Home / Full timeline / Frank Robinson becomes baseball’s first Black manager.
Frank Robinson becomes baseball’s first Black manager.
1974 (Oct 3)
Frank Robinson, the only man in baseball history to be named Most Valuable Player in both the American and National Leagues, was named baseball's first Black manager by the Cleveland Indians. During a press conference held to announce the appointment, Robinson said: “To say that this is a proud day for me would be an understatement. . . . If I had one wish in the world today, that wish would be to have Jackie Robinson here to see this happen. . . . I don't think I could have stood the pressure or have gone through what Jackie had to.” Jackie Robinson (no relation to Frank) became the major league's first Black baseball player in 1947. He died in 1972. Frank Robinson, as a professional player, had accumulated nearly 3,000 hits, including 574 home runs, before breaking the 105-year-old managerial color-line.
References:
- • Hornsby, Alton. Chronology of African-American History: Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, 1995.