Frank Robinson Quotes

• Be anything you want to be, but don't be dull.

  Frank Robinson

  Writing, Dull, Want

  39 Copy quote

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

  Frank Robinson

  Sports, Baseball, Horseshoes

  Quoted in Time, 31 July 1973. Usually attributed to Robinson, but slightly earlier evidence is found in the Guthrian (Guthrie County, Iowa), 26 Jan. 1970, which printed "Close only counts in horse shoes and grenades."

  90 Copy quote

• Whether you're trying to excel in athletics or in any other field, always practice. Look, listen, learn - and practice, practice, practice. There is no substitute for work, no shortcut to the top.

  Frank Robinson

  Basketball, Practice, Trying

  13 Copy quote

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

  Frank Robinson

  Sports, Being The Best, Do The Best

  Biography/Personal Quotes, www.imdb.com.

  10 Copy quote

• 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.

  Frank Robinson

  Sports, Favors, Determined

  Biography/Personal, www.imdb.com.

  16 Copy quote

• I had no trouble communicating, the player's just didn't like what I had to say.

  Frank Robinson

  Player, Trouble, Communicate

  7 Copy quote

• I don't see why you reporters keep confusing Brooks (Robinson) and me. Can't you see that we wear different numbers.

  Frank Robinson

  Numbers, Confusing, Different

  "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

  9 Copy quote

• I don't see anyone playing in the major leagues today (1982) who combines both the talent and the intensity that I had. I always tried to do the best. I knew I couldn't always be the best, but I tried to be.

  Frank Robinson

  League, Today, Talent

  4 Copy quote

• Listen, I was the first black manager in baseball and there was incredible pressure. I don't blame anyone else. I was too tough . . . I lack patience. I probably got on guys a little too hard, with the wrong tone of voice.

  Frank Robinson

  Baseball, Voice, Guy

  8 Copy quote

• 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.

  Frank Robinson

  Sports, Loyalty, Cheer

  Biography/Personal, www.imdb.com.

  7 Copy quote

• Probably the most dramatic change in pitching I've observed in my years in baseball has been the disappearance of the knockdown or brushback pitch. This is why record numbers of home runs are flying out of ballparks, why earned run averages are soaring, and why there are so few twenty game winners in the majors.

  Frank Robinson

  Baseball, Running, Home

  "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

  9 Copy quote

• The baselines belongs to the runner, and whenever I was running the bases, I always slid hard. I wanted infielders to have that instant's hesitation about coming across the bag at second or about standing in there awaiting a throw to make a tag. There are only 27 outs in a ballgame, and it was my job to save one for my team every time I possibly could.

  Frank Robinson

  Running, Jobs, Team

  "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

  4 Copy quote

• 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.

  Frank Robinson

  Sports, Nice, Black

  Biography/Personal, www.imdb.com.

  24 Copy quote

• 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.

  Frank Robinson

  Sports, Confidence, Player

  8 Copy quote

• I just didn't have anything to say, so I said nothing.

  Frank Robinson

  Sports, Said

  4 Copy quote

• I have heard of managers who encourage players not to slide hard for fear they will get hurt and be lost from the lineup for a time. That is why you occasionally see a player go into second base on a double-play ball and not even bother to slide. I wonder, could Ty Cobb
  sit though plays like that and hold his lunch?

  Frank Robinson

  Hurt, Player, Lunch

  "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

  4 Copy quote

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

  Frank Robinson

  Sports, Guy, Benches

  8 Copy quote

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

  Frank Robinson

  Sports, Team, Ties

  7 Copy quote

• 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.

  Frank Robinson

  Sports, Winning, Guy

  4 Copy quote

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

  Frank Robinson

  Sports, Phones, Way

  4 Copy quote

• There's absolutely no way you can go barreling into second and dump a guy on a double play, like you should do, when you've been fraternizing with him before a game.

  Frank Robinson

  Games, Play, Guy

  Biography/Personal Quotes, www.imdb.com.

  4 Copy quote

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

  Frank Robinson

  4 Copy quote

• You have to have a short memory as a closer.

  Frank Robinson

  Memories, Short Memory

  7 Copy quote

• I expect that [trying to do the best] of my players today and of my kids. My wife says I shouldn't expect that of my children, but I don't think that's asking too much.

  Frank Robinson

  Children, Kids, Thinking

  4 Copy quote

• I know a lot of people on the field - players, coaches, managers - are glad that I'm gone.

  Frank Robinson

  Player, People, Gone

  7 Copy quote

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