Frank Robinson

Close don't count in baseball. Close only counts in horseshoes and grenades.

It's nice to come into a town and be referred to as the manager of the Cleveland Indians instead of as the first black manager.

As a black, you find you have to be two or three times better than a white even to play. And when it comes to front-office jobs, management believes you'll never be as good.

It was a breaking period for black people coming into baseball, and how many followed depended on Jackie's conduct. But that's not the case now. What and how I do doesn't mean nearly as much as what and how Jackie did.