I played with some outstanding players.
— Frank Robinson
During the years I was still playing, I would go to Puerto Rico in the winter and manage. When the day came, I had the experience without having to go to the minor leagues for four or five years and then wait for an opportunity. Still, there's a double standard. Some whites, like Pete Rose, Joe Torre and Ted Williams, never had to go to the minors.
Al Campanis made people finally understand what goes on behind closed doors - that there is racism in baseball.
All in all, I wouldn't call it a bad outing. It was a short outing.
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.
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.
No. 1, these guys out here on this field. They keep my energy level up. They try hard, they don't complain about things - and I'd just like to be with them when things are good, and hopefully we can win a pennant together.
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.
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 wanted to show Baltimore that they were getting a good ballplayer.
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 always tried to do the best. I knew I couldn't always be the best, but I tried to be.
I just didn't have anything to say, so I said nothing.
But I'm not going to walk Barry Bonds, like some teams do, in the first inning with nobody on.
No, I don't think my presence will cause an increase in black attendance at Cleveland.
At least when it's in French, I won't know what the heck they're saying.
Pitchers did me a favor when they knocked me down. It made me more determined. I wouldn't let that pitcher get me out. They say you can't hit if you're on your back, but I didn't hit on my back. I got up.
Close don't count in baseball. Close only counts in horseshoes and grenades.
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.
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.
The way we're going... if I called up another pitcher, he'd just hang up the phone on me.
You have to have a short memory as a closer.
If he can hit, he can hit. I don't care if he came from Class Z league.
Managers don't have as much leverage as they used to have. We can't really be the boss.
I know a lot of people on the field - players, coaches, managers - are glad that I'm gone.
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.
