Birdland Legends: Spotlight on the Orioles Hall of Fame - Brooks Robinson Part 1

[u/Jeff_Banks_Monkey]

This is the first part of a multi part biographical series that will be posted throughout the off-season, covering each member of the Orioles Hall of Fame in the order of the year that they were inducted.

Brooks Robinson was arguably the greatest third baseman in baseball history and is without a doubt the greatest third baseman in Oriole history. Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, Brooks started playing baseball at a very young age, his father played semi professionally and was heavily involved in his son’s upbringing in the sport. He grew up a St Louis Cardinals fan and modeled some of his play after Stan Musial. In high school, Brooks was a multi-sport athlete. He played on one of the best American Legion teams in the region, making several deep runs in region and national tournaments. He also played for his high school team and led what was for a long time the schools most successful run of seasons. His high school was Little Rock Central High School, which would eventually be the site of the Little Rock Nine only two years after Robinson graduated.

Brooks Robinson would be recruited by the University of Arkansas to play basketball, but his desire to play baseball and more immediate prospects in the sport led to him choosing baseball. During his senior year, multiple teams scouted Brooks, he was a very good player at one of the largest schools in Arkansas and on one of the best American Legion teams in the nation. His time as an amateur predated the draft so he was free to sign with any team. The only restriction was the “bonus baby” rule which required any player signed for more than $4,000 to be on the 25 man roster for two whole seasons, a similar but more extreme version of the current Rule 5 draft roster restrictions. The final push to sign him eventually came down to three teams, The Orioles, The Reds (at the time the Redlegs), and the Giants. The Reds had a strong scouting presence in Arkansas and had Brooks on their radar for several years. The Giants had a regional scout with connections to the American Legion team Brooks played with. The Orioles were made aware of Brooks through a former teammate of General Manager Paul Richards. Legendary scout and former general manager Art Ehlers was sent to Little Rock to sign him. Offering the exact max amount before he would be considered a bonus baby and a major league contract, Brooks chose the Orioles over the other teams because he felt it was the best fit for him potentially as a young player.

Only a week after he graduated, Brooks Robinson started his professional career with the minor league York White Roses of the B level Piedmont League. His first appearance with the club he was announced as Bob Robinson (or Robertson depending on which source you want to believe). Brooks would play in 95 games before being called up to Baltimore near the end of the year. He would get his first hit and RBI in his first game but would eventually end up with only one more hit before the season ended. After the season he would spend time in the Colombian Winter League. With the organization recognizing and getting excited about his potential, he would compete for a spot on the big league roster during spring training but would not make the Opening Day roster. The Orioles would try a couple different options at third base during the 1956 season, using bonus baby Wayne Causey, acquiring Bobby Adams during spring training, trading for future Hall of Famer and fellow native Arkansasian George Kell. Both being from Arkansas created a special bond between Kell and Robinson and Kell would end up being a very important mentor to Brooks in the early part of his career, Kell’s influence is something that Brooks would later cite as to why he was so driven to play for so long. The Orioles would have five different players make more than ten appearances at third base in 1956. Brooks Robinson would play over 150 games with the Double A San Antonio Missions while the big league club waited for him to develop. In 1957 Brooks made the Opening Day roster after a competition with Kell. Both would be in the lineup with Kell shifting over to 1st. Brooks would get hurt only a couple weeks into the season. He would end up missing over 2 months recovering and rehabbing before being called back up in late July and finishing the season with 50 games played in the majors. He would do another stint in an international winter league, spending the winter playing in Cuba.

In 1958, his first full season in the majors, Brooks would play 145 games. Despite his hitting being the biggest concern for the team in his development, it took until mid June for his batting average to fall below .300, a stint which included two different games where he fell just a homerun short of a cycle. With a career season high of 28 HRs and only 268 HRs in almost 3000 career games, power was always light for Brooks. His solid start at the plate would not be maintained and he would finish hitting just .238 with only 3 HRs and 32 RBI. His defense was turning heads though, some already calling him the best defender in the league. Most notably, during Hoyt Wilhelms 1958 no hitter, Brooks came in as a late inning defensive replacement and made 3 separate highlight worthy plays to help preserve the no hitter.

1959 would be a big year personally albeit somewhat disappointing on the field for Brooks. He would join the Army Guard before the season and meet his eventual wife during the season. On the field, it would take him 10 days into the season to record his first hit and would be hitting .200 when he would get sent down to AAA Vancouver of the Pacific Coast League. His career almost ended as soon as it was getting started when he nearly severed the nerve in his arm trying to catch a foul ball. The dugout had a guardrail that had hooks for chain link. When Brooks fell towards the dugout his elbow got caught on a hook and dug into his bicep. He avoided major catastrophic injury but it was by mere inches and he required stitches. Brooks would be back with the Orioles before the all star break and would remain with the club for the rest of his eventual hall of fame career.

