Brooks Robinson

    The recent passing of Brooks Robinson hit almost everyone who lived in this area no matter if you saw Brooks in his prime, at the end of his career, as an announcer for the Baltimore Orioles television broadcasts, or the many years after all those jobs that Brooks spent as a team ambassador for a team that maybe didn't deserve him for the longest time.

To most people under fifty, Cal Ripken Jr. would be the player that most people think of as "Mr.Oriole" but if you are over fifty, I'm certain that the title would belong to Brooks Robinson.

Brooks was a deserving Hall of Famer and a good ( not great) hitter with six seasons of over twenty homers and eight seasons with over eighty RBI.

Robinson also was named to fifteen All-Star teams, won sixteen Gold Gloves, and won the 1964 American League MVP.

Brooks stepped into the national spotlight during the 1970 World Series, in which the Orioles defeated the Cincinnati Reds in five games with Robinson winning the Series MVP after numerous spectacular defensive gems and hitting two home runs with an average of .429 during the five-game set.

Brooks Robinson still can stake a claim as the best-fielding third baseman ever and while I wouldn't grade him as the best overall third baseman, I'm in agreement with those that call him the top with the glove at the position,

But for me, Brooks was past his best days when I saw him play, especially with the bat, and I remember him most fondly for his announcing days on the Orioles television network with Chuck Thompson.

Brooks wasn't the most eloquent commentator ever but he had a charming, folksy manner of speech even if you were rooting against the Orioles as I almost always did!

Brooks always said the word "Orioles" as "Oreos", which tends to be a problem when you are commentating for that team and I still remember him calling Albert (don't call me Joey) Belle "Belley" during games against the Indians.

Yet, you could tell that it wasn't a lack of knowledge for Brooksie because his analysis was usually spot on. While I wonder if Brooks would have sold as well in the era of analytics, Robinson was exactly what teams hoped to have on their network- a homer to an extent but not so over the top that he comes off with a bias.

Brooks Robinson was a person who always had time for the fans of his and the game.

I remember meeting him a few times as a child, and Brooks always stayed until everyone had gotten what they came for, whether it was the chance to meet him, get a picture with him, or have something signed or all three, Robinson was noted for the time that he spent talking to people and listening to whatever they had to say.

I realize that sports, media, and collecting have changed since those days of Brooks Robinson as a player and commentator, and while some of those changes are for the better, I can't help but think it's not all for the good.

At his core, Brooks Robinson was still the person who grew up in rural Arkansas listening to St.Louis Cardinals and Browns games on the radio and appreciated that when people are meeting a celebrity it could be the only time that opportunity could arise and that is the memory that those people would forever have of him.

Frank Robinson

Hall of Famer Frank Robinson passed away yesterday at the age of 83 from bone cancer.
Robinson played for five teams, with his best seasons with Cincinnati and Baltimore and won the 1966 Triple Crown in his first season with the World Champion Orioles.

Robinson was the first player to win the MVP award in both leagues (1961 Cincinnati and 1966 Baltimore), made the All-Star team fourteen times and hit 586 home runs in an era filled with dominant pitchers.
Robinson is also remembered for being the first African-American manager in the big leagues with the Cleveland Indians in 1975, a post he held until midway through the 1977 season.
Robinson would later manage the Giants, Orioles and the Expos/Nationals, piloting the Expos through their final three seasons in Canada and the Nationals first two years in Washington.

As a player. Robinson was always thought of as a great one in his time but often wasn't thought of first among his peers.
That is far from an insult considering those peers were players named Mays, Aaron, Clemente to name just a few, but it shows that not only did Robinson play in smaller cities and that he wasn't always the most media-friendly player either.
Still, Robinson was a player and manager for that matter, that didn't suffer fools lightly and it showed.
One of the major issues with Robinson in managing the Indians (besides the Indians being an average team at best) was his dealings with Gaylord Perry, who was the best player that the Indians had at the time and Perry was eventually dealt to the Rangers before Robinson's first season was complete.
Robinson's hiring was a major news story with the above cover of the monthly SPORT magazine shows (Wearing the hat that I hope the Indians would consider using with the absence of Chief Wahoo) at the time as his hiring gained far more publicity than a lower division team in Cleveland would have received.

