1986 Mets Batting Coach: Bill Robinson (1984-1989)

William Henry Robinson was born June 26, 1943 in McKeesport, Pennsylvania. Robinson was a highly touted right hand hitting prospect, getting signed by the Milwaukee Braves in 1961.

After playing in the low levels of the minor leagues, he made a brief debut with the Atlanta Braves in 1967. The next season at AAA Richmond, he hit 20 HRs with 30 doubles & batted .312 getting traded to the A.L. New York club, along with Chi-Chi Olivo, for veteran Clete Boyer.

Back in those days, the A.L. New York club was in ninth place with a 72-90 record. The front office was desperate, & they hyped Robinson as the next Mickey Mantle. But Robinson struggled, in three seasons he only hit over .200 once, .240 in 1968. He was traded to the Chicago White Sox & then to the Philadelphia Phillies, spending two seasons in the minor leagues.

He broke into the Phillies line up in their dismal 1972, 97 loss season. Robinson then broke out in 1973 on another last place Phillies team, hitting 25 HRs with 32 doubles 66 RBIs & a .288 average. The next season he struggled as a fourth outfielder, behind Greg Luzinski, Del Unser & Mike Anderson hitting only .236 with 5 HRs & 29 RBIs. With the arrival of Gary Maddox & Jay Johnstone Robinson in 1975, he was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Wayne Simpson.

Robinson stayed in Pittsburgh, for seven years from 1975-1982, winning two N.L. East titles & a World Series in 1979. He would play in the outfield, at first base, and even a bit of third base. He hit over .300 twice (1976 & 1977) having three 20 plus HR & doubles seasons, in the Steel City.

His best season was 1977, hitting 26 HRs with 32 doubles, 104 RBIs (8th most in the NL) a .304 average, receiving 10% of the MVP voting. The next season he led all left fielders in fielding (.989%) hitting 36 doubles (6th in the NL) with 11 sac flies (2nd in the NL) although he struck out 105 times & his average fell to just .246.

In the 1979 Pirates Championship season, Robby hit 24 HRs with 75 RBIs, batting .264 playing in left field & 28 games behind Willie Stargell at first base.

Post Season: In the NLCS he didn’t get any hits in the Pirates three game sweep over the Cincinnati Reds but went 5 for 19, playing in all seven games in the World Series (.263).

In Game #7 he singled & was on base in the 6th inning, when Willie Stargell hit his famous two run HR, which put the Pirates ahead for good 2-1. In the top of the 9th inning, he was hit by a pitch from Dennis Martinez with the bases loaded, driving in another run.

He put in another good batting average in 1980, batting .280, as he became more of a reserve player. His manager Chuck Tanner labled him “the super sub” as he was still very valuable to his team. From there his career began to wind down & he was traded back to Philadelphia in 1982 finishing out his playing days in 1983. In a 16 year career he batted.258 lifetime with 1127 hits 166 HRs, 229 doubles & 641 RBIs in 1472 games played.

In 1984 when Davey Johnson took over as the New York Mets manager, he hired Robinson as a hitting instructor & first base coach. He preferred that title over that of hitting coach. Robinson once said “A good hitting instructor is able to mold his teachings to the individual. If a guy stands on his head, you perfect that.” Robinson helped a talented team of hitting stars put together one of the most powerful lineups in baseball in the middle eighties.

The players had a great relationship with him, some guys like Wally Backman and Kevin Mitchell even called him “Uncle Bill”. He’d get on his players, but never raised his voice. The sometimes lax Daryl Strawberry said; “When I dogged it, Bill would get all over my butt, but he never yelled. He’d say, ‘You’re the best in this business son, now come on”. Keith Hernandez said Bill told him: “I can’t teach you anything, you’re a batting champion, you know what you can do.”

Robinson was a professional & true gentleman, did not allow players to go on the field without a full uniform. He’d even make them tuck in their shirts. If there was a brawl on the field, Robinson would be right in the middle of it, backing his team.

In those days the very confident Mets teams, were famous for “High fives”, but Robinson introduced the “low two”. When runners would stop at first with a hit, he would use his index & middle fingers to slap theirs, under handed below the knee. That too, was done quietly & professionally as everything Robinson did.

After the Mets 1986 World Series win, the team underachieved for the next few seasons. By 1989 someone had to take blame, rather than fire Davey Johnson, GM Frank Cashen chose to axe coaches Robinson and Sam Perlozzo. Johnson protested in honor of his coaches, but was warned he would be next. 

Robinson was a respected coach & achieved success any where he went. He worked in the Giants, Phillies, Marlins, Dodger & A.L. New York clubs organizations, collecting two more World Series rings. On both occasions, he was a minor league hitting instructor. He also managed in the Venezuelan League and was an analyst for ESPN's "Baseball Tonight" in 1990-1991.

Passing: Robinson was known to be suffering from diabetes, on July 29, 2007, he was found dead in a Las Vegas hotel room at the age 64. He was working as the Los Angeles Dodgers' minor league hitting coordinator at the time, visiting the team's AAA Las Vegas affiliate when he passed away.