Orioles Had Room for Dignity, If Not Robinson : Commentary: After last week’s firing, ex-Baltimore star player, manager and front office executive vows he will never work for the team again.

Understand, Pat Gillick has every right to pick his own assistant general manager. But that doesn’t excuse the series of humiliations the Orioles inflicted on Frank Robinson this year. Last week’s firing was the final chapter, that’s all.

The news came as no surprise--Gillick, the new GM, wants to bring in his own people, and Robinson had said he probably would resign. But it defies logic, the way the Orioles mistreated one of their legends.

Logic, and common decency.

They twisted him, twisted him and twisted him some more. Robinson said he’ll never work for the Orioles again. He should maintain his pride, and never participate in another club function, either.

Robinson wanted to stay and work for Gillick in a meaningful position. Even last Monday, he refused to criticize club officials. He merely laid out the events of the past six months, and it was damning enough.

Owner Peter Angelos should have just accepted Robinson’s resignation a month ago, but he never handles these things gracefully. The only consolation is that with Robinson gone, the purge of the old regime finally is complete, and Gillick and Davey Johnson should be secure for years to come.

Technically, Robinson wasn’t fired, just like technically, he wasn’t fired as manager in 1991. That time, the Orioles re-assigned him to the front office. This time, they refused to renew his contract.

Heaven forbid anyone admit they fired Frank Robinson--a Hall of Fame player, the game’s first black manager and a larger-than-life figure who helped make the Orioles what they are today.

Angelos couldn’t figure out what to do with him, that’s for sure. Robinson said the Orioles proposed not one, not two, but three different positions in the past six months--including, yes, the general manager’s.

Earlier this summer, Robinson said club counsel Russell Smouse walked into his office and said, “The job pays $300,000. Think about it.” At that moment, Robinson believed he was about to replace Roland Hemond as GM.

“I knew what the salary was; they couldn’t have been talking about any other job but GM,” Robinson said. “I didn’t think I’d get the job that day. But I thought it might happen in a short period of time.”

It didn’t. Hemond completed the season as GM, then resigned Oct. 20, rather than get fired. Robinson said that he recently asked Angelos if he indeed was under consideration for GM when he had his conversation with Smouse, and that Angelos told him yes, he was.

Angelos was out of the country. Smouse declined comment.

Rather than become GM, Robinson remained an assistant and became a part-time hitting coach--an interesting switch, to say the least. Robinson said the O’s asked him to replace Lee May full-time in August, but he refused.

“That was not showing any respect for Lee May,” Robinson said. “I told them I would not do that.”

May and every coach but Elrod Hendricks was fired after the Orioles named Johnson manager on Oct. 30. Shortly before that, Robinson said he was offered another job by Angelos--vice chairman of baseball operations.

“The position would have put me above Gillick, but the authority was not there,” Robinson said. “That was the whole thing I was looking at. I wanted my responsibilities spelled out. But I was offered the job.”

Why didn’t he take it?

“I didn’t want to jump into something without knowing what the duties were. I didn’t just want a title. I didn’t want to just sit here and draw a paycheck.

“I wanted the duties spelled out, that’s all. Give me a fair chance to see what it is, what the length of contract is, what the pay would be, put it all out there so I could make a decision.

“I could never get that from Peter, although he kept saying, ‘That’s the job for you.’ ”

Evidently, Angelos figured that if the San Diego Padres hired Robinson, the matter would fade quietly--no firing, no embarrassment, no mess.

So, why didn’t he just accept Robinson’s resignation?

Maybe he wanted to keep Robinson if he didn’t find a GM as qualified as Gillick. Maybe he was simply caught off-guard.

“I don’t know,” Robinson said. “You’d have to ask them. I don’t know if they’d tell you.

“My feeling was, they wanted to hold on to me and see which way they’re going to go. If they went with a young guy, or a guy who doesn’t know the league, they would have kept me here. Since they didn’t, it’s out the door.”

Whatever, Robinson said that Angelos never made his position clear, and that in the past several weeks, they barely spoke at all.

On Nov. 16, Padres president Larry Lucchino called Robinson to inform him that the team was promoting scouting director Kevin Towers to GM. Robinson said he tried to contact Angelos three times the next day, but each time was told the owner was tied up, and would return the call.

Angelos never did, according to Robinson. After Thanksgiving, Robinson said Angelos told him an offer was forthcoming. But then the Orioles hired Gillick on Nov. 27.

Robinson can’t argue he deserved to be GM over Gillick. He wanted to stay in the organization, but in his prepared statement, he said, “I understand that any time a new person comes in, they have the right to bring in their own people.”

That’s life in baseball.

Except this is Frank Robinson.

“I don’t bleed Baltimore orange, but I am an Oriole, through and through,” Robinson said. “I will be, no doubt about that. I’ll continue to be an Oriole, although I’m sure I’ll never work for the Orioles again.

“I’ve been here a long time. I’ve enjoyed my relationship with the city, the fans, the ballclub, the organization. It hurts to have to walk away from it.”

Was Robinson angry at anyone?

“Probably at myself,” he said.

Why?

His voice cracked.

“Because I’ve given so much of myself to this organization. I just don’t want it to end.”