In the hitting-lean 1966 season, Frank Robinson led the Baltimore Orioles to an AL pennant and then later to a World Championship over the Los Angeles Dodgers. He had help of course, from a quite studly Oriole pitching staff plus some helpful glovework from his “brother” Brooks Robinson.
But it was F Robbie who was true offensive powerhouse on the ‘66 Orioles. Playing right field and batting third most of the year, he not only won the AL MVP award but also accomplished the coveted Triple Crown. Robinson led the AL with 49 homers, 122 rbis and a .316 batting average. He also led the AL with 122 runs scored as well.
| Split | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | BB | SO | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1966 Totals | 155 | 680 | 576 | 122 | 182 | 34 | 2 | 49 | 122 | 8 | 87 | 90 | .316 | .410 | .637 |
APBA gave Robinson power numbers 1-1-0-0-0 with six ones in the second column. Six ones may not seem like a whole lot until you consider that’s behind three zeros in addition to his two first column ones. One thing to note: Robbie may have had eight stolen bases but they’re all represented in his second column. That’s a blessing and a curse, I guess. No helpful speed numbers at 15 but at least I won’t be getting “just a single” when rolling in the extras.
In addition to his five power numbers, 1966 Robinson does enjoy a 55-7 due to his .316 batting average. His last hit number is a 35-9 and he has four walks. He doesn’t have any speed numbers at 15 or 25.
Fun numbers: 44-0, 55-7, and 23-40
Watch out for the double plays, though. As tempting as it is to bat F Robbie in the middle of the order, he does have three 24s. On the opposite end of things, he might make up for it with a 53-15 and a 64-22 which gets him plunked with a runner on first.
In researching Robinson for this article, I ran across this fantastic YouTube video series which highlights the 1966 World Series between the Baltimore Orioles and the Los Angeles Dodgers. There’s some really good footage here. If you’re like me, you enjoy viewing this kind of thing.
I’ll be happily rolling for this Frank Robinson card when I take the 1966 Baltimore Orioles to the Chicagoland APBA World Series Tournament. Where he bats in the lineup for me is yet to be decided. I’ll wait to see what Sgt. Dan has to suggest when he advises me on a lineup.
I just 14 years old when this classic series was played. It was the quickest 4 game WS sweep ever.
I had the 1979 Fred Lynn card on my team. We had open draft with 12 teams. That card was a monster card. As I remember the power #s were 1,6,1,6,6 and a 7 on 55. The reason I enjoyed the card so much is I rolled a 44 with a man on 3rd 5 times that season! It didn’t happen on the other 6s. That was in a 135 game season. Lynn’s card produced 45 HRs for me. That was the only time in one of our seasons where someone out produced there cards real season total. The only player card that came close was Kingman the same season. The year he hit 48 he card produced 46. Keep in mind we only played 135 games. I lost all my seasons 1975 – 1994. Plus the origin franchises set, My favorite.