#5 will be Missed

[Royle]

1 hour ago, Rojo13 said:

How was he as a commentator? I saw he did it from like 79 to 92 which meant he stopped doing that when he was only 55. Anyone have memories of him as a commentator? Why did he retire from that job so young or did they force him out?

I always liked him when he'd show up as a guest in the booth but I didn't become an Os fan until 2012 so I have no idea what he was as an actual commentator.

Also, does anyone know what his total salary earned was for the Orioles? It's unfair how little he made compared to the guys nowadays.

The 1983 ALCS against the White Sox is on YouTube.  Brooks and Chuck Thompson handling the broadcast.  Check it out.

 

[justD]

Weams’ dad Lew did an “audio book” cassette tape reading of Brooks’ book, so that Michael could listen on drives to the beach from Harrisburg.

He loved Brooks and was, as has been mentioned, like a little kid when we were at a talk he gave at The Lyric one year and they were coincidentally entering the auditorium the same time we were - and Lew got a hug from him! I’ll never forget how over the moon he was. 

[Too Tall]

I'm  still trying to wrap my head around this. I have so enjoyed all the personal experiences shared on here. I never had the good fortune to meet Brooks in person. Just the privledge to grow up with the Orioles and the players of Brook's generation. I consider myself very lucky to have had a team that gave us players that could really be your personal heros both on and off the field. Brooks for all the reasons cited, was at the top of the list.

I turned the game off last night and just read all the accolades about Brooks. And, remembered those teams - his teams. The utter joy they gave us Oriole fans. I kept thinking how wonderful this world would be if every person was as genuine and kind as Brooks. What a gift - what a life to leave the legacey he has. We were the lucky ones to share some time with him. RIP #5

[Chelsea_Phil]

2 hours ago, Royle said:

The 1983 ALCS against the White Sox is on YouTube.  Brooks and Chuck Thompson handling the broadcast.  Check it out.

 

With all due respect, commenting was something that Brooks did not do well.

[Chelsea_Phil]

Also, I wonder after hearing about how brooks was a natural lefthander, why he did not try switch hitting at some point in his career, since he had some poor batting seasons from a batting average perspective.

[Malike]

 

[yark14]

1 hour ago, Malike said:

 

Nice, and expected gesture.  I was hoping they'd go with having BROOKS written across the sleeve.

[Tony-OH]

Some more reactions:

This morning on MLB Central, host Mark DeRosa revealed he named his son after Brooks Robinson: https://x.com/MLBNetwork/status/1707024964967137471?s=20. 

 

The conversation stemmed from last night's interview with Robinson's former Orioles teammate Ken Singleton on MLB Tonight: https://x.com/MLBNetwork/status/1706827291446198285?s=20. Singleton reflected on his time playing with Brooks, including going to his house and seeing his impressive sixteen Gold Glove Awards lined up on his staircase.

 

Additionally, MLB Network’s Harold Reynolds, Adnan Virk and Yonder Alonso spoke more on Robinson's legacy throughout last night's MLB Tonight: https://x.com/MLBNetwork/status/1706813406722834925?s=20. In the clip, Reynolds shared his favorite memories of Robinson and went on to say, "He is the nicest gentleman I ever came across in the sport of baseball. …He did so many things for the retired players and his life in the game was untouchable. He was amazing. What an amazing gentleman." 

[Birds08]

Boswell just did an article

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/09/27/brooks-robinson-orioles-thomas-boswell/

[24fps]

29 minutes ago, Birds08 said:

Boswell just did an article

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/09/27/brooks-robinson-orioles-thomas-boswell/

I really miss Boswell.  Not as much as I miss Brooks, but a lot nonetheless.

[baws22489]

Sorry if I missed it but has the Angelos family released any statement as I'v seen many others say nice and wonderful things haven't seen it from them?

[TonySoprano]

[NashLumber]

6 hours ago, Chelsea_Phil said:

Also, I wonder after hearing about how brooks was a natural lefthander, why he did not try switch hitting at some point in his career, since he had some poor batting seasons from a batting average perspective.

I posted that famous Rockwell painting of Brooks on Facebook yesterday as my tribute to him and there were several comments about people not knowing he was a lefty in writing (he was depicted signing an autograph in it with his his left hand). I remember reading in his memoir or another about him that he grew up that way, using that hand for a lot of things. I had forgotten about that, but there it is. 

[DrungoHazewood]

17 hours ago, Rojo13 said:

How was he as a commentator? I saw he did it from like 79 to 92 which meant he stopped doing that when he was only 55. Anyone have memories of him as a commentator? Why did he retire from that job so young or did they force him out?

I always liked him when he'd show up as a guest in the booth but I didn't become an Os fan until 2012 so I have no idea what he was as an actual commentator.

Also, does anyone know what his total salary earned was for the Orioles? It's unfair how little he made compared to the guys nowadays.

I was just a kid, eight years old in '79 and in college when he stopped.  And he was just on the 30-40ish broadcast games a year on channel 2 or 13 I think, not cable (I didn't have cable until '89). But my hazy recollections are that he was much like Ben McDonald today. Folksy. He said "Boy howdy!" a lot. Would sometimes try to predict home runs. Chuck was more of the polished professional radio guy, Brooks the of good ol' boy color guy.

But with Brooks and Chuck on TV, Jon Miller, Joe Angel and others on the radio we had some good ones.

[DrungoHazewood]

13 hours ago, Chelsea_Phil said:

Also, I wonder after hearing about how brooks was a natural lefthander, why he did not try switch hitting at some point in his career, since he had some poor batting seasons from a batting average perspective.

I'm of a mind that being left-handed doesn't necessarily translate to batting the way we call left-handed. I think you're just about as well off either way and it's more tradition than anything which side we call which. 

But in any case, to be a MLB hitter you have to be in the ~99.999th percentile in hit ability, and not so simple to just start doing it from the other side. And as we see from Mullins' experience, not easy to make it worth the 50 or 70 points of OPS you lose by just batting the natural way against same-sided pitchers.