The jersey presented here is a significant piece of baseball history donned by the great Frank Robinson during last MLB season as a player in 1976. A member of the 500 Home Run Club with 586 career dingers he holds the distinction of being the only player ever to win MVP honors in both leagues: 1961 with the Reds and 1966 with the Orioles when he also won the Triple Crown. He helped deliver Baltimore its first two World Series crowns in ’66 and ’70. At the end of his playing career with the Indians Robinson made more history by becoming MLB’s first African-American manager in 1975. His playing career was not over until the end of the ’76 campaign however as he served the final two years with the noble “player/manager” tag. In 1977 he began his strictly managerial and coaching roles for another 20 seasons among four different franchises and also served as a league executive.

On the inside back collar of the red mesh pullover is the Wilson tag with size "42" and wash instructions. Across the front of the jersey is "INDIANS" in white on blue tackle twill. Across the back is "ROBINSON" in white tackle twill with his iconic No. "20" in white on blue tackle twill. On the left sleeve is the embroidered official Indians logo patch with the controversial Chief Wahoo. On the right sleeve is the "Cleveland Sports Spirit of 76" patch. The left front tail has a “76” strip tag. Robinson has signed the front and back of the shirt in 9/10 black marker. It shows appropriate light to moderate use for a guy who spent most of his time in the dugout that season with puckering and fraying evenly distributed.

The Sporting News named Robinson #22 on their list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players. Off the field Robinson was active in the civil rights movement and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George W. Bush in 2005 to join the likes of Jesse Owens (see Lot 28).

Autographs pre-certified by PSA/DNA.