The Associated Press

Montreal Expos manager Frank Robinson was selected to manage the U.S. baseball team that will try to qualify for the Athens Olympics.

Robinson, a Hall of Famer and former Red, will handle a professional team that will begin training in the Arizona Fall League on Oct. 4 before the qualifying event in Panama City on Oct. 30-Nov. 11.

"That's a lot of pressure," Robinson said. "If you don't win, you don't make the Olympics. I look forward to the challenge. I do. I'm honored that they selected me, and I'll do the best job I possibly can."

USA Baseball did not say if Robinson will manage the team if it qualifies for next year's games. The Olympics next year come toward the end of the major-league season.

The United States, managed by Tommy Lasorda, won the baseball gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Games.

Robinson has spent nearly 50 years in professional baseball as a player, coach, manager and executive. He is the only player to win MVP awards in both leagues and was a first-ballot Hall of Fame selection in 1982. He is fifth on the career home run list with 586 and is one of only 11 Triple Crown winners.

He became the first black manager in major-league history when took over as player-manager of the Cleveland Indians in 1975. He also managed at San Francisco and Baltimore.

The Reds, Robinson's first team, will dedicate a bronze likeness of him Friday at the Great American Ball Park. The dedication ceremony at Crosley Terrace will begin at 5:45 p.m.

PHILLIES: Third baseman David Bell, a Moeller High grad and son of Buddy Bell, was activated and in the lineup against Florida Tuesday night after missing 2 1/2 months with a back and hip injury.

The game was the start of a key three-game series, with the Phillies needing to win two of three to tie the Marlins in the NL wild-card race.

"Any time you get David Bell in your lineup, it's adding to your club," Phillies slugger Jim Thome said. "So we're real excited."

When Bell went on the disabled list July 11, he was hitting .198 with four homers and 37 RBI. He signed a four-year, $17 million contract last offseason after helping the Giants reach the World Series.

TIGERS: Outfielder Bobby Higginson was suspended for two games and fined by the commissioner's office for throwing equipment that hit an umpire during a game against Toronto on Sept. 16.

Higginson served a two-game suspension earlier this month.