If you’ve read more than two post on this blog, you know that I am a big fan of major league baseball. When I was growing up, my favorite team – the only team my Dad would allow us to talk about, was the Baltimore Orioles. This team, which prior to 1954 had been the St. Louis Browns, was the team by which I would be introduced to this sport. I need to be clear, the Baltimore Orioles of the 1950s were horrible – there’s no sugar coating that. But there was one player who started a 22-year run in 1955 and would forever defined the position of third base for every Baltimore Oriole fan for the foreseeable future. That player was Brooks Robinson.
On September 29, 2012, the Baltimore Orioles presented Brooks Robinson with a statue, a bronze sculpture, that joins five other statues in the Orioles Legend Celebration area behind center field just above the bullpen of both teams at Camden Yards. Robinson’s statue joins the statues of Frank Robinson, Earl Weaver, Jim Palmer, Eddie Murray and Cal Ripken. A statue doesn’t really tell the story of Brooks Robinson, but his stats do.
Brooks Robinson played his entire career for the Baltimore Orioles. And during his run as a Oriole, Brooks Robinson would:
– be voted to the All-Star game for 18th consecutive years;
– win 16 consecutive gold glove awards;
– be the American League Most Valuable Player in 1964;
– be the 1970 World Series Most Valuable Player;
– be the 1966 All-Star game’s Most Valuable Player;
– win the Roberto Clemente Award in 1972;
– win the Babe Ruth Award in 1970;
– win the Lou Gehrig Memorial Award in 1966;
– and be on two World Series champion teams.
He was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1983 on the first ballot and he is on the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.
There is no doubt that the fortunes of the Baltimore Orioles changed in 1966 when they acquired Frank Robinson from Cincinnati. But the formula for their success had already started with Brooks Robinson. He was called “the human vacuum cleaner at third” and he set a standard for fielding the third base position that still stands today. Among my most prized possessions is an autographed Brooks Robinson photo given to me by my son, who would have been named ‘Brooks’ himself had my wife not protested. Nevertheless, I’d wager that in Maryland, in Baltimore in particular, there are probably more people named “Brooks” after this man than anywhere else in the country. The popularity of this man cannot be under-estimated.
Below is Roy Firestone talking about Brooks Robinson. He says so much more than I am able to say except to say, “Congratulations, Mr. Robinson. The honor is well deserved.”
