Orioles’ Frank Robinson Named Manager of Year

Frank Robinson, who guided the Baltimore Orioles to one of the greatest turnarounds in baseball history, today was named Associated Press Manager of the Year.

Robinson got 69 points and Don Zimmer of the Chicago Cubs had 51 in nationwide voting by sportswriters and broadcasters. No other manager reached double figures.

“It’s an honor, but often times the people who deserve the credit aren’t the ones who get the awards,” Robinson said. “I sincerely mean that. The players are the ones who did the job; the organization got me the players and the coaches taught them. I just oversaw the process.”

Robinson, however, gave the young Orioles the hope and spirit that got them within one weekend of becoming the only team to go from last place to first in one season.

Baltimore went 54-107 in 1988, the worst record in the majors. Robinson, a Hall of Fame player with the Orioles from 1966 to 1971, was promoted from coach to manager after the Orioles began the year with six straight losses.

This season, with a pitching staff built around rookies and shortstop Cal Ripken the only proven star, the Orioles went 87-75 and came within two games of Toronto in the American League East.

Baltimore was expected to finish no higher than next-to-last. Instead, the Orioles moved into first place early in the season and stayed there until Sept. 1, when Toronto caught them.

The teams dueled down the stretch. Baltimore went into a season-ending, three-game series at the SkyDome trailing by one game, and the Blue Jays rallied to win the first two and clinch the division title.

The baby Birds played like veterans, cool and confident, and Robinson, impatient and temperamental as manager in San Francisco and Cleveland, led the transformation.

“What I brought to the process was a philosophy that we would play every game like it was the seventh game of the World Series,” Robinson said. “We would go out and play hard every day. I asked for a total team effort and they responded.”

Later today, Kevin Mitchell, who led the major leagues with 47 home runs, was named AP Player of the Year.