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BROOKS ROBINSON
Baseball Hall-of-Famer
Brooks Calbert Robinson, Jr. wasn't nicknamed "Hoover" for his resemblance to Herbert or J. Edgar but rather for his ability to suck up everything hit towards third base.
He won Gold Gloves every year from 1960 to 1975, led AL third basemen eleven times in fielding and eight times each in putouts and assists, and made more putouts, assists, chances, and double plays than any third baseman in history. He also spent a record twenty-three years with one team, the Orioles. Sportswriter Gordon Beard said, "He never asked anyone to name a candy bar after him. In Baltimore people name their children after him."
Robinson made his debut as an Oriole in 1955 and collected 2,848 hits in the regular season; however, no amount of work could make up for his basic lack of speed; he grounded into more double plays than any other ALer (297) and stole only 28 bases in his entire career.
He won the MVP award in 1964, hitting .317 with 28 homers and shone in postseason play. In 39 playoff and World Series games, he hit 5 homers and went 44-for-145, a .303 average. He hit an even .500 in the 1969 playoffs and .583 in 1970 as the O's crushed the Twins.
The 1970 World Series was the Brooks Robinson Show. In the opener he backhanded Lee May's bullet to keep the go-ahead run off base in the sixth inning and, with the score tied 3-3 in the seventh, homered over the left field fence to give the Birds a 4-3 win; In Game Two he knocked in the game-winner in a 6-5 squeaker.
All that was prologue to Game Three when Robinson did for fielding what Esther Williams did for swimsuits. He made sparkling plays on Tony Perez's shot down the line in the first, Tommy Helms' slow roller in the second, Johnny Bench's line drive in the sixth. He went 4-for-4 in Game Four and was named MVP when the Orioles won Game Five and the Series. The ultimate accolade came from Johnny Bench: "I will become a lefthanded hitter to keep the ball away from that guy."
When he retired in 1977, the Orioles gave credit where it was due by holding Thanks Brooks Day on September 18.The occasion drew the largest regular season crowd in Memorial Stadium's history. He entered the Hall of Fame in 1983.
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