The Main Event
- September 22, 1959 – Offered a $1,500 bribe to throw his scheduled start, Phillies pitcher Humberto Robinson refused and beat Cincinnati 3-2; the man behind the bribe, club owner Harold “Boomy” Friedman, was later convicted.
On a September night in 1959, a struggling Philadelphia Phillies pitcher named Humberto Robinson was offered $1,500 to lose a baseball game on purpose. He said no. Then he said no a second time the next morning, with the cash sitting a few feet away from him. That afternoon he took the mound against the Cincinnati Reds and pitched the best game of his major league career, and the man who tried to buy him off went to prison for it. It remains one of the more remarkable, and least remembered, integrity stories in Phillies history.
A Long Road to the Majors
Robinson was born in 1929 or 1930, depending on the source, in Silver City, in Panama’s Colón Province, a district near the Panama Canal Zone. He was one of seven children born to Tilman and Violet Robinson, who had emigrated from Colombia. He signed his first professional contract with the New York Yankees organization in 1951 and spent years working his way through the minor leagues, pitching winter ball in Panama in the offseasons and building a reputation as one of the best players in his home country’s league.
On April 20, 1955, Robinson became the first Panamanian ever to appear in a major league game when he was summoned by Milwaukee Braves manager Charlie Grimm to face the Chicago Cubs with the bases loaded in the ninth inning. He struck out slugger Hank Sauer to save the win and earned himself a nickname from his teammates, “Berto.” But he could never fully crack a Braves rotation stacked with Warren Spahn and Lew Burdette, and he bounced between Milwaukee and the minors for several years, growing increasingly frustrated. In April 1959 the Cleveland Indians acquired him, and within weeks he was flipped to the Phillies in a trade for infielder Granny Hamner. Philadelphia was a last-place team that year, but that also meant Robinson finally got the steady work he had wanted. He responded with his best season, a 3.42 ERA over 36 appearances.
An Offer at the Hotel
On the evening of September 21, 1959, Robinson was having dinner at the Warwick Hotel in Philadelphia with a woman named Dolores Drassel. He was scheduled to start the next day against Cincinnati. A man named Harold “Boomy” Friedman, a 42-year-old part-owner of the Moonglo Café who had known Robinson since 1955, approached him and offered him $1,500 to lose the game. Robinson refused and walked back to his table. According to testimony later given in court, he was so shaken that he began to weep, telling Drassel that someone had just asked him to throw a ball game.
Friedman was not finished. The next morning he turned up in Robinson’s hotel room and repeated the offer, this time placing $200 to $300 in cash on the edge of a washbasin as a kind of down payment. While Robinson was washing his hands, the money slipped into the water, and he insisted that Friedman pick it back up and leave. “I like baseball too much,” Robinson later testified he told him. “I don’t want any part of it.”
Pitching First, Talking Later
Robinson did not go straight to his manager. Instead, between games of that day’s doubleheader, he confided in teammate Rubén Gómez, a fellow pitcher. Gómez urged him to tell manager Eddie Sawyer immediately, but Robinson wanted to handle the mound first. “I want to pitch a good game,” he told Gómez, “then I’ll tell Sawyer.” Gómez went ahead and alerted Sawyer during the fifth inning while Robinson was still on the field, and Robinson gave his own account to Sawyer again once the game ended.
The nightcap of that twi-night doubleheader drew 8,533 fans to Connie Mack Stadium. Robinson allowed only a two-run home run to Cincinnati’s Vada Pinson, his 20th of the season, and otherwise held the Reds down over seven innings on three hits. Jack Meyer worked two scoreless innings of relief for his first save of the year, and the Phillies won, 3-2, over Cincinnati starter Bob Purkey. Whatever turmoil Robinson carried into the ballpark that day, it did not show on the mound.
Harold Friedman Faces Justice
Sawyer reported the bribery attempt up the chain, to general manager John Quinn and traveling secretary Charles Meister, and word reached Commissioner Ford Frick’s office. Philadelphia Police Commissioner Thomas J. Gibbons learned of the incident from the commissioner’s office two days later, and Friedman was arrested and charged with bribery in an athletic contest under Pennsylvania law.
The case went to trial on June 29, 1960. Friedman’s attorney, Michael von Moschzisker, argued the whole story didn’t add up, since Robinson was not exactly a star and fixing his outing made little sense as a betting play. The defense also fought to keep out Robinson’s tearful statement to Dolores Drassel on the night of September 21, but the court allowed it in as a spontaneous, credible reaction to what had just happened. After a one-day trial, a jury convicted Friedman. On August 1, 1960, Judge Ethan Allen Doty sentenced him to two to five years in prison, telling him that “all of our youth look to this national pastime” and that the game depended on its players competing with integrity.
