This week in baseball history featured two late postseason award presentations to two of the legends of the game.
December 1, 1956:
On this date, Frank Robinson was awarded the National League Rookie of the Year Award. In his award winning breakout season, Robinson batted .290 with 38 home runs and 122 runs scored. He was the first man to win this prestigious award via a unanimous decision.
Robinson could have been described as reckless on the base paths. He is quoted as saying, “…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…” As evidenced by his quote, Robinson was a hard-nosed player who took the game to the next level when he played. He was a no nonsense, take no prisoners type of guy; an attitude that is foreign in the game of today.
Mandatory Credit: allposters.com
Robinson was a product of his time, a tough and rugged player. He exemplified this attitude from the moment he stepped in the box. His mentality went something like this: if he hits me, great, I get first base. If not, I will get a hit off him. In his rookie season, he led the league with 20 hit by pitches. By the end of his 21 years in the league, he would accumulate 198 free bags.
His accomplishments in Major League Baseball went beyond athletic feats. In 1975, he was named player-manager of the Cleveland Indians. When he was appointed to manage the lineup of the Indians, he became the first African American man to be manager of an American League club. Following his time with the Indians, Robinson went to the San Francisco Giants. With his job in the Bay Area, Robinson became the first African American manager in the National League. Robinson would manage until 2006, with a hiatus from 1992 to 2001. In his final season, he secured his 1,000th win as a manager.
December 2, 1948:
On this date, Stan “The Man” Musial was named the National League Most Valuable Player for the 1948 season. This honor was his third MVP award and would be the last of his his career.
In his third MVP season, Musial batted an astonishing .376 with 131 RBIs. He ended the season just one home run short of the Triple Crown. Musial is known for his awkward style of batting. He would essentially show the pitcher the number on his back. When the pitch was delivered, his body acted like a wound spring and unfurled as he made contact. He knew how to use his body to its maximum potential.
Mandatory Credit: MIKE GULETT
This awkward looking stance and subsequent swing led Musial to sixteen straight seasons of a .310 batting average or higher. Musial was a perennial All Star. He appeared in 24 of 25 All Star games from 1943 to 1963. The only year he missed the Mid-Summer Classic, was 1945, in which he was serving our country in the armed forces. His twenty-four appearances are second only to fellow legend of the game, Hank Aaron. While he did not win another MVP award after the 1948 season, he would constantly be in the discussion. From 1949 until 1952, he was second in MVP voting.
In his prestigious career, Musial was a part of four World Series and winner of three. All of these wins would come in the first six years of career, and he unfortunately would not taste October glory again. Musial will go down as one of the most dependable hitters of all time. His love for the game and exemplary character will live on in the history of the game as a testament to what a great baseball player should be.