Hank Robinson, 89; Was MiLB Player, Actor (Naked Gun, Blazing Saddles, The Babe, Talent for the Game)

[Bill Schenley]

HENRY ROBINSON

Photo: http://tinyurl.com/7tk4wn7

FROM: The Las Vegas Review-Journal ~
(Paid obit)

Henry F. "Hank" Robinson, 89, of Las Vegas, passed away April 7, 2012.
He was born March 27, 1923 in Covington, Tenn., and was a 23-year
resident of Nevada.

He served in the U.S. Army during World War II, and was a retired
actor-stuntman with hundreds of film and television credits from "The
Apple Dumpling Gang" through "Zapped" (see the International Movie
Database, IMDB, for details). His "umpire pickle" scene with Leslie
Nielsen in "The Naked Gun" is a cult favorite. [1] While best
remembered for his 'umpire and baseball coach' roles in over 350
projects, he was a great cowboy, too. From "Bonanza" through "Blazing
Saddles", he rode through the Hollywood "wild west". Television roles
included 24 episodes of "Mannix" through "Quantum Leap". He was the
"baseball consultant" on over 100 projects from "Fame" through "The
Wonder Years". He filmed over 210 national commercials.

A former pro-baseball player and manager for the New York Yankees, the
Pittsburg Pirates, and The Cincinnati Reds organizations (1942-57),
Hank had a career average of .301 and 1006 RBI's. He scouted and
coached young ballplayers in California and Nevada, developing their
skills. More than 250 signed pro-contracts, and hundreds more played
college and high school under his coaching. An avid golfer, he had
three hole-in-one's to his credit.

No services are scheduled.

A memorial baseball game is planned for June on Los Angeles.

He is survived by his wife, of 62 years, Mildred; daughters, Carin and
Debra; and son, Robbie; also, three grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, donations c/o Henry F. Robinson Memorial Fund may
be made at any Bank of America.

MiLB stats:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=robins002hen

[1] http://tinyurl.com/6nwlfpw

Thanks to Jack Morris from SABR for this obit.

[Bill Schenley]

> Thanks to Jack Morris from SABR for this obit.

Jack Morris also passed along this great article on Hank Robinson:

'Scout' just one of many hats Hank Robinson wore

FROM: The Las Vegas Review Journal ~
By Ron Kantowski

I recently received an email from a fellow named John C. Martin who
wanted nothing more, really, than to chat about an old pal who had
died.

A photocopy of a business card was attached, showing a cartoon bird
wielding an oversized baseball bat along with five words and a Las
Vegas telephone number.

Hank Robinson was John C. Martin's pal. But he was a lot of other
things, too, some of which were mentioned in his obituary after he
died April 7, a day on which the Orioles beat the Minnesota Twins,
8-2.

That is how Hank Robinson, who spent the last 23 years of his life
around Las Vegas baseball diamonds, probably would have wanted that
day remembered. He was 89 when he died. Like his business card said,
he was a baseball man. First, if not foremost.

He was born in 1923 in rural Tennessee, a southern gentleman who could
hit a baseball a country mile - provided it was pitched in a straight
line. He had a little more trouble with the curveball.

Hank played 13 seasons in the minor leagues, at Hollywood,
Albuquerque, Yakima, Little Rock, Grand Rapids, Denver, Laredo,
Saginaw, Gladewater, Lamesa, Tyler, Laredo (again), Tyler (again),
Beaumont, Galveston (for two years), Lubbock, Galveston (again), Yuma,
Thibodaux and Lake Charles. He hit for average and power, drove in
lots of runs.

Then he became a cowboy on TV.

Blame it on those cattle calls in Laredo, Galveston and Yuma - and on
keeping the bar near the set open after hours for the movie people at
MGM Studios, where he worked as a security guard.

Hank Robinson could act a little better than he could hit a curve. His
TV credits include two episodes of "The Big Valley," 11 of "Gunsmoke"
and two of "Bonanza."

After riding the Ponderosa with Ben, Hoss and Little Joe, he went on
to "The Rockford Files" and "Columbo" and "Quincy, M.E." and "Fantasy
Island" and "Lou Grant" and "The Greatest American Hero" and "Bret
Maverick."

And "The Powers of Matthew Star" and "Riptide" and "Perfect Strangers"
and "Newhart" and "Simon & Simon" and "Quantum Leap" and "Murder She
Wrote" and "Beverly Hills, 90210."

Some people remember their loved ones by looking at old photographs
dug from darkened closets. Hank Robinson's family and friends just
change the channel.

In the westerns, his roles ranged from "Saloon Brawler" to "Townsman"
to "Cowboy in Black Hat" to "Deputy" to "White-haired Man in Bank,"
which is how he's credited in the Internet Movie Database. In the non-
westerns, he was almost always an umpire.

He was the home plate umpire in "Brewster's Millions" starring Richard
Pryor and John Candy, but moved to the bases in 1988's "The Naked Gun:
From the Files of Police Squad!" because Leslie Nielsen was calling
balls and strikes.

Remember the rundown scene toward the end where the umpires themselves
wind up in the pickle? Nielsen, Robinson and real-life major league
umpire "Cowboy" Joe West were the men in blue.

Robbie Robinson, Hank's 61-year-old son, played for his old man in
1973 with the Portland Mavericks, an independent Class A franchise
owned by Bing Russell, father of actor Kurt Russell, who also was on
the Mavericks' roster. The Robinsons and Russells became close
friends.

Another ex-Maverick named Ken Medlock played Oakland A's scout Grady
Fuson in 2011's Academy Award-nominated "Moneyball." Both Robinsons
and Medlock appeared in "Brewster's Millions," which Robbie Robinson
ranks as his second-favorite scene involving his dad.

The first was when Hank was cast as an extra in "The Man From
U.N.C.L.E." Hank Robinson played a T.H.R.U.S.H. agent, and multiple
takes were shot of Hank meeting his demise.

Robbie Robinson, a Hollywood agent with a sharp sense of humor who
specializes in finding acting roles for former ballplayers, said his
father was shot, gassed, stabbed, shot again and thrown off a cliff.
Maybe even tossed under a bus by Napoleon Solo.

"When you're a teenager, it's kind of cool seeing your father get
killed," he said.

In real life, you die only once. But when it came to real life, Hank
nailed the first take.

"Coming from a hillbilly, sharecropper farm to playing for the
Hollywood Stars, with all those celebrities in the stands, to the
movies, to being Santa Claus at Dolly Parton's Christmas party ... he
never could have dreamed any of it," Robbie Robinson said.

On Friday night, when I decided to turn John C. Martin's email into a
column about his friend, six Seattle pitchers combined to no-hit the
Dodgers at roughly the same time "Bonanza" and "Gunsmoke" reruns were
airing on TV Land.

That might've been Hank Robinson's idea of a perfect evening.