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.

1978: The Final Two

It was 1978 and a ten-year-old Shawn was enjoying the summer of playing baseball and hanging around the neighborhood.
Fifth grade was looming at Fountain Rock Elementary, which might be the best year that a person can have at school- which is being the oldest kids at school, yet young enough to still be able to relax, have fun, and enjoy still being a kid,

However, I had a problem.
And to me, it was a huge one-I was close to finishing my first ever Topps baseball card set.
Now, one wouldn't think that would be an issue, but it was one for one reason, but first some background.

From the beginning of Topps' start to make baseball cards in 1952, Topps would release their set in a few different series, which enabled them to add players that were traded, late rookie arrivals, and stars to make them still worth buying.
This helped stretch Topps's product to last the entire summer and kids always needed more cards.
The problem with that was that by the last series, kids were going back to school, the baseball season was winding down and football season was starting, which meant demand was less and fewer stores ordered them, which resulted in all those sets having the now dreaded high numbers, where even common players aren't inexpensive in those sets.

In 1974, Topps changed policy and released their entire set all at once, figuring that with a huge set all at once, kids would need more time to complete the set and it wouldn't hurt sales.
That part was true, but in my case, something unforeseen occurred- My dad knew I was down to two cards and decided to quit buying cards for me!
The logic was sound as the set had 726 cards in it, so my chances of gaining one of the two cards that I needed were a cool 363 to 1 per pack.
In 1978 dollars, the packs were either 20 cents (or 25, I cannot remember) and Dad felt he was tossing money away along with accumulating extra cards against those odds.

It wasn't like I needed big money stars out of the set-I had all the stars of the day, but needed two outfielders-Sixto Lezcano of the Milwaukee Brewers and Jerry Turner of the San Diego Padres.
Lezcano was thought of as a coming star and he was coming off his best year to date with 21 homers in 1977.
Still, it was a common card because Lezcano's rookie card was the year before.
Turner, on the other hand, was the epitome of journeyman outfielder having hit .246 with a career high of 10 homers in 1977.
Those cards being commons meant little because this was the day before card shops and card shows, so I was limited to the one or two people that I could trade with and if they didn't have them, it wasn't looking good for the finished set.
There was still hope though, the one person in the neighborhood who had more cards than me (By a huge margin) likely had Lezcano and Turner, so I cut my way through my grandmother's yard to reach his house.

I mentioned the numerous games of basketball that I played against Chris Mullin in my post a few years ago on the Kentucky Colonels and when it came to cards, everything in the neighborhood ran through him.

I had one thing going for a decent stash of 1960s stars that had been given to me by my grandmother's nephew and those helped me get some good stuff in return at times.
The object of Chris Mullin's desire on this day? My 1962 Brooks Robinson and Chris was willing to part with Lezcano and Turner for Brooksie!
Even at 10, I knew that was a bad deal, but I felt cornered in, so I did what most kids did -ran home and asked Dad for his advice.
His advice? "Do it, in the long run, the set will be worth more".
So I did and was then laughed at by Chris, who did pull a fast one for himself, but I still was thrilled to have finished the set.

Let's look back 39 years later at Beckett and see if Dad was right.
Keep in mind the set was not mint and neither was the 1962 Robinson, but for the purpose of this, we'll assume that they are.

Doug Hopkins sent these with the warning they are rough averages from different sources.
1978 Set:100.00
1978 Jerry Turner and Sixto Lezcano combined .70
1962 Brooks Robinson ranging from 12.50-20.00

All things considered, Dad was right, but the story has a sad ending.
Dad got into baseball cards and my collection was communed with his and when he sold his stuff years later, my 1978 set went along with it.
The funny part is that I never forgot Sixto Lezcano or Jerry Turner along with the story and when I bought Strat O Matic for the PC and those two players appeared, I made sure to use the pictured cards from 1978....