North Texan Is Last Surviving Member Of '48 World Champion Indians
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FORT WORTH (CBS11) - When Eddie Robinson looks at his sports memorabilia, he's looking at his own role in the golden age of baseball.
"I'm the only guy in this picture that is not in the hall of fame," he said pointing a photograph of himself standing with Yogi Berra and Mickey Mantle among others.
He played against the Boston Braves and won Cleveland's last baseball championship in 1948. He batted .300 for the series.
"I'm the only guy who is alive off that '48 team," he said. "That was the highlight of my career. The second year in the big leagues. It was a wonderful year."
Robinson remembers a far different routine than today when they won a World Series birth.
"The big celebrations they have today with the champagne and the glasses and all that? We just went in and got our shower, after winning the pennant after beating the Red Sox, and then we spent the night at the hotel," Robinson said..
Which isn't to say they didn't celebrate on their train ride home after winning the World Series.
"We had two cars, a club car and a diner. A private train," Robinson laughed. "That celebration was beyond description. Champagne was flying! It was dripping from the ceiling the next day when we go up."
You see old film and think the game looks strange. That's the way Robinson feels when he watches games now.
"They're up there, it looks to me, like trying to hit home runs and swinging at balls in the dirt. So many balls in the dirt! And they never choke up on the bat," said Robinson.
"This is the glove I played with in the world series and Betty had it bronzed for me," Robinson said holding up a gleaming first baseman's mitt he keeps in his trophy case.
But Robinson said he's haunted by the idea that the team he remembers so fondly hasn't remembered him at all.
"I thought they'd want me to come up and visit with them or something," he sighed softly, falling back into his leather armchair. "I haven't heard a word. Well, sure its' disappointing. I'm the connection to the last time they won."
So Tuesday night, the sports spotlight shifts to Cleveland. And Robinson will watch from home surrounded by history he helped write nearly 70 years ago.
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