The first cheer from those gathered Monday morning at Camden Yards for Brooks Robinson’s public memorial came when, during a replaying of the legendary third baseman’s Hall of Fame speech, he thanked the city of Baltimore.
Robinson once said that the greatest highlight of his career was not any of his individual accolades — of which there were plenty, including his famed 16 straight Gold Glove awards — but having played for one team, Baltimore, each year of his career.
“I played 23 years with the Orioles,” Robinson once said, “and believe me, it has come back tenfold to me.”
Robinson loved Baltimore and, with a celebration of life that began at 10 a.m. Monday on the field at Oriole Park, the city got a chance to show its love for him once more with laughs, cheers and tears. Robinson died Tuesday. He was 86 years old.
Many fans — though, as Robinson once said, he preferred to call them “friends” — wore his No. 5 jersey as they paid their respects. Some were even named Brooks, having been given the moniker of the first great Baltimore Oriole.
“Brooks Robinson is Baltimore,” said Janice Kondilas of Eastwood, an Orioles fan who attended the ceremony. “He is the Orioles.”
Hundreds sat on the ballpark’s third base side for the hourlong ceremony, hosted by broadcaster Scott Garceau, to commemorate the beloved Robinson and hear his family members, former teammates and rivals eulogize “Mr. Oriole.” Robinson played in Baltimore from 1955 to 1977 and then spent several more decades with the organization.
“Little did my dad know that when he signed his first Major League Baseball contract in high school in 1955 that he would be engaging in a love affair with this organization and the city of Baltimore that would endure almost 70 years,” his son, Brooks David Robinson, said.
As a tribute, Robinson’s No. 5 was placed last week on the Camden Yards warehouse, painted on the field and sewed onto the current Orioles’ uniforms for the remainder of this season. In recent days, fans have placed flowers on the two statues of Robinson at the ballpark.
Several current Orioles attended Monday’s ceremony, as did Chairman and CEO John Angelos and executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias. The Orioles clinched the American League East title just days after Robinson’s death and his granddaughter, Brooks Farley, said that surely brought a “huge smile” to his face.
“Rest in peace, Dad,” Robinson’s son, Brooks David, said. “We love you, we miss you, and if there’s anything you can do up there to help bring a World Series championship to Baltimore this year, we would greatly appreciate it.”
Farley went on to say that, when she was younger, she didn’t understand why she was named “Brooks,” which was, in her estimation, a boy’s name. Now, more than ever, she’s honored to share it with her grandfather.
“My grandfather lived an incredibly charmed life, fitting for the King of Charm City. … Heaven received an angel and a hell of a third baseman. No matter your relation to my grandfather, we are all better to have known him,” she said.
Former Orioles first baseman Boog Powell, who caught so many of Robinson’s impressive throws from across the diamond, highlighted Robinson’s fielding, his clutch-hitting ability and his character: “My friend Brooks was the kindest, nicest man I ever knew,” he said.
Grant Farley called Robinson, his grandfather, “my lifelong idol and my greatest hero,” and Hall of Famer Eddie Murray told stories from the one season — 1977 — that the two Orioles legends overlapped. Former Oriole Doug DeCinces, who had the tall task of trying to replace Robinson at third base, said Robinson was “the ultimate gamer, he was a leader, but more importantly, he was a friend.”
“He was more unassuming and down-to-earth than any superstar I ever met,” DeCinces said.
Jim Kaat, the former pitcher who also won 16 Gold Glove awards, lauded Robinson not only for his fielding, but also for his underappreciated hitting. Kaat allowed more hits to Robinson than to anyone else, he recalled, but he could never throw a pitch inside in an effort to slow Robinson down.
“I couldn’t do that to Brooks Robinson,” Kaat said. “He was the face of our game. I thought if I knocked him down, it would be like knocking down Santa Claus or Mother Teresa.”
Joe Torre, the special assistant to the commissioner of baseball and a former longtime manager of the New York Yankees, also praised Robinson and shared memories, such as when he, Robinson, Hank Aaron, Harmon Killebrew and Stan Musial visited American troops in Vietnam in 1966.
“It’s sad that he’s gone,” Torre said, “but what a life to celebrate.”
He went on to note that Robinson will surely be rooting the Orioles on in the playoffs — Baltimore’s first game is Saturday — which is “not even fair to the other teams,” he joked.
“I can tell you now, now that I’m no longer with the Yankees,” Torre said, “I really admire the hell out of what you guys are doing.”
Cal Ripken Jr., perhaps the only other Oriole as treasured as Robinson, also spoke. Like many kids who grew up in the area, Ripken said, he looked up to Robinson as “baseball’s gentleman, on and off the field.” He made the crowd laugh with a story — when a veteran Robinson hit a home run off a young pitcher and told him: “Don’t feel bad, I hit one off your old man, too” — but also choked up, as some fans did, when summarizing his thoughts on a man as meaningful as Robinson.
“I will miss him. We will miss him,” Ripken said. “But he leaves us with so many great memories that will live on.”
