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The Day a Rookie Saved Frank Robinson’s Life

A frightening moment that nearly changed baseball history

The year was 1966. The date was August 22- sixty years ago today.

The Baltimore Orioles were enjoying an off day while feeling rather good about their 12.5-game lead in the American League pennant race with only six weeks to go. Superstar Frank Robinson, acquired during the offseason in a memorable trade with the Reds, was enjoying the best year of his career. But in August of that unforgettable season, Robinson nearly lost something far more important than a baseball game. He nearly lost his life – and a 23-year-old rookie catcher named Andy Etchebarren became his unlikely rescuer.

The off day provided a brief but welcome respite in the middle of a long, grueling baseball season. A few members of the team accepted an invitation to spend the afternoon and evening relaxing poolside at the home of Leonard F. Ruck, described as an ardent Orioles fan, and, ironically – as the day’s events later revealed − an undertaker.  Orioles in attendance included Boog Powell, Paul Blair, Moe Drabowsky, Davey Johnson, and, most notably, Frank Robinson and Andy Etchebarren. Little did the two teammates – Robinson and Etchebarren − realize at the time what fate would soon have in store for them, uniting them in a way that neither would have ever imagined.

The afternoon started innocently enough with drinking, “fooling away,” and other acts of general horseplay being the order of the day. This was expected from a group of young professional athletes in a rather celebratory mood, as they enjoyed their current position atop the baseball world. At one point, the antics took a more serious turn, as Drabowsky apparently slipped on the pool deck − the details aren’t clear − and suffered a cut on his head, resulting in a hospital visit for stitches.

Okay…it’s a pool party, right? These things happen. Nothing too serious so far. As the afternoon progressed, and the drinks continued to flow, and as the antics took on a more animated, rowdy tone, some guys thought it’d be a neat idea to start pushing other guys into the pool. All good, clean fun…or so they thought.

Except that one of the Orioles in attendance had a secret: He couldn’t swim, and his name was Frank Robinson. He may have been one of the strongest physical specimens in baseball at that time, but swimming had never been part of his upbringing in Oakland, California.

Here’s where the details get murky. One account suggests that an unnamed player, not aware of Frank’s inability to swim, pushed him in. Another has Robinson, being fearful his teammates might turn to him as their next victim, took “preemptive” action: He waded into the shallow end himself.

It’s well known that when you mix alcohol with swimming pools, bad things just seem to happen. No one has ever suggested that Frank was drinking excessively, but whatever the circumstances, Frank soon found himself in serious trouble, helplessly flailing around in the deep end of the pool. Frank later recalled going under several times and calling for help. But in the afternoon’s atmosphere of free-flowing alcohol and horseplay, his distress was not immediately recognized. And so there arose an additional problem: Everybody thought he was just kidding around…

Until, that is, he disappeared beneath the surface. No, Frank wasn’t kidding around. He was on the verge of drowning. Someone had to step up and step up fast. Fortunately, that someone was rookie catcher Andy Etchebarren, sitting on the side of the pool when Frank disappeared beneath the surface.  Like everyone else, he didn’t immediately grasp the severity of the situation. Then he looked into the water and realized that Frank was at the bottom of the deep end of the pool waving his arms.

With the urgency of the situation suddenly apparent, the young catcher immediately jumped into the pool in a frantic attempt to save Robinson. He reached Frank, but fighting instinctively for his life, Frank grabbed Etchebarren and held him in a tremendous vise-like grip, with the mistaken notion that holding onto Andy could save him.  Etchebarren had difficulty breaking free and had to surface for air before going back down. He was eventually able to push Frank toward the surface at the side of the pool, where other players, now realizing that this was no joke, pulled him out of the water to safety.  

Later accounts also credit Davey Johnson with assisting in the rescue. Johnson recalled that he and Etchebarren were sitting beside the pool when they heard the splash and saw Robinson on the bottom. Johnson remembered that the two of them jumped into the water to help him. The accounts differ somewhat, but there’s little doubt that Etchebarren played the crucial role.

A near tragedy had been averted…thanks to the heroic efforts of 23-year-old rookie Andy Etchebarren. In a moment he surely never forgot, the young catcher was suddenly faced with a situation that had nothing to do with baseball – and he may well have saved the life of the Orioles’ most important player and a future Hall of Famer. How different might baseball history have been if Andy Etchebarren had not been there to save Frank Robinson!

Fate would shine brightly upon the Orioles and both Robinson and Etchebarren in 1966. Robbie was in the middle of the greatest season of his remarkable career when the near-drowning incident occurred.  It was a season for the record books, one of the greatest offensive outpourings ever. He finished the season hitting .316 with 49 home runs and 122 RBIs, won the American League MVP Award and baseball’s Triple Crown, and led the Orioles to their first World Series championship. He became the first player to win the MVP award in both leagues, and he remains the only player to win the Triple Crown in his first season in the American League.

Andy Etchebarren also had a season to remember. The rookie wasn’t even expected to be Baltimore’s regular catcher when the season began. Dick Brown, the club’s projected starter, had undergone surgery for removal of a brain tumor, while back-up Charlie Lau was out with an elbow injury. Etchebarren suddenly found himself thrust behind the plate as the Orioles’ starting catcher for 121 games. He responded by becoming an All-Star, including catching every game of Baltimore’s four-game World Series sweep of the Dodgers.