I have covered Frank Robinson a few times on this blog but not nearly enough. While I never got to see him play, I did get to see an historic game in which he was involved.
2005 Topps Update Nationals Inaugural Lineup #NI-TEAM
The April 2005 game was so historic that Topps honored it with a trading card - It was the first game in the history of the Nationals.
Robinson appears prominently on the card twice. First in the top photo he is at the center to the left of home plate, while the Phillies skipper Charlie Manuel guards the other. The inset photo on the bottom left features Frank Robinson even more prominently. The two images are clearly from different games - note that the smaller picture features the Nats in their Home uniforms at RFK.
The Phillies won the game 8-4 you can read more about the game at the SABR Baseball Game project.
I go into this card more in depth here, but at the time I didn't mention Frank Robinson.
Tributes
SABR BB Card Blog
1960s Baseball Card Blog
Fresh Air - Terry Gross Terrific interview (13 mins audio & text) includes Robinson's views on integration/segregation.
Links and Sources
Frank Robinson HOF Index
2005 0404 Nationals inaugural game at Phillies
SABR games project
Baseball-ref
The April 2005 game was so historic that Topps honored it with a trading card - It was the first game in the history of the Nationals.
Robinson appears prominently on the card twice. First in the top photo he is at the center to the left of home plate, while the Phillies skipper Charlie Manuel guards the other. The inset photo on the bottom left features Frank Robinson even more prominently. The two images are clearly from different games - note that the smaller picture features the Nats in their Home uniforms at RFK.
The Phillies won the game 8-4 you can read more about the game at the SABR Baseball Game project.
I go into this card more in depth here, but at the time I didn't mention Frank Robinson.
Tributes
SABR BB Card Blog
1960s Baseball Card Blog
Fresh Air - Terry Gross Terrific interview (13 mins audio & text) includes Robinson's views on integration/segregation.
Links and Sources
Frank Robinson HOF Index
2005 0404 Nationals inaugural game at Phillies
SABR games project
Baseball-ref
I was at the first-ever Saturday game at the Phillies' Citizens Bank Park, in April 2004. I was thinking their opponent that day was the Nationals, but after looking it up tonight I see that they were still the Expos that season.
ReplyDeleteSo it's interesting to note that the Expos were the first visiting team ever at Veterans Stadium (1971) and also CBP (2004).
(I was also at that 1st game in 1971.)