The oldest living former Major League Baseball player celebrated a big accomplishment in December when he turned 100 years old. And now, the Fort Worth resident is using his experience with the game to share his favorite stories through a new podcast bringing to life the golden age of baseball. NBC 5’s Pat Doney reports.
The oldest living former Major League Baseball player celebrated a big accomplishment in December when he turned 100 years old. And now, the Fort Worth resident is using his experience with the game to share his favorite stories through a new podcast bringing to life the golden age of baseball.
Spending an afternoon in Eddie Robinson’s study in his long-time Fort Worth home is like spending a day in a baseball museum.
“I like to think that I played in the golden era of baseball,” Robinson said.
“DiMaggio, Mantle, Berra, and Ted Williams, I knew all those guys intimately well. In fact, they were friends of mine. I had a great experience and look back on those days with a lot of interest.”
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The 100-year old is the oldest living former Major League Baseball player and has stories for days. Including, during his playing days in the 1940s when he assisted Babe Ruth in 1949, as the Great Bambino’s health was failing as he was honored in front of Yankees fans for a final time.
“They were going to retire his number in his last appearance in Yankee Stadium,” Robinson said. “It came time for him to go up to home plate for the presentation and ceremony, and I could tell he was a little wobbly and I felt he needed some support. I just reached into the bat rack and handed it to him, and he took that bat and used it as a cane as he went up to home plate. They had the ceremony and took a picture of him standing at home plate looking out toward centerfield from behind standing with that bat. That was a Pulitzer Prize picture that year.”
An assist on one of the greatest baseball moments ever. While Robinson played on seven of the then eight teams in the American League, before an eventual career in baseball front offices that included a five-year stint as the Texas Rangers general manager in the 1970s and 80s, and not shy about who he believes, is the best player he ever saw in-person.
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“If I had to choose one guy, I’d choose Ted Williams,” Robinson said. “He would be my guy because I think he’s the best hitter who ever lived.”
And it’s baseball stories and opinions like these that have led Robinson to now begin his own baseball podcast, yes, at 100 years old, called “The Golden Age of Baseball with Eddie Robinson,” in which he shares stories of his more than 65 years as a baseball player, scout, coach and front office executive.
“I didn’t even know what a podcast was, I’d never heard one, but it sounded like something we could do,” Robinson said.
Something he could easily do, with charming baseball stories that never seem to stop, and are brought to life by spending an afternoon in Mr. Robinson’s study that feels like a baseball museum in his long-time Fort Worth home.
“Those pictures bring back memories, and there’s so many stories to tell when you’ve been involved in the game as long as I have.”
