When six-time All-Star and Twin Cities native Joe Mauer announced his retirement Monday, it wasnāt front-page news around here, but it was the end of an era for the Minnesota Twins and the end of an incredible journey for Baltimore-based sports agent Ron Shapiro.
Shapiro still wears a lot of hats. Heās an author, a lawyer, a teacher and a world-renowned expert in the field of dispute resolution who helped negotiate an end to the lengthy Baltimore Symphony labor dispute in 1982 and played a role in bringing labor peace to Major League Baseball. What he isnāt anymore is a guy who represents professional athletes.
Mauer was the last active player he represented over a career in sports agency that spanned 43 years and began ā somewhat unexpectedly ā in 1975 when he was hired to represent an aging baseball player who was having serious financial problems.
It was some guy named Brooks Robinson.
Shapiro wasnāt surprised by Mauerās decision, but the realization of all that hit home in a very emotional way over this past weekend. His voice cracked when he talked about Mauer, who was born seven years after Brooks retired, but ā Shapiro says ā shares many of the personal qualities that have endeared the world to Robinson.
āJust a tremendous person ā a giver and a man of great values,āā Shapiro said. āAnd here I am at the end of my career with a man, who like Brooks is a tremendous person with great values ⦠a sense of community. Here are two players, and a number of my other players were characterized by this, who played their entire careers with one team, and thatās unusual.
āIt wasnāt as unusual in Brooksā day, but it still was unusual. And hereās Joe Mauer, who not only played an entire career in one community, but grew up in that very same community.ā
Of course, Shapiroās career as one of baseballās most respected agents featured a lot of familiar superstars, most notably Orioles legends Cal Ripken Jr., Jim Palmer and Eddie Murray. He could not have dreamed of having a more impressive list of clients, but he said this week he never really dreamed of any of it.

He calls himself an āaccidental agent,ā because he would not have gotten into the business if not for a phone call from former Orioles owner Jerold Hoffberger, who was concerned about Robinson and looking for someone to help him get his financial affairs in order.
āJerry said, āWould you help Brooks Robinson?ā ā Shapiro remembers, āand here I was, a lawyer practicing corporate securities and real estate law, and Iām saying āHelp Brooks Robinson!ā Thatās like asking a kid to go into a candy store. āSure,ā I said, āWhatās up.ā ā
Robinson and Shapiro are still close friends. They sat across from each other at lunch Tuesday and reminisced about those days along with Ronās longtime associate Michael Maas.
āI was in a partnership with four other fellows,āā Robinson said, āand it had gotten to the point where I was the only one who had any money left at all. Mr. Hoffberger called Ron and he showed up on my front porch, but I was on the road and my wife, Connie, was the only one home.ā
Shapiro remembers that moment well, because Connie Robinson looked him up and down and didnāt think he looked old enough to be a financial adviser, but looks obviously can be deceiving. He was 32 and had already made a name for himself as Maryland state securities commissioner.

āI appeared at Brooksā front door and Connie looked at me and she said, āOh, youāre so young,ā Shapiro said. āI think she was wondering whether I could do it, but I worked Brooks out of his mess and we formed a friendship and it was really Brooks, who said to me one day, āYou ought to be doing this for other players.ā ā
That was right at the beginning of baseballās free-agent era, and the players were just starting to exercise their new leverage in salary negotiations. Shapiro might have landed in the middle of all that by accident, but he quickly carved out a thriving practice.
āThis is the mid-1970s, when the McNally-Messersmith decision was decided and free agency was opening in baseball,āā Shapiro said. āWhen I started representing players, there were nine or ten agents. Now there are nine or 10 thousand agents.ā
Things were different then, and Shapiro was a different kind of agent. He made it clear to prospective clients that he expected them to use some of their new wealth to give back to the communities in which they played.

Robinson was the template, because ā even though he was not a Baltimore native ā he had immersed himself in the community to the point where just about every Orioles fan had his autograph or the story of a friendly handshake. Itās not a coincidence that the same could be said for Ripken and other clients such as Mauer and fellow Twins star Kirby Puckett.
āBrooks shaped the model,āā Shapiro said. āI would talk with them about, āthis is a great game you play, but coming with what you might accomplish in this game will come the opportunity to do good and benefit others.ā They are examples of people who accomplished much in the game, but understand the Winston Churchill phrase āYou make a living by what you get, you make a life by what you give,ā which appeared on the wall in my office and I truly believe in.ā
Shapiro, 75, is not retiring and doesnāt think he ever will. He has written several books, including the āThe Power of Nice,ā which explains his philosophy of mutual benefit ā or āwin-winā ā negotiations. He also has taken his expertise in conflict resolution global, bringing together Arab and Jewish kids in the Middle East and Catholic and Protestant kids in Northern Ireland, working with youth organizations such as PeacePlayers International.
He also serves as a special adviser to Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti and has consulting relationships with the San Antonio Spurs and several other NBA teams.
So, one chapter in his life has closed, but many remain open and a few more might be in the works.
āPeople as me, āWhy do you do it, youāre 75 years old and youāre still writing chapters,āā Shapiro said. āI do it because (a) I love people; (b) I love making a difference in their lives; and (c) I love to see human beings find a way to build bridges rather than burn bridges.
āAs long as those challenges are out there, