Brooks Robinson, 1937-2023

After the 1970 World Series, one of its umpires, Ed Hurley, spoke of Brooks Robinson, the 3rd baseman of the victorious Baltimore Orioles, said, "He came down from a higher league."

Now, he is in one.

Brooks Calbert Robinson Jr. was born on May 18, 1937 in Little Rock, Arkansas. He graduated from Central High School, 2 years and a Summer before the integration crisis there. The University of Arkansas offered him a basketball scholarship. But scout Art Ehlers signed him for the Baltimore Orioles.

He made his major league debut on September 17, 1955, just 4 months after his graduation. Batting 6th, playing 3rd base, and wearing Number 40, he popped up to the catcher in the 2nd inning, singled to left in the 4th, popped up to 2nd base in the 6th, and singled a run home in the 8th inning. He fielded just 1 grounder, successfully. The Orioles beat the Washington Senators, 3-1 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. No one knew it yet, but, in only the Orioles' 2nd season in Baltimore, they had found their signature player.

After spending most of the 1956 and '57 seasons in the minor leagues, he became the regular 3rd baseman in 1958, wearing the Number 5 that he would wear for the rest of his career. In 1960, he batted .294, hit 14 home runs, had 88 RBIs, made his 1st All-Star Game, received his 1st AL Gold Glove, and helped the O's into their 1st Pennant race, finishing 2nd in the American League, 8 games behind the Yankees. He finished 3rd in the voting for the AL Most Valuable Player, behind Yankee stars Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle.

He wouldn't miss the All-Star Game again until 1975, playing in 18 (there were 2 a year from 1958 to 1962); and he would receive the Gold Glove for AL 3rd basemen every year until then, 16 years. In 1964, he batted he .317, hit 28 home runs, and led the AL with 118 RBIs. These would all be career highs, and helped the Orioles finish just 2 games behind the Yankees. He was named the MVP, the 1st Oriole to receive the honor.

After the 1960 season, he married Constance Butcher, a flight attendant for United Airlines. They had sons Brooks David, Chris and Michael, and daughter Diana.

In the 1965-66 off-season, the Orioles traded for power-hitting right fielder Frank Robinson. He was black, while Brooks was a white Southerner, and had just lost his position as the best player on the team, through no fault of his own. It didn't stop him from making a friend of Frank, who told the media, "It's easy to tell us apart: I wear 20, and he wears 5."

Frank was immediately named team Captain, and he won the Triple Crown and the MVP. The Orioles won their 1st Pennant, and their 1st World Series. But that was Frank's season, and Frank's Series. Brooks' moment in the sun was yet to come. The team was not one of the 4 that took the 1967 AL race down to the wire, and they were a distant 2nd to the Detroit Tigers in 1968.

The 1969 season was the 1st in Divisional play, and the O's won 109 games to take the AL Eastern Division, then swept the Minnesota Twins in 3 straight to win the 1st AL Championship Series. But they were upset in the World Series by the New York Mets.

For Brooks, the Series was summed up in the top of the 9th inning of Game 4: Trailing 1-0, he had a chance to drive in the tying and winning runs against a tiring Tom Seaver, and sent a shot into right field, but was robbed by a spectacular catch by Ron Swoboda. It did get the trying run home on a sacrifice fly, but the Mets won in the 10th, and won Game 5.

In 1970, it looked like a repeat: 108 wins, running away with the AL East, sweeping the Twins in the ALCS, and a World Series, this time against the Cincinnati Reds. Their Big Red Machine won 102 games, and were favored to beat the Orioles. But, at age 33, with the attention of the sports world on him like never before, Brooks Robinson went from beloved in Baltimore and respected around baseball, but not much of a star, to all-time legend.

Game 1, at Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium. This was the 1st World Series game ever played on artificial turf, and the 1st in which both teams wore names on the backs of their uniforms. And it was the 1st World Series with a black umpire, Emmett Ashford, who had become MLB's 1st black umpire in 1966, and was retiring at the end of the season: At the time, 55 was a mandatory retirement age for umpires, but he was allowed to come back for one more season and officiate in a World Series. The Jackson 5 sang the National Anthem.

