Aaron Robinson

Aaron Andrew Robinson (June 23, 1915 – March 9, 1966) was an American professional baseball catcher whose career began in 1937 and continued through 1955. He played in Major League Baseball for the New York Yankees, Chicago White Sox, Detroit Tigers and Boston Red Sox. Robinson's tenure with the Yankees spanned the gap between the careers of Yankee Hall of Fame catchers Bill Dickey (1928–1946) and Yogi Berra (1946–1963).

Biography Robinson was born in June 1915 at Lancaster, South Carolina. He threw right-handed, batted left-handed and was listed as tall and .

Minor leagues His professional playing career began in 1937 in minor league baseball with the Class D Snow Hill Billies in the Coastal Plin lead. He progressed through the minor leagues with stints with the Norfolk Tars (1938), Akron Yankees (1938-1939), Binghamton Triplets (1939-1940), Kansas City Blues (1940-1941), and Newark Bears (1932-1943).

Major league career Robinson made his major league debut for the New York Yankees on May 6, 1943, playing in only one game before leaving to serve in the United States Coast Guard for the remainder of World War II. His service in the Coast Guard began on June 21, 1943, and he played baseball while serving. When the war ended in 1945, Robinson returned to the Yankees in July, appearing in 50 games. Robinson finished 16th in the American League Most Valuable Player Award voting.

Robinson began the 1947 season as the Yankees' starting catcher, and was named as a reserve player for the American League in the 1947 All-Star Game. However, as the season progressed, Yogi Berra began to take over as the starting catcher.

Having a surplus of catchers in 1948 with Berra, Sherm Lollar and Gus Niarhos, the Yankees decided to trade Robinson, along with Fred Bradley and Bill Wight, to the Chicago White Sox for Eddie Lopat in February of that year. He played in 98 games for the White Sox, but his offensive statistics continued to decline, as he hit for a .252 batting average. The Tigers had been in first place for most of the season and, had just fallen to second place behind the Yankees with one week left in the season. Heavy smoke from a Canadian forest fire forced the Indians to turn on the lights in Cleveland Stadium for the Sunday afternoon game. With the score tied 1–1, Bob Lemon opened the bottom of the tenth inning with a triple, and two intentional walks followed. With the bases loaded and one out, Luke Easter grounded out to Tigers' first baseman Don Kolloway, who then tagged first base. Because of the haze, Robinson did not see Kolloway remove the force after fielding the ball. Thinking he only had to step on home plate to force out Lemon, he failed to apply a tag, thus allowing Lemon to score the winning run. The Tigers fell two and a half games behind the Yankees in the standings with one week left in the season, and were unable to recover before the season ended. Robinson retired at the end of the season.

In only, the 'Aaron Robinson, MacGregor G176' catcher's mitt was produced.

Managing career After retiring as a player, Robinson became a manager in the minor leagues, managing the Fayetteville Highlanders to the Carolina League championship. He later managed the Winston-Salem Twins and won another title with the Shelby Colonels, winning the Western Carolina League championship despite having a losing record.