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gr8owl

Any fans of both baseball and life - major loss

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Frank Robinson. :(

A fond farewell to truly one of the very best who ever played the game, and an even more amazing man who opened doors for others.  Quite an example for those that believe in always living life full throttle, and did he ever!

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/07/obituaries/frank-robinson-dead.html

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Wow...Thanks for the post.  I hadn't read the news, so didn't know.  He really did play and manage "full throttle".  Death's like this make me realize my age and put me in touch with my mortality.  A phenomenal player that doesn't come up much in today's conversations about stars from the past.  I remember watching him on TV while watching Cubs and White Sox games.

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1 hour ago, average1 said:

  I remember watching him on TV while watching Cubs and White Sox games.

In the neighborhood I grew up in most of the boys breathed, played and dreamed baseball.  Almost every summer day saw a pick up game ..... or as the great Ernie Banks said "It's a beautiful day for baseball, let's play two!"  The Orioles were my favorite team along with the Giants.  Still in school, I was floating on air when the Robinson led Orioles took out the favored Dodgers in the 66 series.  Swept them!  It was rare in these parts then to see them on tv until the all star game and world series.  A different and much simpler time (OK, except for the nuclear war safety drills, etc. hehe) but an all out, dedicated, courageous man of character and great skill who insisted on everyone's best, stood out then just as he would now ..... if there were any quite like him now.  I could rant on but probably too much already.

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Frank Robinson was a legend.

Growing up in Denver we had the Denver Bears. Our most famous player was Tim Raines who did make it to the show and played there for years.

One of our earliest teams played at a place called Manhattan Beach which was roughly at Broadway and Virginia. There was also an amusement park there.

We always had a pickup game going as kids in the 50’s & 60’s.

I played Litte League baseball at Crow Field at Federal & 6th Ave.

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I was a Dodger fan because of Sandy Koufax and the 1966 World Series broke my heart.  The Orioles deserved the title, beating Drysdale twice, Koufax once and Osteen once.  Like you, I lived and breathed baseball.  I always hoped for a World Series for Ernie Banks...and a number of Cubs from that era...Beckett, Kessinger, Santo, Billy Williams, Rod Hundley, Ferguson Jenkins.....

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My fifth grade math teacher used to bring a tv into the classroom so we could all watch the daytime World Series games.

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12 hours ago, ilovewomen said:

My fifth grade math teacher used to bring a tv into the classroom so we could all watch the daytime World Series games.

I wish I had a teacher like that.  Back in those days, the World Series was part of Americana.  Many people followed it, talked about it and would hang on the outcome of every game.  It was the biggest sports thing goin' on.  In today's world, I think the Superbowl has become more a part of our culture than the World Series.

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We had to visit the janitor in the boiler room for radio updates on the World Series. TVs were the size of small refrigerators, and weighed nearly as much.

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33 minutes ago, Bit Banger said:

We had to visit the janitor in the boiler room for radio updates on the World Series. TVs were the size of small refrigerators, and weighed nearly as much.

And they were black and white tv’s.

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Just now, ilovewomen said:

And they were black and white tv’s.

Yep. But at least they weren’t round screens and we didn’t have to view the screen with a mirror. 😜

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Ahhh!  The memories of old Cleveland Municipal Stadium.  My first favorite major league team....The Cleveland Indians!!!  Wasn't at that historic first game that player/manager Frank Robinson coached but attended many that first year.  Besides being a great ball player he was a great man!  He will be missed.

BR

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I can remember the world series being broadcast on the intercom at school.

Cleveland Indians won a their only world series the year I was born...Go Rockies!   Please!

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Read this morning about Frank Robinson. Indeed a loss for baseball fans and anyone associated with the game. I grew up a St. Louis Cardinals fan. Before we got the Rockies I could often tune in KMOX late in the evening and listen to their games. Only time I saw my dad cry was when Stan Musual retired. I got to see Bob Gibson, Lou Brook, Ozzie Smith play. For all of the real fans pitchers and catchers report in about 10 days.

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Remember going to everyone of the 2007 Rockies home playoff games. Even went to the home game where the Rockies clinch a playoff spot against the Padres. Then the joke of trying to get the once in a lifetime World Series tickets.  Also remember taking one of the ladies on the board to her first baseball game, her first game and she got to see the New York Yankees. One of the Rockies batters got hit by a pitch, told her next inning one of the Yankees was going to get hit by a pitch, of course next inning a Yankee was hit by a pitch, she asked how did you know that, told her that was a given. Frank Robison was the Baltimore Orioles back in the day. 

Edited by geecue2
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In my youth baseball players were truly Heroes for kids to look up to they stayed with a team most of their careers if not all of their careers you could count on them being there year after year. One of my prized possessions is a baseball signed by all the 1950 Philadelphia Phillies Whiz Kids. It is a shame when one of the greats passes

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airamericavet65 got it right! Baseball defined Americanism. Pro ball players were at the pinnacle of American society, and behaved accordingly. Very seldom any hint of scandal. Players arrived for games wearing suits or sport jackets with neckties, looked and behaved as gentlemen, most spent an hour or more after every game visiting with fans and signing autographs for admiring kids. Back in the 1950's and 1960's most of us wanted to grow up and be just like them!

First time I ever saw a television was when my Dad stopped in at a neighborhood bar one afternoon to watch the ball game. Used to listen to the ball games on the radio, back when sports announcers were genuine entertainers, and also knew every player's bio and stats in every detail.

Frank Robinson was a giant of the sport.

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