Frank Robinson

“But I'm not going to walk Barry Bonds, like some teams do, in the first inning with nobody on.”

“I haven't seen a player in this game, as long as I've been in it, that can't be pitched to... Barry is an outstanding ballplayer. I respect him an awful lot. I also have confidence in my pitchers that they can pitch to Barry Bonds and get him out.”

“Close don't count in baseball. Close only counts in horseshoes and grenades.”

“If the guys on the bench were as good as the guys you have out there, they'd be out there in first place.”

“I always tried to do the best. I knew I couldn't always be the best, but I tried to be.”

“I've never seen baseball advertise for a job, and I've never heard of whites applying for a job. I mean, there's an old boy network, and it's lily white.”

“If he can hit, he can hit. I don't care if he came from Class Z league.”

“All in all, I wouldn't call it a bad outing. It was a short outing.”

“I wanted to show Baltimore that they were getting a good ballplayer.”

“It's nice to come into a town and be referred to as the manager of the Cleveland Indians instead of as the first black manager.”

“As a black, you find you have to be two or three times better than a white even to play. And when it comes to front-office jobs, management believes you'll never be as good.”

“I played with some outstanding players.”

“People come out to see the players. When do you see a manager anyway? When he's out on the field arguing with the umpires, making a fool of himself and you know you can't win, and when he brings out the line-up card.”

“The fan is the one who suffers. He cheers a guy to a .350 season then watches that player sign with another team. When you destroy fan loyalties, you destroy everything.”

“No, I don't think my presence will cause an increase in black attendance at Cleveland.”

“Al Campanis made people finally understand what goes on behind closed doors - that there is racism in baseball.”

“The way we're going... if I called up another pitcher, he'd just hang up the phone on me.”

“It was a breaking period for black people coming into baseball, and how many followed depended on Jackie's conduct. But that's not the case now. What and how I do doesn't mean nearly as much as what and how Jackie did.”

“Managers don't have as much leverage as they used to have. We can't really be the boss.”

“You have to have a short memory as a closer.”