Brooks, 1st baseman John "Boog" Powell, that season's AL MVP, and catcher Elrod Hendricks hit home runs. Brooks made a backhanded stop of a grounder by Lee May, spinning, and firing a throw that bounced into Boog's glove, getting May out. Jim Palmer outpitched Gary Nolan. Orioles 4, Reds 3.

Game 2, in Cincinnati. Boog hit another homer in the 4th inning, and the O's tacked 5 runs on in the 5th. As with Game 1, Brooks went 1-for-4 with an RBI, but the hit was a single, not a homer. Orioles 6, Reds 5. With fans seeing vacuum cleaners being used on the artificial turf, they began calling Brooks "The Human Vacuum Cleaner," and "Mr. Hoover," after the brand of vacuum cleaner. 

Game 3, back on the natural grass and dirt infield of Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Brooks took over the game immediately. In the top of the 1st, he snared a Tony Pérez grounder, and started a double play. In the bottom of the 1st, the Orioles loaded the bases, and Brooks doubled home 2 runs. In the top of the 2nd, he made a tough play to throw out Tommy Helms. In the 6th, Johnny Bench hit a liner that should have gone through the hole, but Brooks snared it on the fly.

Dave McNally pitched a complete game, and became the 1st pitcher ever to hit a grand slam in a World Series game. (Through 2022, he's still the only one.) Frank Robinson and Don Buford added home runs. Orioles 9, Reds 3. What had been predicted as a tight Series was now in danger of becoming a dominating sweep, as with the Orioles over the defending Champion Los Angeles Dodgers in 1966.

Game 4, in Baltimore. The Orioles came in with a 17-game winning streak: Their last 11 of the regular season, 3 straight in the ALCS, and the 1st 3 of the Series. Brooks went 4-for-4, taking Nolan deep on a home run. But the Reds showed up, scoring 3 runs in the 8th inning, and saved some face. Reds 6, Orioles 5.

Game 5, in Baltimore, on October 15. The Reds scored 3 runs in the top of the 1st, and, for a moment, the greatest comeback in sports history seemed possible. But Baltimore put a stop to that, scoring 2 runs in each of their 1st 3 innings, allowing Mike Cuellar to settle down and keep Cincinnati off the scoreboard until next April. Brooks went 1-for-5, and robbed Bench again. Orioles 9, Cincinnati 3.

Baltimore were the World Champions of baseball. Just 3 months later, the Colts won Super Bowl V, and Baltimore were the World Champions of baseball and football at the same time. And 3 months after that, the Bullets reached the NBA Finals. Alas, a 4-game Finals sweep by the Milwaukee Bucks an MLB-NFL-NBA treble, which has still never been achieved.

(The Raiders prevented Oakland from doing it in 1974-75. Pittsburgh doesn't have an NBA team, so there was no chance in 1979-80. The Rams couldn't make it happen for Los Angeles in 1981-82, and neither then nor the Raiders could make it happen in 1988-89. The Knicks blew New York's chance in 1986-87. And the Celtics blew Boston's chance in 2004-05.)

Brooks Robinson had shown the world the peak of fielding at 3rd base. He was awarded the Series' Most Valuable Player award. With it came a new car. Bench said, "If we had known he wanted a car that badly, we'd all have chipped in and bought him one." And, just as, earlier in the year, the Boston Bruins had won the Stanley Cup, and this was said about their great star, Bobby Orr, umpire Ed Hurley said of Brooks, "He came down from a higher league."

Before him, there had been Jimmy Collins, Harold "Pie" Traynor, and Eddie Mathews. People now began to speak of Brooks Robinson as the greatest 3rd baseman of all time. Since then, there has been Mike Schmidt, George Brett, Wade Boggs, Chipper Jones, Adrián Beltré, and, for the 2nd half of his career, Alex Rodriguez. Most baseball observers still rank Brooks as the greatest 3rd baseman in American League history, behind only Schmidt overall.

