Brooks Robinson and the Baltimore Orioles

[Mark70Z]

Day 1 (January 1, 2020 - 001)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I’ve been inspired by some of the single player collector threads and have desired to start one in the past, but failed to do so mainly because I’m not the greatest with the computer thing and getting the pictures large enough to see has been an issue. Also, the organizational skills with collecting has been somewhat lacking. Anyway, I’m going to give it a shot and we’ll see what happens.

I recall Mike (docpatly) saying that it surprises him that there are not more threads like this, devoted to a single player, so let us give Brooks Robinson of the Baltimore Orioles a shot. I’m sure Brooksie doesn’t have as many followers/collectors as the great Roberto Clemente, but my desire would be to see “anything” related to Brooks or the Orioles; that would include any Baltimore teams (including old school Intl league for example), Playoffs vs. the O’s, World Series appearances with the O’s, etc. Would love to see some pre-war stuff posted. Hey, get creative and post away…

One of the other reasons for starting this thread is to commemorate the 1970 World Series (has it been 50 years?!?). I’m sure Mike (71buc) will follow this thread up in 2021 with a daily thread commemorating the ’71 Pirates.

I mainly collect Brooks Robinson playing day items, but also enjoy picking up Orioles memorabilia as well so I’ll scatter these type of items in the thread. I really didn’t have a lot of disposable income throughout the years, so most of my collection has been picked up slowly over time.

Why Brooks and the Orioles you may ask? I was born in Baltimore (Charm City) and lived on the outskirts and my father worked in the city. My dad was from NJ originally and was a Yankee fan growing up, but slowly and steadily over time, living in MD, became an Orioles fan and he particularly favored Brooks Robinson, the Orioles up and coming third baseman. My dad worked for a large transportation company which had season tickets so we went to Memorial Stadium often. Brooks became my favorite player and hero growing up. I emulated his playing style and “always” wanted to play third. My mom was a fan as well, and took me to the store to pick up cards; back then I wanted them all (football, basketball, hockey, but mainly baseball). Both my mom and dad have since passed away, but I have the memories of having wonderful parents who invested in their child and taught me about sports, but mainly life.

So, let us get this thing started with what Brooks does best...fielding. This is a color picture of Brooks, the greatest third baseman of all time, in action.

Day 1 1 Photo.jpg

This color picture shown above was used for the cover of the magazine Baseball 1971 Yearbook. As a side note, growing up Johnny Bench was my favorite non-Oriole player. Again, I’m sure there are plenty of Bench fans to weigh in; I know David (jb67) has some very cool Bench items (I’m sure there are others). I have always enjoyed the defensive part of the game and he was the best catcher I’ve seen play. They shared the cover on a couple magazines back in the day and maybe we’ll see some more this coming year. The article in this magazine related to Brooks is entitled, “Brooks Robinson’s Greatest Decision”

Baseball 1971 Yearbook

Day 1 b 2.jpg

Quote: "You know it's a crime for anybody to have as much fun as Robby's having . . . and making money for it." - Robin Roberts