Call it a capital gain
ANAHEIM, Calif. – Frank Robinson is no stranger to Washington D.C., and his memories of the town are both pleasant and forgettable.
“I have memories of Frank Howard tearing up seats in the upper deck with his home runs off Dave McNally, and fond memories of having a good series against the Washington staff over in RFK Stadium,” Robinson said Sunday at the winter meetings, where he spoke about the Expos’ shift to the nation’s capital after 36 seasons in Montreal.
As a member of the Baltimore Orioles, Robinson played in Washington for several years against the expansion Senators.
“I also have bad memories of hitting against Horacio Pena with his submariner, and Pete Richert making me take the bat back to the bat rack a few times,” Robinson said. “We always had a real battle against the Senators. I guess it was because of the territorial thing. They really got up for us to show people that they could compete with us.”
Robinson, who will be managing the franchise for a fourth season, no longer has to deal with long “homestands” in Puerto Rico when the Expos weren’t playing in front of tiny crowds at Montreal’s Olympic Stadium.
“I’m very excited for what I think this move will do for this franchise,” Robinson said. “We’re going to have a permanent home, so it’s going to be less of a grind. We’ll have the finances to acquire players and compete on equal terms with all the rest of the teams in the league. And energy-wise, it will relate to wins, not having to put up with all the travel.”
Robinson is one of only two men to be voted Rookie of the Year and Manager of the Year, along with Lou Piniella. His Hall of Fame credentials bring added luster to a team on the verge of becoming the first to move since the Senators became the Texas Rangers after the 1971 season.
“We’re relocating to an area where the people are going to say, ‘This is our team,’ ” Robinson said. “They’re going to be excited about it, hopefully, and they’re going to turn out and root for us in big numbers.
“I think this is also a time when Washington has something to prove. They lost a team 30-something years ago, and this is maybe the third strike for them.”
The team, which would be renamed Nationals if the move is finalized, starts the regular season on April 4 at Philadelphia and plays it home opener April 14 against Arizona at RFK Stadium.
General manager Jim Bowden already has added shortstop Cristian Guzman and third baseman Vinny Castilla.
“It’s very surprising,” Robinson said. “But when you stop and think about Jim’s history with the Reds, he’s a doer. He gets things done. I was tremendously surprised, that he was able to move as quickly as he did and acquire the three players that he acquired.”
Despite a severely small payroll, the club went 83-79 in each of his first two seasons before slipping to 67-95 in 2004. The Expos would have to go 87-75 in order for Robinson to join Dusty Baker as the only black managers to win 1,000 games.
“It’s a little early to try to start predicting how many wins we’re going to have,” Robinson said. “I don’t even know if this is the same team I’m going to come out of spring training with – or go to spring training with, the way Jim moves and makes deals. I mean, tomorrow, I may have a different team. Who knows?
“Jim asked me the other day, ‘What’s your lineup right now?’ I said, ‘I don’t have one. I don’t think about that now. It’s too early.’ “