WILBERT ROBINSON
“UNCLE ROBBIE”
STAR CATCHER FOR THE FAMOUS
BALTIMORE ORIOLES ON PENNANT CLUBS
OF 1894, 95 AND 96, HE LATER WON FAME
AS MANAGER OF THE BROOKLYN DODGERS
FROM 1914 THROUGH 1931. SET A RECORD OF
7 HITS IN 7 TIMES AT BAT IN SINGLE GAME.
Robinson got those 7 hits on June 10, 1892. He also drove in 11 runs in that game, a record that stood for 32 years, when Jim Bottomley of the Cardinals drove in 12 against a Dodger team managed by Robinson.
During spring training in 1915 Uncle Robbie had stated that he could out do Gabby Street’s feat of catching a baseball thrown from the top of the Washington Monument. A feat that he claimed was no big deal. With the aid of Ruth Law a famous aviatrix, it was decided that she would drop a baseball from the height of approx. 525 feet into the waiting mitt of Uncle Robbie. Instead of a baseball Ruth dropped a grapefruit out of her plane instead. Some claim that Casey Stengel came up with the idea, while Law claims that she just forget the baseball, and used a grapefruit that was readily available.
When Robbie caught the object he saw falling from the plane, he was splattered with warm juice from the grapefruit. The impact knocked him to the ground whereupon he exclaimed: "Help me, lads, I’m covered with my own blood." He knew he was alright when his teammates broke out in laughter.
