BASTROP, Texas, USA – Eddie Robinson, the former Major League Baseball player whose career spanned six decades including stints as the general manager of two teams, has died. He was 100 years old.
The Texas Rangers, a team for which Robinson was general manager between 1976 and 1982, said the death occurred Monday at his farm in Bastrop, Texas.
Robinson was the only surviving player for the 1948 World Series champion Cleveland Indians. This title was part of his 13-year career as first baseman in the Major Leagues. In this period he played for seven of the eight American League teams that were active during his career and was selected four times to the All-Star Game.
Following his playing career, Robinson was a coach in Baltimore before assisting in player development and as a scorer for the Orioles and other teams. He was general manager of the Atlanta Braves from 1972 to 1976, then held the same position with the Rangers. He worked as a scout and consultant to New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner in the early 1980s.
His last year in baseball was spent as a goalkeeper for the Boston Red Sox in 2004.
Robinson made his major league debut with Cleveland at age 21 in 1942. He joined the Army during World War II before returning with the Indians between 1946 and 1048. He also played for the Washington Senators (149-50), the Sox. Chicago Whites) 1950-52), the Philadelphia Athletics (1953), the New York Yankees (1954-56), the Detroit Tigers (1957) and Baltimore (1957). The only American League team at the time he didn’t play for was Boston.
He had a .268 batting average with 172 homers and 723 RBIs in 1,315 games. He had three straight seasons with at least 100 RBIs and at least 22 home runs each with the White Sox in 1951 and 1952 and with the Athletics in 1953.
“The Texas Rangers are incredibly saddened by the passing of the legendary Eddie Robinson, who spent nearly 70 years in professional baseball, as a star player and respected executive,” the team said in a statement. “For Eddie Robinson it was really a life well lived.”
The Rangers helped celebrate his 100th birthday last December and indicated that he last visited training camp in Arizona in February. Originally from Texas, Robinson was a constant visitor to Rangers games during their later years.
He is survived by his second wife, Bette, and their four children, Robby, Marc, Paul, and Drew.
.