The 1956 Rookie of the Year, Robinson slugged 38 homers and would only hit less than 29 homers once in his first twelve years in the league (21 in 1963), but yet isn't always remembered as a master of the long ball despite his career numbers and the as noted 586 career homers.
Robinson was a better runner than is recalled as he finished with double figures in steals in nine of his first ten seasons in an era where the stolen base was not nearly as common as it would become in the artificial turf era.
Robinson won the 1961 MVP with a dominant season (.323 37 HR 124 RBI and a career-high 22 steals to lead the Reds to what would be their only pennant between 1940 and 1970, but what isn't always remembered is Robinson's follow-up campaign in 1962 when he exceeded his MVP season (.342 39 HR 136 RBI and a league-leading 51 doubles), but finished only fourth in the MVP voting.

Following the 1965 season at Crosley Field that saw his typical strong statistics ( .296, 33 HR and 113 RBI), Robinson, at the age of 30, was traded to Baltimore for three players, most notably pitcher Milt Pappas with one of the most memorable quotes by a GM ever as Reds general manager Bill DeWitt claimed that Robinson was an "old 30".
Robinson led Baltimore to the World Championship as he won the Triple Crown with Pappas, a solid, but far from an elite pitcher, winning 28 games in the two seasons that he spent in Cincinnati.

Baltimore would win the American League for three seasons in a row from 1969-71, winning the 1970 Series in five games over Robinson's former club in Cincinnati.
Following the 1971 series in which the Orioles lost in seven to the Pittsburgh Pirates, Robinson was again at the center of a puzzling trade.
Robinson hit well at 35 for Baltimore in 1971 (.281, 28 HR 99 RBI), but was traded to the Dodgers for a four-player package headed by pitcher Doyle Alexander, who would be part of another memorable trade 16 years later when Alexander was traded to Detroit by Atlanta for a minor leaguer.
Alexander would win nine games without a defeat to help the Tigers down the stretch to win the American League East title, but the minor leaguer was Hall of Famer John Smoltz.

Robinson would struggle in his lone season as a Dodger as he hit only .251 (19 homers) in 103 games and feuded with manager Walter Alston.
Robby would bounce back with 30 homers in a season spent as the DH for the California Angels in the initial year of the position.
Robinson would be traded to Cleveland late in 1974 with the surprising Indians on the edge of contention until September and would be named player/manager to start the 1975 season.

Robinson started himself as DH to start the season and wearing those fire engine red uniforms of the time, hit a home run on Opening Day before hitting only .237 with nine homers in 118 at bats.
Robinson would bat 67 times in 1976, adding three homers to his final stats before concentrating on managing the Tribe.
Robinson was the opposite as expected, relating well to the younger players such as Dennis Eckersley, Rick Manning, and Duane Kuiper, but battled with veterans such as Gaylord Perry, John Ellis and Rico "The Big Man" Carty.
Robinson would fare better in future managing stops, often when teams least expected it as he kept the 82 Giants in the NL West race until late in the season, finished second with the 89 Orioles after they had won only 54 games the season before and finished second with the league-owned and shoestring budget Expos in 2002.

Frank Robinson also might have the record for most statues outside stadiums ( I didn't check anyone else!) as he has statues of his likeness outside the parks in Cincinnati, Baltimore and Cleveland.

One of the toughest players of his time and one of the best ever, it's hard to believe that you can be in the Hall of Fame with tremendous performance and still be underrated, yet that is the legacy of Frank Robinson, who might be remembered best simply as a ballplayer that doesn't come along every day.

Baltimore Memorial Stadium

I have written a lot of about the stadiums and arenas in Cleveland here at the blog and despite being a diehard fan of Cleveland and Ohio teams,I still lived in Maryland.

With that in mind,I thought I would write about the stadium that I went to most as a child-Baltimore's Memorial Stadium.
We didn't have a presence in Washington,so the Orioles were all we had as a local baseball fan-even if I wasn't an Orioles fan.

