Joel Sherman
CLEVELAND — He remembers it all clearly, stories coming easily as if it were yesterday and not 68 years ago.
Eddie Robinson was the regular first baseman for the 1948 Indians, often their cleanup hitter, the guy who drove in what proved to be the winning run in Game 6 of that year’s World Series, the clincher on Oct. 11.
That, by the way, is the last time the Indians won a World Series. And Robinson, by the way, is the last living member of that championship team. Sixty-eight years.
“That’s how long I have been pulling for them to do it again,” Robinson said by phone from his home in Fort Worth.
Robinson is just two months shy of his 96th birthday, but his recall was instant, detailed, rich with anecdotes. He spent 65 years in the game, first as a good player who ultimately played on seven of what were then eight AL teams, including the 1957 Orioles, who had an outfielder named Tito Francona, whose son, Terry, is manager of the current Indians.
Robinson actually called the World Series “anticlimatic.” The Yankees were favored to win the AL pennant (remember there were no playoff rounds then) and, if not New York, the Red Sox were the second choice. But a tight race with those two clubs, the Indians and for most of the season the Philadelphia Athletics, ensued. The Indians and Red Sox finished tied and played the only one-game AL playoff game to that point.
“It was nip and tuck all year, it really made every game that season a big game,” Robinson said. “We lost the final game, Game 154 to Detroit on a Sunday, that put us in a tie with Boston, we lost a flip so we had to play there, so we had to take a train, got in at 8 a.m., played that afternoon and fortunately won 8-3. That is why winning the championship of the AL was the big thing to us. If we don’t win the playoff game, just the whole season gets washed down the drain. Naturally winning the World Series was something we wanted to do very much, but it wasn’t the same pressure as the regular season.”
The Indians played the Boston Braves of Warren Spahn and Johnny Sain in the first World Series televised nationally. Cleveland won in six games, though its ace, Bob Feller, lost twice. In Game 1, Feller lost a 1-0 pitcher’s duel against Sain. Robinson recounted in detail umpire Bill Stewart likely blowing a pickoff call at second where Feller pegged out pinch-runner Bill Masi, who was called safe. Tommy Holmes then knocked in Masi for the lone run.
But the Indians were talented. Shortstop-manager Lou Boudreau, second baseman Joe Gordon, outfielder Larry Doby, Feller, Bob Lemon and Satchel Paige all made the Hall of Fame, and the Indians rebounded to win the series in six games. Robinson said his strongest memory of the series was the size and “roar” of the crowds at the old Cleveland Stadium, peaking at 86,288 for Game 5 (also lost by Feller). The Game 6 clincher was in Boston, Robinson’s eighth-inning RBI single off Spahn made it 4-1 in a 4-3 triumph.
“Our big celebration was on the train on the way home,” Robinson said. “We had two private cars. We almost dismantled the train. And our owner Bill Veeck was right in the middle of it. He was a great owner, he loved the players and we loved him and together we almost demolished that train. We got to Cleveland in midmorning and we had a parade down Euclid Avenue, every player was in a convertible with his name on the side. It looked like everyone in Cleveland turned out because there was just enough room in the middle of the street for the cars to squeeze by. It was a monumental parade.”
Robinson was traded after that 1948 season because “from the beginning me and Lou [Boudreau] never did get along.” After his career, he served as a coach, scout and a long stint as Rangers general manager. Still, he is hoping for another parade in Cleveland.
“The ’48 season is the highlight of my career,” said Robinson, who in 13 seasons hit .268 with 172 homers. “If I were going into the Hall of Fame — which I am not — I would go in as a Cleveland Indian because of that year.”