Cleveland - Retired Indians manager Frank Robinson was honored Saturday by the team, 42 years after making history as the first African-American to become a player-manager in major league baseball.
Robinson, who is now 81 years old, went on to become the team's manager in 1977.
Robinson was joined by Tom Hamilton, Hank Aaron, Rick Manning and other baseball luminaries for the unveiling of a statue in his honor.
The statue will reside in Progressive Field's Heritage Park beyond the center-field wall.
Robinson played 21 seasons in the major leagues, playing for the Reds, Orioles, Dodgers, Angels and Indians.
He hit 586 home runs(10th all time), and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982.
He also managed for the San Francisco Giants, Baltimore Orioles, Montreal Expos and Washington Nationals.
Robinson thanked artist David Demming for the statue, joking that "you made me look good".
He spoke seriously about his role as a player-manager, saying he had a tough decision to make when he was asked to be both a player and manager at the same time.
But the decision turned out to be the right one, and he urged other African-American baseball players not to give up hope of achieving the same dream.
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