From the A's to the A-list

It wasn’t exactly Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe, but it was pretty close.
In the mid-1950s, Eddie Robinson was single, handsome, playing baseball for the New York Yankees, making a pretty good salary and dating Patti Page, the best-known and best-selling female singer of that era who just happened to be drop-dead gorgeous as well.
That must have been pretty heady stuff, huh Eddie?
“Ya, it was . . . for her,” deadpanned Robinson.
Coo-coo ca-choo, Mr. Robinson.
The man who spent 65 years in and around baseball as a player, coach, scout and executive spit in the eye of Hurricane Irene last weekend and traveled from his home in Texas to Hatboro/Horsham to promote his new book, “Lucky Me” at an event sponsored by the Hatboro-based Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society Saturday at the Days Inn in Horsham.
In my volunteer capacity as a member of the A’s Society board of commissioners, I get a chance to spend some time with the old ballplayers that we have for such events. For this one, I was stationed at the autograph table with Mr. Robinson as he signed books, Heartland statues of his likeness and other memorabilia for fans who braved the pre-Irene grayness in the skies to attend.
Robinson, who will be 91 in December, was a member of the 1948 World Champion Cleveland Indians. He played for the Philadelphia A’s for just one season in 1953, coming to Philadelphia in a trade that sent popular A’s first baseman Ferris Fain, who was coming off two successive American League batting titles in 1951 and 1952, to the Chicago White Sox.
It wasn’t a popular trade in Philadelphia. But Robinson had a pretty good season in 1953, hitting 22 home runs and driving in 102 runs, good enough to be named an American League All Star that year. He was traded to the Yankees after that one season with the A’s.

Robinson is still an opposing presence, even at age 90, and sharp as a tack. Like many players of that era, he has wonderful penmanship and gives a really nice autograph to fans.
During the course of the four hours or so I spent with him, he was tremendous not only with the fans, but was gracious with the non-profit A’s Society, signing several items that can be sold at the shop and museum located at 6 York Road in Hatboro. Check out the website at www.philadelphiaathletics.org.
I enjoyed listening to his baseball stories, and of course, wanted to know about his time with Patti Page. They dated for about a year, he said, but both went on to marry and have families with other spouses.
I have had many opportunities over the years to do things and meet some interesting people. Those experiences continue to fascinate me, and meeting and spending time with Eddie Robinson was another one of those instances.