The Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers have a long, illustrious history.
True, the “Bums,” as they are still sometimes lovingly called, did not win a World Series until 1955, but baseball was first played in the borough in 1856, when the Brooklyn Atlantic first took the field.
Since 1913, when Ebbets Field opened at 55 Sullivan Place, at the corner of Sullivan and McKeever in the Flatbush section of New York, the Dodgers have had a rich history of colorful managers.
In fact, the captain’s chair of the Dodger franchise has been, except for the years 1932-38, 1947-53, and 1996—present, astoundingly stable at Ebbets Field and Dodger Stadium.
Casey Stengel stopped by for a disastrous three year period (1934-36), finishing a combined 78 games behind the league leaders.
Leo Durocher won 100 games and a pennant in 1941...yet won 104 games and was in second place the following season.
Walter Alston famously amassed over 2,000 wins in 23 seasons with the Blue Crew, despite never having more than a one-year contract.
A multi-year pact for their managers simply was not the Dodger way.
Tommy Lasorda won two World Series titles (1981 and 1988, making the Dodgers the only major league franchise to win two WS in the 1980's) and became famous the world over for “bleeding Dodger blue.”
Yet through it all, perhaps the most beloved and colorful of all the Dodger field generals was Uncle Robbie, Wilbert Robinson, from 1914 until 1931.
Robinson was born June 29, 1863 in Bolton, Massachusetts. After a little more than a year on the farm, he was called up to the majors in 1886 with the Philadelphia Athletics. He remained in the bigs until 1902.
He was a catcher by trade, and renowned as a good one.
During his playing days, he was known for bleeding the absolute maximum out of his pitchers, and for being an important member of the triumvirate (along with fiery third baseman John McGraw and shortstop Hughie Jennings) that led one of the earliest baseball dynasties (the three-time NL pennant winning Baltimore Orioles of 1894-’96).
Through it all, Robinson was a hard-charging competitor on the field, but a congenial teammate and ice-breaker off it.
William Prince, who had the pleasure of managing Billy Rob, as he was then known, at Haverhill in the Eastern New England League in 1885, had this to say in a 1913 interview about his 22-year-old catcher:
“Robinson was a great catcher from the first day we placed him behind the bat, but to my mind his greatest quality was, and is, his personality," Prince began. “His good nature was a sure remedy to drive away all the blues.
“No cliques could last while Robbie (as he was known by 1913) was around. He taught us to look at all such things as a joke, and drew us together as a sociable, harmonious club.”
A strapping 5’8” and 215 pounds, Robinson came into his own after being acquired by the Orioles. Though Wee Willie Keeler—known for his battle strategy of “hit ’em where they ain’t”—and Jennings were the offensive stalwarts, McGraw and Robinson were the heart and soul of the team.
Robinson hit .312 in his seven years with the O’s, including a career-high and league leading .353 in 1894. Through it all, he kept the pitching staff together, and often directed the goings-on of his teammates, acting as a manager on the field.
He had perhaps the greatest single day in baseball history on June 10, 1892, when he slashed seven hits in as many at-bats, and drove in 11 runs.
The single-game hit record remains to this day (tied by Pittsburgh’s Rennie Stennett in 1975), though Sunny Jim Bottomley of the St. Louis Cardinals has since broken the RBI record (12 on September 16, 1924, ironically enough against Robbie’s Dodgers).
Robbie managed the Orioles for half of one season, 1902, and retired.
After his retirement from the game, Robbie was out of baseball for several years, before his old friend, McGraw, came calling for a part-time pitching coach in 1909. He accepted a full-time coaching gig with the Giants in 1911, and was responsible for developing Rube Marquard, Joe McGinnity, Jeff Tesreau, and Al Demaree, among others.
McGraw and Robinson had a bitter falling out after the Giants lost the 1913 World Series to the A’s. McGraw got drunk and blamed Robbie’s work as third-base coach for the defeat in Game Seven; Robbie shot back that McGraw’s managing had been equally as lousy.
“This is my party. Get the hell outta here!” McGraw snarled.
Robinson left, but not before depositing a glass of beer on his estranged friend’s head.
When Brooklyn inked him as their field manager about a month later, a blood feud was born.
Robinson managed a National League Pennant in 1916, going 94-60, and his second and last in 1920 (93-61). For the most part, he simply did not have enough talent on the field to compete with the Giants, Cardinals and the rest of the Senior Circuit.
His teams actually finished fifth-place or worse 12 times in his 18 years at the helm, including 10-of-11 seasons from 1921 to 1931 (except 1924, when they shockingly went 92-62 and only finished 1.5 games out of first).
Yet, more than once the Robins (as the Dodgers were often called during Robinson's years at the helm, in homage to their manager) played spoiler to the Giants’ hopes.
Robbie’s easygoing ways were transferred to his team. It is generally conceded that his laid-back style led to lax discipline and sloppiness. By the end of his tenure as Dodger skipper, the team was derisively referred to as “Uncle Robbie's Daffiness Boys.”
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