Brooksie

 

Robinson makes one of his several standout plays
in the 1970 World Series

Brooks Robinson has died at 86.

I have no problem naming him the greatest defensive third baseman in baseball history.

Offensively, he was pretty good. He won the 1964 AL MVP when he hit .317 with 28 home runs and a league-leading 118 RBIs. Those numbers were career highs for him. Robinson was a career .267 hitter with 268 home runs.

He also played 23 years and was pretty consistent in games appeared until he slowed down in 1976.

But 23 years. All with the Baltimore Orioles. Thus, he was "Mr. Oriole."

More than that, in a sport with great nicknames, Brooks Calbert Robinson, Jr. was "The Human Vacuum Cleaner," so named for the stunning brilliance with which he played third base.

To me growing up in New York, as great as Frank Robinson, Jim Palmer, and Boog Powell were on the teams of the late 60s and early 70s, Brooks Robinson was the man. He was the Orioles. He was Baltimore in the same breath as Johnny Unitas.

I realize to many Cal Ripken has become the most iconic of Baltimore athletes but Brooks and Unitas still hold that mark for me.    

Only Graig Nettles, to me, lived in that defensive rarified air that Robinson did. Nettles worked magic in 1978, turning around a World Series that found the Yankees down two games to none. They won in six.

Robinson dominated the 1970 Fall Classic not only with his defense (which was on a different level) but also with his bat, hitting .429 with two home runs and six runs driven in. He was named the World Series MVP in the five-game conquest of the Cincinnati Reds.

Robinson remained involved in baseball as an ambassador and broadcaster through his later years. He also helped found the York Revolution baseball team of the Atlantic League in 2007.

His number five was retired by the Orioles in 1978 and he was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1983.

Robinson, from Arkansas with Bobby Murcer, from Oklahoma
 in 1969

Brooks Robinson, personally, takes me back to my youth. It was special to see him play against the Yankees on TV as well as in the All-Star Game. But, more, he was the gentleman from Little Rock, AR who always had a smile for fans and opponents. He was a ballplayer who was flashy on the field but still maintained dignity and class. That carried off the field as well. Try finding something negative about him. It won't be easy.

Sadly, we lose our legends. Our greats. Our Hall of Famers. It reminds us of the fragility of life of course.

When I start taking a mental inventory of those whom we have lost it serves as a stark reminder. It's a reality check.

But we can always smile at the footage of Robinson at third base or at the plate. Some of the video is black and white or faded color but that adds to the vintage quality.

To some, those of us reading this news and feeling melancholy receive the much-hated "OK, Boomer" treatment.

If it's sad to recall youth and the times with those you miss, consider me guilty, but I'm still very much in the present in 2023.

Thinking of the past doesn't dampen the present. It makes life that much sweeter.

If Heaven needed a third baseman on their team they now have one that will make all of the plays.

We'll see Brooks Robinson forever in our minds, sprawled out near the hot corner, glove erect to show a no-doubt shocked umpire that he caught that hot shot off the bat of Johnny Bench.

Robinson (5), Dave McNally (19), and Andy Etchebarren (8)
after the last out of the 1966 World Series

The number five on the back of the jersey and "B. Robinson" above the number to differentiate him from "F. Robinson," as in Frank. 

The two Robinsons along with the many stars of the era in Baltimore at "The Old Grey Lady off 33rd St" known as Memorial Stadium.

So when someone asks "What was so special about Brooks Robinson," the answers are 1) defensively on another planet, 2) as gracious as you'd want an athlete to be, and 3) he was the Baltimore Orioles.

A player from a different time who made every play.

Tonight, raise a Natty Boh to Mr. Oriole.

Here's to you, Mr. Robinson.