The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-12-23
TALKING
IT OVER
BY JOE WILLIAMS

NEW YORK, Dec. 23.-It begins
IN to look as if your Uncle Will
bert Robinson won't be in baseball
at all next season. Nobody has
made a move to lure him back
since the Brooklyns gave him the
bounce. I had a notion the old guy
would catch on somewhere as a
manager, or at worst as a head
coach, but most of these spots have
been taken over, and now for the
first time IN fifty years your Uncle
Wilbert finds himself out of the
parade
1t isn't precisely a situation to
provoke sentiment, because he + S
all the dough he will ever need,
but somehow the baseball picture
looks incomplete without his large,
jovial personality.
And nothing else has ever meant any
thing to Robinfon except maybe his BIRD
dogs and his shot gun, and. on occasions,
q little hot rum. Hes down at Dover Hall
in Georgia now waddlinR over the red claY
bills with his hounds lust as he has been
doing for many winters. but his associates
tell me much Of his old Falstahian gayety
is gone. No.,
IN LNe past kIlb was luSb oDAAEk AAAAAS "
do until the teams started south in the
spring Now it Is the beginning Of new
welcome the chance to yet away from the
grief and tinsel glory of the thing but APP
parentlv these old war bosses aren't built
that way They want to hang around IN
iii the show is completely over. -.
Robbies getting along IN yeaTs: M agt1
be mighty b close , 10 seY Sa or managns
bali PLAYERS II he had his old sense Of
fun left he'd probably crack; r a@ind 10 q
I suppose after fifty years Of ANYTHING
y Rf bad in to- y0g Take rb o0S sea to
good his promise not TO plaY oal again.
and he was lust a fledgling With Az, only
feel the urge in much the same way. Most
all Of them come back. or yearn TO; For
johnny Dundee always carried his trunks
with him on trips out Of town N some
vav IT seemed to make MN 1eel that nc
was still swimming up stream.
n n
ID OBBIE was large part of the
N baseball life in Flatbush for
seventeen years. Considering his
245 pounds he would be a large
part of any kind of life anywhere.
Everybody knew him across the
bridge-knew him simply and
warmly as Robbie. He argued base
ball with the kids on the corner. He
stopped in traffic to justify his
pitching selections with a contro-
Versial neighbor.
He symboized perfectly the rapturous
emotion and intensity anywhere in Ameri-
ca In short he was Just the guy ICr
Flatbush and Flatbush was ust tne SpoC
for him. They made grand combina-
The new manager Max Carey. belongs to
aggressive and probably a better leader.
Whether he will be able TO ut snuglY INTO
the delightful scheme OF things across
very likely he will. but in the beginning
it is going to be a strange experience on
hate to see Robbie pass altogether
because he was one OF the lew remaining
Tomanticists OF the game. He went about
sublime faith that he had as a YoungSter
when he starred behind the bat with the
'q He - didn't believe in rules or anything
else much and always he was an optimist.
ao s 1 To bed pI or what thew did as long as
they showed I'D to play ball the next DAY.
That's the way they did things in tne
General SSG Tsif u @ S. Grant. It was good enough
for Wilbert Robinson.
n
NF course that was bad and most
" of his men repaid him by set
ting new records for hilarity. They
tell me the way they finally got
Robbie out of his job in Flatbush
was to prevent an affidavit signed
by another club owner that the
whole ball club showed up in bad
shape for a game in Cincinnati.
Up to that time Robbie seemed assured
OF another wear at least as the boss al
though he was never the unanimous choice
OF the directors. Half Of them wanted
Situation existed for several years and the
chickering's between the rival factions. al
Wavs loud and blatant. added 10 the gem