Frank Robinson is back in Cincinnati for their series as The Montreal Expos manager. (Jeff Swinger photo) | ZOOM |

        Frank Robinson didn't plan on managing the Montreal Expos this season.

        “This was not something I was looking forward to,” he said. “Not something I was pursuing.”

        Robinson was comfortable in his suit-and-tie job as Major League Baseball's vice president of onfield operations.

        But then the Expos were targeted for contraction, the contraction plan was put on hold, and the league took over the club and needed a short-term manager.

        That's what the former Reds great has become. For one season, he will manage the Expos. Next year, the team could move to another city or be folded.

        Regardless of what happens, Robinson will be gone as its manager.

        Robinson sought managerial positions in earlier decades. But today, he's doing the job for other reasons.

        “I felt like I was the right man for the job here,” Robinson, his silver hair tucked under his baseball cap, said Friday. “It's kind of corny, but it's my way of giving something back to baseball.”

        He already has given so much. Robinson was a star with the Reds from 1956-65 and went on to play with four other teams before ending his Hall of Fame career in 1976.

        Robinson last managed a big-league team (Baltimore) in 1991.

        “It's nice to be back in uniform,” he said.

        Robinson said the Expos' uncertain future has not affected players.

        “There's no difference in managing this ball club this year versus any other ball club in baseball,” he said. “The problems that surround this baseball team are off the field, and we have no control of them. And we do have control of the baseball games we play.”

        Robinson said he hasn't had to talk to the team about contraction since joining the Expos.

        “The players have had to deal with it the entire offseason,” he said. “And I'm sure they were tired of hearing about it. They wanted to start focusing on baseball.”

        The only time the issue comes up, Robinson said, is when someone reads about it or hears about it somewhere.

        Robinson said it's too early to try to figure out what's going to happen to the team next season.

        “I do know the majority of them will be in baseball next year, one way or the other,” Robinson said. “Let's just focus on the games and let the other stuff happen.”

        But the game has changed since the days he thrilled Reds fans at Crosley Field.

        “It's sad to see and read and hear about what baseball has become,” Robinson said. “Where does it stop? What's next? You get rid of two, you're down to 28 (teams). How far do you go? Because there's always going to be weaker clubs.”

        Robinson paused.

        “Now that I've put my two cents in,” he said, “I have no control of it.”

        After the season, Robinson is expected to return to the commissioner's office.

        “This is it,” he said of his one-year managing stint. “One year. Either back to the suit and tie or the golf course.”

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