He Always Said He’d Pay to Play This Game

Frank Robinson, who received the Willie Mays Award at the Professional Baseball Scouts Foundation dinner at the Beverly Hilton on Saturday night, started his 21-year major league career in 1956 with the Cincinnati Redlegs. The scout who signed him was Bobby Mattick.

“He told my mother he thought he could get me signed for $3,500,� Robinson said. “My mother said, ‘That’s fine, but I don’t think I have $3,500.’ �

Trivia time: Robinson was named 1966 American League MVP in his first season with the Baltimore Orioles after being traded, making him the only player to accomplish what feat?

The right answer: Of his wife Barbara, Robinson said, “When I first met her, she went back to the telephone company she was working for in L.A. and told everyone she had met someone who played right guard. It took her a while to figure out I played right field.�

Price was alarming: Curt Schilling, who also was honored Saturday night, broke into the majors in 1988 with the Orioles, where Robinson was the manager.

Of Schilling, Robinson said, “I remember him telling me about buying a new Corvette with a $6,000 stereo and a $10,000 alarm system. He said if the car was ever stolen, his phone would ring in his apartment.�

Robinson said that he told Schilling, “Yeah, and the person calling would say, ‘Thanks for the wheels, Curt.’ �

A better system: Tom Lasorda, who served as emcee Saturday night, often talks about the time he got a new Cadillac with a high-tech alarm system.

“If someone stole your car, you could call them and they could lock all the doors and trap the thief inside,� he said. “So I started calling them whenever my wife went shopping.�

Getting even: Schilling, during his turn at the podium, said, “When I first came up to the Orioles, the guys in the bullpen told me there was a pool for what inning Frank would fall asleep in the dugout. I thought it was one of those things like telling a new bat boy to go find the key to the batter’s box.

“Well, there really was a such a pool. The first time I entered it, I picked the bottom of the third. We had a set of binoculars out there to watch Frank, and sure enough, he nodded off in the bottom of the third and I was the winner.�

Proper attire: Schilling, noting that he broke a button on his shirt on his way to the dinner, said, “I was panicked about it until I realized I’d be in a room with baseball scouts, the worst-dressed group ever.�

Trivia answer: Robinson, who was the National League MVP in 1961 while with Cincinnati, became the only major leaguer to win MVP honors in both leagues.

And finally: Lasorda, on how dinner organizer Dennis Gilbert got him to emcee the event: “Dennis asked me if I loved my country and believed in the Constitution. I said, ‘Yes, of course.’ And he said, ‘So you believe in free speech?’ I said, ‘Of course.’ He said, ‘Then how about making one for the scouts?’ �

Larry Stewart can be reached at [email protected].