As old-school ballplayers go, Wilbert Robinson had it all.  He had grit: In 1896, he caught all three games of a triple-header, and then followed it up by catching both games of a double-header the following day.  He had wit (when Jim Bottomley of the St. Louis Cardinals knocked in 12 runs against his Brooklyn Robins – who were in contention for a pennant – in one game, Wilbert asked, “Why did he have to save all those hits for us?  Couldn’t he have made some of them against (Giants’ manager John) McGraw?”)  He had talent (Bottomley’s feat didn’t just hurt the team Robinson was managing at the time — it also bested his own record of 11 RBI in a single game). 

But best of all, he had amazing facial hair.

Wilbert Robinson is in the Hall of Fame.  Less for his playing career, which spanned 17 years as a catcher with a few games at first base and in the outfield, and which included stints on two Baltimore Orioles teams – one that folded after the 1899 season and another that moved to New York, eventually to become the Yankees.  No, Uncle Robbie was inducted as a Manager after taking over the Brooklyn Robins in 1914.

His career numbers aren’t overly impressive – 1397 wins, 1395 losses, no World Series championships.  But in just his second year, he gave Brooklyn its first winning season in 11 years.  The next year, he took them to their first-ever World Series.  He’d take them again in 1920. 

Uncle Robbie was known for getting something out of nothing.  His grit, wit, and awesome facial hair could almost single-handedly turn Sherry Smith into Grover Alexander.  He was a great teacher, and that was due in large part to the fact that he was utterly and completely full of himself.

Which brings us to this day in Dodgers history.

March 12, 1915.  To prove a point to his players, who had improved by 10 games in his inaugural season as manager to finish 75-79, 5th in the National League, Wilbert mentioned that he could catch a ball dropped from an airplane.  The team was at Spring Training in Daytona Beach, Florida, and Robinson asked aviatrix Ruth Law to fly 525 feet over and drop the ball.

It would be a world record if he could do it.

Robins outfielder Casey Stengel, later a Hall of Fame manager himself, convinced Ruth to make a switch of sorts.  As the plane flew overhead, she dropped what appeared from the ground to be a ball.  Uncle Robbie, true to his mettle, fielded it cleanly.  The only problem was that Law had “forgotten” to bring a baseball, and had instead thrown a grapefruit, which exploded on impact with Robinson’s glove.

Robinson immediately felt the pulp all over him and was sure it was blood.  His screaming stopped, however, when he realized that his players were laughing.