He helped the Orioles win another Pennant in 1971, as part of the "Leather Curtain" that gave Baltimore the best infield defense in the sport, with shortstop Mark Belanger, 2nd baseman Davey Johnson, and 1st baseman Boog Powell. But the O's lost that World Series to the Pittsburgh Pirates. He would help them win the AL East again in 1973 and 1974, losing the ALCS to the Oakland Athletics both times.

A thumb injury in 1975 was the beginning of his end, and he lost his starting job to Doug DeCinces in 1976. In 1977, at 42, he played only 24 games, the last on August 13. With catcher Rick Dempsey coming off the Disabled List, and a roster spot necessary, Brooks announced his retirement on August 21. Brooks Robinson Day was held on September 18, 1977, and his Number 5 became the 1st number ever retired in Baltimore sports.

He finished with a lifetime batting average of .267; 2,848 hits including 482 doubles, 68 triples and 268 home runs, decent totals for a man who spent 23 seasons in a pitcher's park like Memorial Stadium. Those 23 seasons were the most that any player had spent with any one team, a record tied by Carl Yastrzemski of the Boston Red Sox in 1983, but never broken.

Jim Murray, the great sports columnist of The Los Angeles Times, wrote during Robinson's career that "In the future, Brooks Robinson will be the standard every third baseman will be measured by." In his 2015 biography Brooks: The Biography of Brooks Robinson, Doug Wilson said, "That statement has withstood the test of time."

In 1983, Brooks was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. When the Orioles established their team Hall of Fame, he and Frank Robinson were the 1st 2 honorees. He was also elected to the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame. When the Orioles played their last game at Memorial Stadium on October 6, 1991, he and Colts quarterback legend Johnny Unitas threw out ceremonial first balls -- in Unitas' case, a football. In 2012, a statue of Brooks was dedicated outside their new home, Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

In 1999, The Sporting News ranked their 100 Greatest Baseball Players. Brooks was ranked 80th, trailing Traynor (70th), Mathews (63rd) and Schmidt (28th) among 3rd basemen. That year, fans voted Brooks and Schmidt as the 3rd basemen on the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. In 2022, 23 years after TSN did their rankings, ESPN ranked their 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and Brooks came in 67th, trailing Mathews (64th), Boggs (45th), Brett (43rd), A-Rod (26th) and Schmidt (18th).

Brooks broadcast for the Orioles from 1978 to 1993. He formed a group that ran several minor-league teams, including the York Revolution, in York, Pennsylvania, where he had once played minor-league ball for the York White Roses. Their ballpark, WellSpan Park, has the address of 5 Brooks Robinson Way. That ballpark also has a statue of him. A 3rd statue is in downtown Baltimore, on Washington Boulevard.

Brooks survived cancer in 2009, but an infection in 2011 affected his health thereafter. He died yesterday, September 26, 2023, in the Baltimore suburb of Owings Mills, Maryland, at the age of 86.

Frank Robinson predeceased him in 2019. He once said, "I've never known anyone, in any profession, more adored than Brooks."

With his death, there are now 7 surviving players from the 1966 World Champion Baltimore Orioles: Luis Aparicio (the only title won by the Hall of Fame shortstop, better known for playing for the Chicago White Sox), Jim Palmer, Boog Powell, Davey Johnson (also the manager of the 1986 World Champion New York Mets), Russ Snyder, Wally Bunker and Eddie Fisher (no relation to the singer of the same name).

There are 9 surviving players from the 1970 World Champion Orioles: Palmer, Powell, Johnson, Merv Rettenmund, Bobby Grich, Pete Richert, Terry Crowley, Eddie Watt and Dave Leonhard.

And there are 10 surviving players from the 1999 selections for the All-Century Team: Willie Mays, Sandy Koufax, Pete Rose, Nolan Ryan, Johnny Bench, Mike Schmidt, Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire, Ken Griffey Jr., and the man who replaced Brooks Robinson as the signature player of the Baltimore Orioles, Cal Ripken Jr.