What Became of Robinson
The 1960 season turned out to be Robinson’s last in the majors. He struggled with a Phillies team that lost almost everything that year, making his final appearance on July 24, 1960, before being sent down to the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons. He kept pitching in the minors and in Mexico for a couple more seasons before retiring with a strong 110-60 record across nine minor league campaigns. He eventually settled in Brooklyn, New York, working in construction, and married Ernestine Frinck in 1989. He died there on September 29, 2009, at 79 or 80, after a long illness.
Robinson’s career numbers were modest, but his one moment of real fame had nothing to do with his fastball. Commissioner Frick publicly praised him for reporting the bribe the way he did, and decades later his story is remembered less for what he did on the mound against Cincinnati than for what he refused to do the night before.
Philadelphia Baseball Events for September 22
- September 22, 1922 – Third baseman Frank McCue, a September call-up, made the final appearance of his brief major-league career for the Philadelphia Athletics, pinch-hitting in St. Louis; his entire MLB career spanned just five plate appearances across two games that month.
- September 22, 1927 – Outfielder Charlie Bates made his major league debut with the Philadelphia Athletics at age 20 — the start of an 11-day career that ended October 2 after nine games.
- September 22, 1946 – Phillies PA announcer Dan Baker was born in Philadelphia. He is the longest tenured PA announcer in MLB history.
- September 22, 1951 – Pitcher Karl Drews ended a hitless streak dating back to May 1947 by getting a base hit, after having gone hitless in 48 games.
- September 22, 1958 – The Phillies beat Pittsburgh 3-2 in 14 innings, setting a major-league record with 21 strikeouts; Jack Sanford added 10 more in the nightcap for a team-record 31 strikeouts on the day.
- September 22, 1967 – The Phillies released Dallas Green, who went on to manage the club to its first World Series title in 1980.
- September 22, 1971 – Phillies radio pre and post-game host Gregg Murphy was born in Meadowbrook, PA.
- September 22, 1986 – Phillies Pitcher Jeff Bittiger hit the first and only home run of his major-league career, against Pittsburgh.
- September 22, 1998 – Scott Rolen homered and doubled, setting a new team record with his 44th double by a third baseman.
- September 22, 2007 – Chase Utley‘s first-inning home run led a 4-1 win over Washington in the final game ever played at RFK Stadium.
- September 22, 2009 – Chase Utley stole his 23rd base without being caught in a 9-3 win over Florida, extending his successful streak to 25.
- September 22, 2012 – Ryan Howard hit career home run #300 in an 8-2 loss to Atlanta.
- September 22, 2013 – Ryne Sandberg was named the 52nd manager in Phillies history, signing a three-year contract.
- September 22, 2015 – Manager Pete Mackanin‘s contract was extended through the 2016 season.
- September 22, 2022 – Ranger Suárez threw six shutout innings as the Phillies beat Atlanta 1-0 during their stretch run to a playoff berth and eventual World Series appearance.
Philadelphia Baseball Birthdays for September 22
- Dummy Stephenson (born 1869) – A deaf center fielder, he played his only major league season with the Phillies in September 1892, batting .270 over eight games.
- Doc Marshall (born 1875) – Catcher who broke into the majors with the Phillies in April 1904, spending about two months on the roster before moving on to other National League clubs.
- Bert Conn (born 1879) – Pitched for the Phillies in 1898 and 1900, then returned as a second baseman in 1901 to close out his three-season career with the club.
- Jim Holloway (born 1908) – Pitcher who appeared briefly for the Phillies in 1929; his lone big-league at-bat produced a single, leaving him with a career 1.000 batting average.
- Harry Walker (born 1918) – Center fielder acquired by the Phillies in a mid-1947 trade from St. Louis; he won that year’s NL batting title at .363 and played for Philadelphia through 1948.
- Larry Eschen (born 1920) – Infielder who played his only major-league season for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1942, appearing in 12 games.
- Wally Backman (born 1959) – Longtime Mets second baseman who closed out his playing career with the Phillies in 1991-92 as a veteran infielder.
- P.J. Forbes (born 1967) – Infielder who signed with the Phillies as a minor-league free agent and played three reserve games for the big-league club in 2001.
- Doug Lindsey (born 1967) – A 1987 Phillies draft pick, he served as a backup catcher for the team in 1991 and 1993 before being traded to the White Sox.
- Sam Coonrod (born 1992) – Bullpen reliever acquired by trade who pitched for the Phillies in 2021-22, battling injuries before being designated for assignment in early 2023.
- Luis Ortiz (born 1995) – Pitcher claimed off waivers who posted a 3.32 ERA for the Phillies in 2023 before injuries, including Tommy John surgery, ended his 2024 season early.
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