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| Brooks Robinson doing what he did best: tracking down a baseball. |
Baltimore Orioles third baseman Brooks Robinson passed away earlier this week at the age of 86. Robinson was the finest fielding third baseman in baseball history, and the terrific plays he made during the 1970 World Series cemented his reputation as an amazing fielder. Indeed, Baseball Reference ranks Robinson 3rd in defensive WAR with 39.1, behind only Ozzie Smith and Robinson’s longtime teammate, shortstop Mark Belanger.
Robinson was no slouch with the bat, either, as he tallied 2,848 hits, 268 home runs, and 1,357 RBI’s. He was among the top 10 in extra base hits six times, and he finished his career with 818 extra base hits. Robinson led the AL in RBI’s in 1964, the year he won the MVP award. He won 16 Gold Gloves, capturing the award every year from 1960 to 1975.
The Orioles became a powerhouse team during the second half of Robinson’s career, and he helped lead the team to 4 World Series appearances from 1966-1971. Brooks hit .303 in 39 postseason games. Robinson wreaked havoc against my Minnesota Twins in the first 2 ACLS, hitting .500 in 1969, and .583 in 1970. Brooks hit .429 in the 1970 World Series, and that combined with his amazing fielding, won him the World Series MVP. I learned from an article on MLB the other day that Robinson’s .485 average over the 1970 postseason is the highest for any player for a single postseason, with a minimum of 30 at-bats.
I never had the good fortune to meet Brooks Robinson, but everything I’ve heard about him makes it sound like he was a fantastic person. Kind, humble, and genuine. I did meet Robinson’s Orioles teammate Jim Palmer at a baseball card show in 2012. Palmer was everything you’d expect him to be, nice, funny, and charming. It was towards the end of Palmer’s signing time, so there wasn’t a line. Palmer saw I had a signed 8x10 of Brooks, and he said, “I see you’ve got Brooksie there.” I told him the photo was only $10, so I had to get it. The guy who was selling it had it priced so cheaply because the photo wasn’t great quality. Palmer joked, “It looks okay to me, but don’t tell Brooksie I said that.” He picked up the other photos I had bought and flipped through those. When he got to Steve Carlton, he said “I pitched against him when I was with Aberdeen. He was a skinny, 19-year-old kid. Well, I guess I was just 18.” He said something about how Steve wasn’t throwing with his whole body yet. It was very cool to have Jim Palmer take a minute to chat with me.
Brooks Robinson was also a representative for the MLB Players Association, and for many years he and Mark Belanger were the Orioles’ team reps for the union. Belanger went on to be one of the four key union representatives during the 1981 baseball strike, and after his retirement he worked for the union until his death in 1998.
Brooks Robinson was an amazing baseball player, and his legacy will continue to live on. He’s an integral part of the fabric of the game.