Tolan served during the Vietnam War in the 478th Engineer Battalion of the U.S. Army based at Fort Thomas, Kentucky.

Seeking to boost their offense, the Cardinals traded Tolan and reliever Wayne Granger to Cincinnati for veteran outfielder Vada Pinson.

Tolan missed the 1971 season after rupturing his Achilles tendon playing basketball, which violated a specific clause in his contract barring him from that activity.

His Reds again defeated the Pirates in the NLCS (this time with the winning run scoring on a wild pitch by Bob Moose, after the Reds entered the ninth inning trailing by a run) to win the pennant; however, they were defeated by the Oakland Athletics in the World Series in seven games.

In the sixth, Tolan looked like he had a bead on a double to the base of the center field wall by Sal Bando but the ball fell for a hit.

Tolan's batting average plummeted to .206, he became a malcontent and had several squabbles with Reds management, who were still unhappy with his 1971 basketball injury.

The Phillies won the National League East title to earn their first post-season appearance since the "Whiz Kids" were swept by the New York Yankees in the 1950 World Series.

[1] Tolan also was player-manager of the St. Petersburg Pelicans, a team in the Senior Professional Baseball Association, in the two years of the league's operation, 1989–1990.

On December 31, 2008, Robbie was shot by a Bellaire, Texas policeman allegedly investigating reports of a stolen car after a confrontation in the Tolan driveway.