I didn't mind the Orioles for most of the seventies,although I didn't root for them.
I even liked a few Orioles like junkballing Mike Cuellar,smooth fielding Paul Blair and my favorite Oriole Ken Singleton,so despite being a Rangers and then an Indians fan,I didn't have a real hatred for the Orioles at all.
They happened to be the team on TV and the team that I got to go to see once or twice a year.most notably this night in 1978.
That began to change during the 1979 World Series,but really didn't seem to kick in until 1982.
The Orioles made a late season charge that fell just short of catching the Milwaukee Brewers for the AL East title,but that season saw the arrival of a rookie named Cal Ripken Jr and the following years would see me become a passionate rooter for whoever played Baltimore and their local hero that I always felt was way overrated.

However,I always liked Memorial Stadium and my visits there,despite the less than dazzling neighborhood it was placed in.
I remember vividly on one of my first trips watching my dad give some kids some money to "watch" our car.
I asked why he'd do that and he said "I would rather not have to change tires before I drive home".
The big marquee on the stadium itself with the dedication to the men that lost their lives in war always loomed large as one walked up to the stadium.

I always liked being able to get things of my favorite teams that you could rarely get anywhere else.
I vividly remember saving money for a trip to an Orioles game and bought bobbleheads of the Indians and Pirates (I still have both-minus the original boxes),and stopped in the end of the game rush to use the rest of my money on a Texas Ranger bobble,only to be grabbed and chastised by my dad (He was right) for not staying with him as we left.
I never did get my Ranger bobble (I kind of remember him looking like the photo shown),although I still wouldn't mind having him at the right price...

I always liked the scoreboard in left center and the various Baltimore area sponsors like National Bohemian beer and Esskay hot dogs.
One of my favorite stories from my childhood came from Esskay hot dogs and I still smile thinking of it.
This guy that went hunting with my dad and grandfather stopped by our cabin (we went there a lot) and he used to ramble on and on about the only hot dog that he would eat was Esskay.
So,one day on a visit,my grandfather took some Briggs hot dogs and put them in an Esskay package and made sure he saw them come out of the wrapper.
I watched this guy continue to rave about the quality of Esskay as he happily wolfed down Briggs!!

I also liked the open centerfield area where you could see these planted "wooded areas" right in front of row houses!
It was a different look,but one that I enjoyed despite an aversion to the Orioles.
I seem to remember Brad Komminsk of the Indians jumping at the center field wall and tumbling over in a late 1980's game.(it was 1989) into the bullpens.
Listen to the Youtube below for the only good thing about Orioles games for me-a great announcing crew of Mel Proctor and John Lowenstein...


A great part of Memorial was the PA announcer,Rex Barney,who was a former Brooklyn Dodger pitcher renowned for throwing hard and just as much for his lack of control!
Barney used two catch phrases still used today by fans my age and older-"Give that fan a contract!" when a fan would make a nice snag of a foul ball or his "Thank Youuuu" when he signed off with announcements over the sound system.
To this day,when I play Strat O Matic with teams of that era,I'll think of Rex Barney announcing them over the PA....

Another thing that I always connected with Memorial Stadium,despite few games on the network was this really annoying commercial for WMAR,who showed so many Orioles away games with Home Team Sports showing the home games.
"Hey Orioles" continues to be a song used and parodied by Oriole haters of the day even now!



Memorial Stadium wasn't a beautiful park and it certainly was not a park that was designed to be a 100 year field like Wrigley or Fenway.
It hosted three football teams-the Colts,the late CFL Colts,who are the only non-Canadian team to win the Grey Cup and I still wish I would have seen a CFL game there and the hated Ravens while their stadium was being built.
But despite the teams that played there usually being rooted against by me,I still have fond memories of the old gal on 33rd street and even though Oriole Park being a more beautiful facility than Memorial,I still think of the Orioles being at Memorial Stadium first...

I may not have the hatred for the Orioles that I did in the past,I once made the statement "Nothing good ever comes out of Baltimore except Mary Beth Marsden" speaking of the Baltimore anchorwoman that I was a fan of,but I look back at those teams and their stadium fondly as the first big league stadium that I ever visited along with the team I loved to hate....