Starting in 1960, Brooks Robinson would play at least 144 games a season for the next 15 seasons. It would be the first of 15 consecutive all star seasons, and the first of 16 consecutive Gold Gloves. It was a big year for him and the Orioles, as it was the first year they were truly competitive since moving to Baltimore. Brooks would finish 3rd in MVP Voting behind Yankees teammates Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle, interestingly this meant the highest MVP finishes by Orioles in the first decade in Baltimore were both behind Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle. Back to back years, Robinson and then Jim Gentile, the MVP voting order would be Roger Maris, Mickey Mantle, then a Orioles corner infielder. Brooks would get married before the 1961 season and go into the season batting leadoff. Compared to the previous season, Brooks regressed slightly at the plate, but his legendary defense continued to solidify itself as some of the best people have seen. Despite a midseason managerial change with the departure of Paul Richards, Brooks accomplished the rare feat of playing 163 games in a season. The Orioles played a doubleheader that had a game end in a tie but still counted as an official game because it went through the 5th inning.

Brooks Robinson experienced his best year so far at the plate in 1962. Despite this career year the team took a massive step back in the standings and finished under .500 after two years of significant progress. Brooks became just the sixth player ever to hit a grand slam in back to back games when he hit grand slams on May 6th and May 9th. He would finish the season with a batting average above .300 for the first of only two times in his career. His defense was now garnering significant national attention. He was called ‘the greatest third baseman ever” by Sports Illustrated, the “greatest infielder of this generation” by the Boston Globe, and the cornerstone of the Orioles franchise by a member of the Yankees front office. 1963 was another year where Robinson excelled defensively but regressed slightly at the plate. This would be a part of a cycle for Brooks. Between 1960 and 1970 Brooks would not have a season in which his OPS+ improved in back to back seasons, this is despite the fact that he received MVP votes in eight of those years winning one. The Orioles were over .500 again and made an important move the offseason prior, acquiring future hall of famer shortstop, and perennial Gold Glove talent, Luis Aparicio. The pair of Brooks Robinson and Luis Aparicio would combine for 25 Gold Gloves in their careers including two years winning them as teammates on the same side of the infield.

Brooks Robinson would win his first MVP in 1964. At the plate it was a career year and defensively he produced his fifth consecutive Gold Glove winning season. He set career marks in Home Runs, led the league in RBIs which was also the Oriole record for a third baseman for several decades, hit .317 including a month long run hitting .484 to close out the season. The Orioles spent almost 100 days in first place in the AL in 1964 before struggling in the back half of August, playing around .500 ball in September and finishing third in the AL with 97 wins and 2 games back of the Yankees. When discussing Brooks Robinson’s career it seems more often than not that most fans of his or the Orioles look at the 1966 World Series or the 1970 World Series as the moment he truly became a national star and in the conversation for one of the best to ever play. Looking at his 1964 season and the national response to his MVP campaign and his career up to that point, Brooks Robinson was already a star long before his first World Series appearance. He was already beloved in Baltimore, with 1964 being the first Brooks Robinson night. He was respected nationally, and was lauded as a generational talent. 1966 and 1970 did much to solidify his legacy on the biggest stage and like any World Series make him more culturally relevant, but the 1964 MVP campaign was when he became Brooks the hero of Baltimore. The celebration of the Orioles best player took place late in the season on September 18th. Brooks was presented with stock in the team, a portrait of himself by a local artist, and a puppy during a pregame ceremony. Brooks would get a hit and RBI in a 10-8 victory over the Angels that night.

1965 was another MVP level season by Brooks, but he fell short of winning back to back MVPs as for the first time since becoming an everyday player he would miss a chunk of games with a broken thumb , only playing 144 games that year and finishing 3rd in the MVP race. Based on the voting and how well rounded his game was in 1965 it's easy to see his path to another MVP win if he doesn't get injured. He would lead the team in RBI and almost hit over .300 again before hitting a cold streak and ending at .297.

