Frank Robinson, Hall of Famer and first African-American to manage a big league team, dies at 83
LOS ANGELES - Hall of Fame outfielder Frank Robinson, the only major leaguer to be named most valuable player in both the National and American leagues and the first African-American to manage in the big leagues, died Thursday in Los Angeles after a long illness, according to Major League Baseball. He was 83.
Robinson rose from the sandlots of Oakland to become one of baseball's most feared sluggers - his 586 home runs rank 10th on baseball's all-time list.
Robinson, who was inducted into baseball's Hall of Fame in 1982, spent more than 50 years in baseball, 21 as a big league player from 1956 to 1976, 16 as a manager for four franchises, and more than a dozen in a variety of executive roles, most recently as a senior vice president for the MLB.
He left his most indelible mark as a player, a wiry strong, 6-foot-1, 184-pound power hitter who had
