The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-04-14
/ AEKING
IT OVER
BY JOE WILLIAMS
BY DANIEL.
BY DANIEL,
New York World Telegram Sports Writer
substituting for Joe Williams.
he gs


who is III.
NEW YORK, April 14-It's
IN far cry from supporting the
hind end Of drum in the Hudson
(Mass) silver cornet band TO fight
ing for the pennant in the National
League. But Wilbert Robinson, bet
ter known as Uncle Robbie, said
that he faced the championship
race into which he will lead his
Dodgers in Boston today with
confidence greater than anything
he could muster when he was
named the one and only juvenile
assistant to Hudson's aggregation
Of harmony barriers.
This is Robbie's seventeenth season as
pilot of the Dodgers. He has won two
pennants for Brooklyn. He thought be
had a third in his grasp last summer.
Starting races should be a more or less
automatic ritual with the fa;stafian boss
Of the fatbush dugouts. But your Uncle
wiIbert confesses that when he marches
out to the hagpole at Braves field today 1t
viii be with a little tug at the heart
strings and a bow to the romance of the
game.
For be It known this IS Uncle Robbies
golden jubilee in baseball. This is his
hftieth year in a game which has been the
very breath Of life TO him. Not even old
Connie Mack boasts record Of longer
service. It was back in 1882 that Robbie
broke in as catcher on the Hudson nine.
He was 1a years old then and already the
pattern for the broad-shouldered. thick
set. mustachioed hero was TO make his
mark with the famous Orioles Of Balti-
more.
The pay was somewhat precarious In
those days. Hudson was of the beaten
highway Of plentitude Of ready cash
Those with ambition in Hudson looked
toward Boston. But Robbie and bis
catcher's mask never got far as the
Hub. They stopped at Haverhill. Mass.
in 1885. when Robbie made his debut as
p real Lacquer. One season in the minors
suffleed for Uncle WIlbert. In 1886 he
Joined the Athletics, of the American As
ISOLATION and started out on a major
league playing career that lasted seven
teen years.
TT was forty-hve years ago-on
i April 10, 1886, to be ezact-that
Uncle Robbie played his first big
league game. He caught Ed Ken
needy in a contest with the Metro
politans at Philadelphia, and Rob
bic got a single. Not so hot-but
not so bad when you consider that
Ed Cushman of the New Yorks al
lowed the Athletic club only three
hits.
That day Connie Mack was breaking in
4. Va
tionaIs. The Chicago Colts were the talk
OF the country. John J. McGraw was
kid OF 10, trying to pitch on The sehoo,
nine at Truxton, n. Y. Roger Conner of
the Giants was the champion batsman;
John CIarksOn and King Kelly were the
most talked of battery; Malcolm W. Ford.
Of the New York A. c.. was the sensation
in amateur athletics. Dick Sears had won
his nth national tennis championship. and
Memorial day parades showed solid ranks |
Of husky veterans Of the civil wa.
The Athletics. then the Orioles season
with st. Louis then two years with Baltl-
more in the American League and Robhie's |
DAYS as a major player were finished in |
1902 He went back to the minors. with |
Baltimore. in the Eastern League. Then
he retired to his meat market. only to
be brought back by his old pal McGraW.
who wanted him to work with the Giant
pitchers.
And in 1915. after Charley Ebbets and |
the McKeevers had failed to lure Hughey /
Jennings away from Detroit, rney asked !
Mac to let Robbie come to BROOKLYN. And |
there your Uncle Wilbert has been ever
since. fighting through dark days and
gIorying in lustrous ones-and always |
thorn in the sides of the Giants.
Il Il
90 you see it's not just another |
- season for Wilbert Robinson.
You can discern why. as he nears
his sixty-seventh birthday, Uncle
Robbie feels romance and drama
embelhshing his effort to bring a
third world series into Brooklyn.
No tired old man is this Manager Rob-
inson as he starts what some believe will
be his last year as pilot of the Dodgers. |
His golden iubilee-and. in his estimation. |
his golden ball club. OF all the teams he
has managed. this 1881 combination is the |
greatest says Robbie. The 1882 bunch /
had held that distinction but with Frank
ODouI and Fresco Thompson adding |
power and gaiety to the ensemble Robbie
holds that the current outfit is the king
of them all.
Yes. some say he'll retire next fall, come |
what may But that's hard to believe. |
He'd like to stick until he is 10. meet Mack |
in a world series in 1884 and. hand in |
hand. march off the field into the grand |
stand. content to let Younger men pick UP |
the reinS.
However. Robbie win have to consult |
Connie on that. Mack, who is So, has no
idea Of quitting by 1884. In fact, some of
the experts say that with players like Nc
nair, Williams and Higgins, Connie is
planning for the world series of 1885.
Robbie actually is confident that he's I
going to win this year In fact. he is /
rather astounded that the experts have |
not given his club a higher rating in the |
advance dope. He's somewhat nettled. as
are many of his athletes, that the con
sensus ranks the Cardinals. Giants and |
Cubs over the Dodgers.
But the dope shouldn't bother Robbie or
his men. They knocked 1t away last year.
when they came within an ace of taking
the flag. Fifty years in baseball-and
world series! That wouldn't be bad for /
YOUR Uncle Robbie--far and away the best |
drum carrier the Hudson river cornet band
ever had.
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