Dock Ellis and my 10th Birthday

Former Pirate (among others) pitcher Dock Ellis passed away on Friday of a liver ailment in Los Angeles.
Ellis was noted for many things in the 70's-his wearing hair curlers in pre-game warmups, his claiming to pitch a 1970 no-hitter while on LSD, his long home run that he allowed to Reggie Jackson in the 1971 All-Star game, and his controversial 1976 book -In the Country of Baseball.

Ellis was 138-119 over his career, mostly spent in Pittsburgh with stops in New York with the 1976 American League Champion Yankees and the Texas Rangers, along with cameo appearances with the Mets and Athletics.
Dock Ellis was 19-9 for the 1971 World Champion Pirates in the best season of his career, and compiled six double-digit win seasons in a row in Pittsburgh with the Pirates.
Rest in peace, Dock, and best wishes to his family.

But for all that, Dock Ellis will be remembered by me for one thing first.
He was the first big leaguer to sign an autograph for me at a big league park.
In 1978, I celebrated my 10th birthday in Baltimore with a doubleheader between the Orioles and my favorite team, the Texas Rangers (That would change over the winter, but that is another story for another day).
My dad took me and a friend to the old Memorial Stadium for the two-game set. (Click here for Game 1 Box Score and here for Game 2) And I was hollering for my favorite player, Toby Harrah, but the position players were otherwise occupied and unavailable.

Harrah would make one appearance in the twinbill as a pinch runner, I recall me going crazy for the cameo.
I always wondered why a normal starter sat for both games of the DH but was well enough to pinch run...
Maybe Ranger skipper Billy Hunter wanted to shut the screaming ten-year-old behind the Ranger dugout up?? (Nah).

In between games, Ellis walked by me, saw my newly purchased Ranger batting helmet, and spoke to me first about how much he liked it.
Back then, hats, shirts, etc, were not all over the place unless it was for the local team.
If you wanted non-Oriole stuff, you had to go to the stadium and find it.

Anyway, Ellis signed my program and called over the late Paul Lindblad and had him sign it as well, which gave me a memory of a lifetime.
That program is still around here somewhere. If I ever get a scanner, I will scan it down the road.
That day was one of the fondest memories I ever had of spending time with my father.
My dad and I have never really spent a large amount of time together, but that day ranked right up there with one of the best days of my life at home.

A final note on that day was this exchange between the friend and my father.
Friend: Who's that guy in the outfield?
Dad: Andres Mora (young Oriole outfielder)
Friend: Who?
Dad: Andres Mora
Friend: Who?
Dad: Andres Mora (beginning to be annoyed)
Friend: Who?
Dad: Andres Mora (Steam beginning to escape)
Friend: Oh, Carlos Garcia (no such player on either team)
Dad:(Wondering why he did this)
That has been a story in my family since that day, and why an obscure outfielder who did next to nothing is still remembered for it.

The Pirates announced their farm system staff for the upcoming season.
Frank Kremblas comes over from the Brewers organization to take over Indianapolis, and new hire Matt Walbeck will be the skipper at Altoona.

Former Lakewood Blue Claws manager P.J. Forbes will man the helm for the Lynchburg Hillcats, and Gary Green will return at Low A with the new affiliate in West Virginia.
Newcomer Gary Robinson will manage the State College Spikes.

For the autograph hounds out there, the only former big leaguer who is new to the Pirate organization is the new pitching coach at Lynchburg, Wally Whitehurst.
Whitehurst will have plenty of cards from the early '90s to dig up from his days as a Met and Padre.

The Pirates also replaced Lanny Frattare last week with the hiring of Tim Neverett from the Colorado Rockies.
I am not really familiar with Neverett's work, but he couldn't be worse than Greg Brown, now could he???

Finally, Harrisburg will be delivering on those promised renovations in a two-year program that will see some finished for the 2009 opener and the remainder for the 2010 opener.
One of the improvements is adding a souvenir store that will replace the current NASCAR-like trailer.
I liked Harrisburg's park, and the improvement should add even more to the experience.

Until the next few posts that will cover Devil-Flyers, today's football games, and eventually, my trip to see the Lowell Devils. 

Photo Credits
Hair Curlers; Unknown
Ellis; Topps