos and the first manager of the Washington Nationals. He was never afraid to go to help baseball lead the way with integration in the management. And with 586 career home runs, Frank was never afraid of going up to the dish and get plucked twice in the Fall Classic. Frank is one of only two players to do that! The Reds of 1961 may have lost the World Series, but Robinson served notice that he was going to be around a while!







References

Burns, Ken, director. Ken Burns' Baseball. PBS, 1994. DVD.Ward, Geoffrey C., and Ken Burns. “A Whole New Ballgame.” Baseball, season 1, episode 8, PBS, 27 Sept. 1994.

Enders, Eric. 100 years of the World Series. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. 2005. Print.

Neft, David S., Richard M. Cohen, and Michael L. Neft. The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball, 1992. 12th ed. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992. Print.

Nemec, David et all. 20th Century Baseball Chronicle: A Year-by-year History of Major League Baseball. Collector's Edition. Lincolnwood, Ill: Publications International, 1993. Print.

Sports Reference LLC. Baseball-Reference.com - Major League Statistics and Informationhttp://www.baseball-reference.com/. Web. Mar. 08. 2014.

The World Series Of 1961. Dir. Lew Fonseca. Prod. Dick Borden. Perf. Mel Allen. Major League Baseball Productions., 1961. DVD. 

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