Transcript by Curtis Danburg
Senior Director, Communications
Cleveland Indians Baseball
(Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)
CLEVELAND, OH --- “The Cleveland Indians organization is deeply saddened by the passing of baseball legend Frank Robinson. Our organization and the City of Cleveland are proud to have played a role in Frank’s significant impact on the game when he became the first African-American manager in baseball history on April 8, 1975. The fact Frank hit a solo home run in his first at-bat that day as the Indians’ player-manager symbolizes his greatness as a Hall of Fame ballplayer. The entire Indians organization extends its thoughts and prayers to the Robinson family.”
The Indians unveiled a statue in his honor, which resides in Heritage Park at Progressive Field, and retired his uniform #20 on May 27, 2017.
Robinson played 21 seasons in the Majors, for the Reds, Orioles, Dodgers, Angels and Indians. He hit 586 home runs – 10 th all time – and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982. He served two years as player-manager with the Indians (1975-76) and was exclusively manager in 1977. He also managed for the San Francisco Giants, Baltimore Orioles, Montreal Expos and Washington Nationals.