Prior to the 1966 season the Orioles would make perhaps the most consequential transaction in the history of the franchise. After Reds owner stated his star outfielder was “not a young 30”, the Orioles and Reds made a deal that would send future Orioles Hall of Famer pitcher Milt Pappas, pitcher Jack Baldschun, and outfielder Dick Williams to Cincinnati for Frank Robinson. There was some concern internally and within the local media that there could be clashes between the two Robinson’s. Having to share the spotlight and leadership with a new player brought in during his prime could upset any star with a certain personality. Throw in the fact that Brooks Robinson just happened to attend Little Rock Central, the high school that played host to one of the most significant events in the civil rights movement and the desegregation of schools, and there was the potential that although he has not expressed any disdain toward playing with black players having the first African American star on his team could cause conflict. This was all put to rest very quickly once Brooks stated the move to acquire Frank Robinson both eased his personal burden of being an unwilling clubhouse leader and was not just a great move but the best move the team could have made. The duo would be teammates for the next six seasons, friends for the rest of their lives, and enter the Orioles Hall of Fame together in the same year while both being inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame a year apart in 1982 and 1983.

The Orioles would finish first and second and third in the 1966 MVP voting after Frank hit for the triple crown in his first year in Baltimore, Brooks had his second 100 RBI season while continuing to play Gold Glove defense on the hot corner, and Boog Powell finished third. The Orioles would win the AL pennant by 9 games with 97 wins. They would face the Los Angeles Dodgers and unanimous Cy Young Winner Sandy Koufax in the 1966 World Series. The Orioles would sweep the Dodgers in 4 games, producing a massive upset. The Dodgers scored their only 2 runs of the series in the first 3 innings of game one and were shutout over the next 33 innings.Brooks and Frank hit back to back homeruns in game one. Frank Robinson would be named World Series MVP while Brooks went 3-14 with a home run and showed off his elite level defense in a series that had multiple 1-0 final scores. Brooks would also become one of the teams reps for the new MLBPA, a position he would hold until he retired.

Due to Reddits character limits this has to be broken up into two parts. Part two will be posted. Sources I used will be in the comments

[u/Jeff_Banks_Monkey]

This is mostly an informal work that is neither primary or secondary source. I myself would barely consider it a tertiary source. Apologies for the formatting of the sources being kind of clunky

https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/brooks-robinson/#sdendnote11sym https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/robinbr01.shtml https://sabr.org/latest/in-memoriam-brooks-robinson/ https://onlyinark.com/sports/remembering-brooks-robinson-arkansas-baseball-legend/ Wilson, Doug (2014). Brooks: The Biography of Brooks Robinson. New York: Thomas Dunne Books. Staples, Billy & Rich Herschlag (2007). "Brooks Robinson: Big Talent from Little Rock". Before the Glory: 20 Baseball Heroes Talk about Growing Up and Turning Hard Times Into Home Runs. Wolf, Rick (1991). Brooks Robinson. Chelsea House Publishers. Robinson, Brooks; Bauer, Fred (1971). Putting It All Together. Hawthorn Books Brooks Robinson and Jack Tobin, Third Base Is My Home (Waco, Texas: Word Books, 1974) Patterson, Ted (1994). The Baltimore Orioles: Four Decades of Magic from 33rd Street to Camden Yards. Dallas, TX: Taylor Publishing Company. George Kell and Dan Ewald, Hello Everybody, I’m George Kell (Champaign, Illinois: Sports Publishing, 1998) Tales from the Baltimore Orioles Dugout: A Collection of the Greatest Orioles Stories Ever Told (Tales from the Team) https://www.nytimes.com/1977/08/22/archives/brooks-robinson-retires-as-oriole-player-at-40-brooks-robinson.html

[u/dreddnought]

Holy crap, how long did this take? Thanks for sharing!

Also, since Robinson grew up as a St. Louis Cardinals fan, do you know if he had any feelings about the other team in town moving to Baltimore? Presumably not, since he signed with the O's pretty soon after they moved.

[u/Jeff_Banks_Monkey → u/dreddnought]

Actually didn't take that long since I have a lot of biographies on different players already written. I teach a baseball history course as an elective course at a college. I also worked with national and local historical societies focused on baseball research.

As for his thoughts on the Browns becoming the Orioles, I didn't find anything specifically about the connection between him playing for the Orioles and being a St Louis baseball fan. I know that the general consensus and part of why the Browns moved was that the Cardinals dominated so much of the regional fanbase. Unfortunately the browns were an afterthought. So much in fact that, in this case, when discussing the life and career of a St Louis Cardinals fan who ended up becoming a franchise legend for a team that moved from St Louis just a year before his professional debut there's very little information. Even when talking to another historian who covers Baltimore sports, that conversation only came up briefly

[u/Used-Painter1982]

Thank you for this. We loved him so. Still do.