La Russa's book has left mark on Robinson's career

'3 Nights in August' was based on a Cards-Cubs series two years ago this weekend, in which the former Southeast player won a game with a home run, but the book was not kind to him.

Southeast Missouri State baseball coach Mark Hogan still believes it was somewhat out of character for former Redhawks star Kerry Robinson to sulk and gripe about his lack of playing time with the Cardinals two years ago.

But Hogan believes it was simply Robinson's competitive nature coming through during that season of 2003 -- and it no doubt had plenty to do with his ultimately being traded from his hometown team.

St. Louis manager Tony La Russa's growing frustrations with Robinson were highlighted in the popular book by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Buzz Bissinger "3 Nights in August," which was released in early April and chronicles a key three-game August series against the Chicago Cubs.

Today marks the two-year anniversary of the final contest during that 2003 series at Busch Stadium -- which ironically ended with Robinson hitting a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to produce a 3-2 victory. It was his only home run of the season; he has just three career major league homers.

"Kerry's a beautiful kid, and he was a joy to coach," said Hogan, who took over Southeast's program in 1995. "My first year was his senior year, and that can be a tough transition. But Kerry was a model person.

"I think he just got frustrated with the situation [in St. Louis]. He was doing pretty well at the time. I think it got to be, on the business side, it's dog eat dog, no production and you're out. He was producing, and he thought, 'What does it take?'"

Even though Robinson was a bench player during his three seasons with the Cardinals, from 2001 through 2003, he started all three games of that chronicled series against the Cubs as regular right fielder J.D. Drew was injured.

But that didn't prevent La Russa from constantly expressing his dismay with Robinson, not only for what La Russa deemed to be the player's unwillingness to accept his status as a role player, but also for what the manager felt was Robinson's refusal to follow instructions or stick to fundamentals, including his lack of aggressiveness in certain RBI situations.

Bissinger wrote of the "classic tension between manager and bench player: how much Robinson thinks he should be playing versus how much La Russa thinks he should be playing."

Continued Bissinger: "Robinson accepted his fate; he had no choice. But he still doesn't like it, and he makes few bones about not liking it. He sulks when he is not in the lineup regularly -- as when he sat on the outermost edge of the dugout by himself in Houston one day is if he were fishing off the end of a pier -- and La Russa hates sulking."

At one point, Bissinger wrote that Robinson was so deep in La Russa's doghouse after failing to advance a runner that the manager said to third base coach Jose Oquendo, "If [Robinson] starts another game this year, I'll kiss your [rear end]."

Hogan, who spoke with Robinson regularly during his three seasons with the Cardinals and still stays in touch, said he remembers telling his former star -- who was drafted in the 34th round in 1995 after hitting .385 as a Southeast senior -- to simply keep working hard, and also to be happy with his status as a major-leaguer.

"I know how frustrated he was," Hogan said. "I wasn't doing anything more than trying to throw a different slant on it, like, from a coach's standpoint, best thing you can do is keep hustling, pouting isn't going to impress anybody.

"You have to admire Kerry's drive, but by God, you have to realize, you're in the major leagues."

Robinson wound up the 2003 season hitting .250 in 208 at-bats, but entering that series with the Cubs he had been 8-for-14 since replacing Drew in right field.

"Kerry really had a good, solid August," Hogan said. "I was at that last game of the series with the Cubs, where he hit the winning home run. The next game, I'm thinking, now he's really going to play a lot, then he didn't play much after that.

"I think that's the kind of thing that really got Kerry frustrated."

Robinson's first full major league season was in 2001 with the Cardinals, when he hit .285 in 186 at-bats. He hit .260 in 181 at-bats in 2002, followed by the 2003 campaign.

Apparently tiring of dealing with what La Russa deemed to be Robinson's negative attitude, he was traded to the San Diego Padres shortly before the 2004 season. Robinson shuffled back and forth between Class AAA and the parent club, hitting .293 for the Padres in 92 at-bats.

In the past year, the 31-year-old Robinson has been with several organizations as he continues to seek a full-time role -- but he has not appeared in the major leagues since 2004. He is currently with the Richmond Braves, Atlanta's Class AAA affiliate, and was hitting .305 entering the weekend.

Robinson's career major league average is .267 in 671 at-bats, and his on-base percentage is .305, which is not considered very good for a potential leadoff batter. He has 23 doubles, eight triples, three homers, 51 RBIs and 35 stolen bases in 47 attempts.

"I think Kerry is still trying to prove he can be an everyday major league player, but with the way baseball is right now, with the power numbers, teams are looking for that," Hogan said. "Kerry is a different kind of player, a speed guy with leadoff type potential."

Hogan feels bad that Robinson has not even really been given much of an opportunity to be a major league bench player since leaving the Cardinals, but he said people should not feel too sorry for the Southeast product.

"Kerry's made a good living playing baseball, and he's still making a good living," Hogan said. "He really takes care of himself, he probably has weighed the same [about 175 pounds] forever, so he should have quite a few good years ahead of him.

"It's not a story to cry about."

As for the book, a laughing Hogan said he read it almost as soon as it came out.

"I probably read it that first 24 hours," he said. "I was caught up in it because I'm a Cardinals fan, and because of Kerry."