Miller: How was it watching and playing with Nolan Ryan? (Ryan and Robinson were teammates with the Angels in 1973 & 1974)

Robinson: It was nice, because I knew I didn't have to hit against him. The amazing thing about Nolan is that each time he went out to the mound, you had a feeling he could throw a no-hitter. That's how overpowering his stuff was. He was just unbelievable, and even at that time he didn't have command of all his pitches, he didn't have command of his fastball number one, and his curveball was erratic, but he could just go out there and dominate.

Miller: What was Nolan Ryan like as a teammate?

Robinson: He was fine. An open, funny guy, and easy to talk to. I think Nolan, in his day, was the Bob Gibson of his day. He didn't want you to get close to him, because he knew he would have to go out and compete against you and he didn't want to have that friendly feeling. He didn't want you to be familiar with him and that's just the way he was. He was all business on the field.

Miller: You managed Robin Yount in winter ball when he was a teenager. Did you have any inkling that he would have such a great career?

Robinson: No, I don't think I was that smart, or that wise to be able to look down the road and see that. But you knew he was a very special type of ball player, just the way he conducted himself and handled situations. He wasn't overwhelmed. He was an 18-year-old in the big leagues. He was not overwhelmed by pitchers or playing the shortstop position, so you knew he was going to be a special type player, but I don't think I looked down the road and said he was going to be a Hall of Famer.

Miller: He mentioned you in his induction speech, were you touched by that?

Robinson: I am. I'm always a little touched by that because when you're dealing with players as I was, I was only trying to help because I had been helped by people. I just try to pass it along and give something back and not look for something in return. But it is nice when players go beyond, to mention you, or give you credit for something.

Miller: Was Orlando Cepeda the real hero of the San Francisco Giants?

Robinson: Yes he was, because when the Giants and the Dodgers came out to the West Coast the people looked at Willie Mays as a New Yorker. He was the hero of the New York Giants, not the San Francisco Giants. So Orlando Cepeda came up through the Giants organization and he came through the major leagues and the fans adopted him as their hero, the San Francisco Giants hero. It's not that they treated Mays rudely, but they were kind of cold to him because he was an established guy at that time and Cepeda was their own and that's the way they looked at it.

Miller: Where do you think George Brett ranks among the best all-time hitters?

Robinson: He ranks right up there near the top. He ranks in the top five (I'm not going to try to name the top other four), but he ranks right up there with them. George was a special type of hitter. He was the type of hitter that adjusted his game in a game situation. If they called for an extra-base hit, that's what he was going to do. If they called for a home run, most of the time in a situation like that he would hit the home run. With the pine tar incident, you can look at that pitch, it was up and away against Goose Gossage, who had some heat, and he (Brett) went out and hooked that ball and hit it up in the upper deck at Yankee stadium. In that situation they needed a home run and that's what he hit. He played the game the way it should be played; all out, hard. When he hit the ball in the stadium in Kansas City on the artificial turf, and it was big in the outfield, you had to stop him from going to second base. He left home plate thinking double and if you didn't stop him by getting the ball back in, he was going for two and possibly three. That's the way he played the game.

Miller: How do you feel about Pete Rose's situation in relation to Cooperstown?

Robinson: Well, Pete's situation, the numbers speak for themselves. Pete, if he didn't have the problems he had, would have been in the Hall of Fame first ballot. No doubt about that. It might have been unanimous, who knows? But under the circumstances, I don't know all the facts about the investigation. Alll I can go by is this; they put a piece of paper in front of Pete Rose and said "if you sign this paper, you will be banned for life," and Pete signed the paper. That's all I can say. And if you're banned for doing something you should not have done in baseball, then you don't belong in the Hall of Fame.

Miller: Knowing Pete's personality, do you think he will ever give in and say "I'm sorry, or I did something wrong?"

Robinson: I think he will and I hope he will, I really do. I wish he would have done it before now because the American people are a very compassionate people. We'll forgive. We may not totally forget, but we will forgive. So if Pete Rose from the beginning would have said "I made a mistake, I'm sorry and I'm going to get help and I'm going to clean my act up and I'll be ready to go," he would have been in the Hall of Fame now and hopefully he will some day do that. Now I know, he says he didn't do anything besides betting on football, or something like that, but they don't ban you for life for betting on football. But I hope Pete does it, because he does belong in the Hall of Fame for his playing numbers and his playing days. And I know Pete Rose -- he is dying inside because Pete Rose lives, eats, sleeps baseball, and he didn't come in the game thinking Hall of Fame. He came in the game thinking: make it to the big leagues, play in my hometown (which very few players get to do), and be the best player I can be because he wasn't an accomplished/polished major league player when he came to the big leagues. He made himself an outstanding player. He made himself a better player year in and year out. To have accomplished what he has accomplished and not be able to be in the Hall of Fame is a shame. It robs the public of not having Pete Rose in the Hall of Fame. It robs him, it robs his kids and his family knowing that Pete is not in the Hall of Fame. So I would just like to see this thing resolved, and it has to start with Pete.

Miller: Do you think that the home runs are getting cheapened now and that the 400 standard could become 500 and that 500 could become not automatic for the Hall ofFame?

Robinson: I don't think that the home run is getting cheapened because the fans love to see the home run and it's an exciting part of the game. What I do think is that the bar is being raised. It's a different era here now, and there are different reasons why the ball is going out of ballparks and all the stadiums. It's better conditioned athletes, bats are lighter and everybody is swinging for home runs. There's no place for a pitcher to make a pitch and feel safe that he will get an out, because center fields are short now and the balls are flying out of there. So the bar is going to be raised, no doubt about that, because what they're putting up at the All-Star break now used to be a great year. Thirty-five, thirty-six home runs had you challenging for the home run title in those days, but now, boom, if you don't hit 50 or 60 now, no one pays much attention to you.

Miller: You're currently 4th on the all-time home run list (with 586). With the current crop of Griffey and McGwire, are they going to start moving you guys down the ranks?

Robinson: Sure, I'm going to move down. I've been there for quite a while. I've been thinking about it. I say oh boy, I survived (Harmon) Killebrew. He wound up number 5. I survived Reggie (Jackson). He wound up a little lower. These guys do put a lot of pressure on us.

Miller: Does Griffey have a shot at Hank Aaron's record?

Robinson: He has a great shot. He has a tremendous shot. It's a combination of things. It depends on how long he wants to play. It depends on injuries and if he stays healthy and he plays the game with a reckless abandon. He's putting up 50 every year.