Recently I've been rediscovering some of the ancient baseball books on my bookshelf. "Baseball Stars of 1965" comprises profiles of a number of memorable (Hank Aaron, Al Kaline, Mickey Mantle) and not-so-memorable (Juan Pizarro? Wally Bunker??) players.
But the one that stood out for me was that of Frank Robinson. Turns out he and I have a lot in common. For one, he is the youngest of 11 children, as am I.
OK, so that's the only thing we have in common.
Still, I was touched by his story of being misunderstood and underrated for the first nine years of his career, despite putting up numbers that would eventually pave his way to Cooperstown. The writer was both empathetic and critical, and the article prompted me to write the following letter to Mr. Robinson:
