Baseball has lost three notable figures this month. You may recognize the first two but possibly not the third. Read on, please.
FRANK ROBINSON
A Hall of Fame slugger and the first African-American manager in Major League baseball, Frank Robinson died on Feb. 7. He was 83.
Robinson was a force his entire career. He hit the big leagues with the Cincinnati Reds in 1956 and was rookie of the year. In 1961 he led the Reds to the World Series and was the National League MVP. In 1965 he hit 33 home runs and knocked in 113. Still, the Reds decided that at 30 he was too old, so they traded him to Baltimore. Too old? All he did was win the Triple Crown in 1966 with a .316 average, 49 home runs and 122 RBI. He was the American League MVP and the World Series MVP after hitting a pair of homers in the Orioles’ sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers, the first championship in franchise history.
Robinson led the O’s to four World Series in his six seasons in Baltimore. He played 21 years and hit 586 home runs, fourth on the career list at the time behind Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth and Willie Mays. He is still the only player to win the MVP in each League.
He managed the Cleveland Indians in 1975 and 1976 while still playing. He also managed the San Francisco Giants, the Orioles and the Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals. He was the manager of the year with Baltimore in 1989.
I remember the Orioles of that era as Frank Robinson slugging home runs, Brooks Robinson stopping everything at third base, Mark Belanger and Davey Johnson covering the middle infield, Boog Powell looming large at first base, and Paul Blair roaming the outfield. Pitching? Try 20-game winners Dave McNally, Jim Palmer, Mike Cuellar, and Pat Dobson, in 1971.
This final Frank Robinson note: his basketball teammate in high school in Oakland was Bill Russell.
DON NEWCOMBE
I knew little about the big Brooklyn right hander, Don Newcombe, until I read “The Boys of Summer”, Roger Kahn’s 1972 classic in which he described the great and colorful characters who played for the Dodgers in the 1940s and 1950s and caught up with them after their careers were history. Newcombe, the hard-throwing ace of those teams, died last Tuesday. He was 92.
Don Newcombe played in the Negro Leagues and in 1949 followed Jackie Robinson to the Dodgers. He won 17 games that season and was the rookie of the year. He won 19 games in 1950 and 20 in 1951. After two years of compulsory military service and a sub-par 1954, Newcombe had the best two years of his career. He was 20-5 and helped the Dodgers win the 1955 World Series. He was 27-7 in 1956, when he was the National League MVP and recipient of the first Cy Young Award.
Newk’s career went downhill after that, partly due to alcoholism. He pitched until 1960 and retired with a career record of 149-90. He quit drinking in 1966 and devoted the rest of his life to helping others deal with substance abuse.
NICK CAFARDO
He never pitched a no-hitter in the big leagues or slammed a game-winning home run at Fenway Park, but Nick Cafardo wrote eloquently about those who did. A respected baseball writer and columnist for the Boston Globe for 30 years, Cafardo died Thursday after collapsing at the spring training facility of the Boston Red Sox. He was 62.
Thursday was his day off, but as Globe colleagues fondly remembered on Friday, Nick never took a day off. He was always on the lookout for a story idea, a quote, a tidbit for his popular baseball notes column.
In met Nick back in the 1980s when he wrote for the Patriot Ledger of Quincy, Mass. He was the most relaxed, easy-going, self-effacing, and kind writer covering sports in Boston at the time, and his work was excellent.
Nick did not change his demeanor when he joined the all-star lineup at the Globe, even as loud-mouthed, bombastic, egocentric know-it-alls wormed their way into the sports media market. He just continued to do his job, and do it better than most.
Condolences to Nick’s family and friends and to the ballplayers, managers and coaches from the minors to the majors who will miss his smile while they answer his good questions.
