Wood vs. Wood #350

Last time it was a 6-0 win for 1987. Will 1962 fare better here?

Frank Robinson looks like he's admiring a home run he just hit, something he did more than almost anyone else. Outfielder Frank Robinson was one of the best players in the major leagues in his ten seasons with the Reds from 1956 to 1965. He hit at least 29 home runs in nine of the ten seasons, hitting .303 with 324 HR and 1,009 RBI in his decade in Cincinnati. After the '65 season, calling Robinson "an old 30", the Reds gambled that Robinson was past his prime and traded him to Baltimore, despite coming off a season when he hit .296 with 33 HR and 113 RBI. Robinson responded with his best year in 1966, winning the Triple Crown with a .316/49/122 season, and earning World Series MVP honors with two home runs off Don Drysdale in the World Series. Though he never came close to Triple Crown type numbers again, Robinson was still a highly productive player throughout the late 1960s, and was considered the leader of the team that won three straight pennants from 1969-1971. He was traded to the Dodgers for the 1972 season, and after one disappointing season was traded to the Angels, where he took advantage of the new DH rule to eke out a couple more productive seasons. He retired with a .294 batting average, 2,943 hits, 586 HR and 1,812 RBI. Robinson was a tough competitor and respected leader, and in 1975 he was named player-manager for the Indians, becoming the first Black manager in the major leagues. He hit a home run in his first game as manager. Though he won a Manager of the Year award in each league, Robinson was unable to make the playoffs in any of his 17 seasons managing four different teams between 1975 and 2006, with a 1,065-1,176 career record. He died of cancer in 2019.

Keith Hernandez had some very good seasons for the Cardinals and Mets, most notably 1979 when he was NL co-MVP, when he hit .344 with 11 HR and 105 RBI. Often considered one of the best defensive first baseman in baseball history, his offensive numbers, while solid, haven't been able to get him to crack the Hall of Fame, even as standards have watered down considerably over the past decade. In 2088 games he hit .296 with 162 HR and 1,071 RBI. Hernandez has been a lightning rod for controversy during and after his career. The Cardinals got rid of him when they thought his drug use was a bad influence on the team. He gets credit for helping lead the Mets when they won a World Series in 1986, but doesn't seem to get as much blame for the way the team quickly fell apart and underachieved with him as captain in the years since, most notably getting into a fistfight with Darryl Strawberry in spring training 1989. Hernandez, who posed in a Confederate uniform for a magazine profile in 1986, has made some controversial sexist and homophobic remarks in his 20 years as a Mets announcer.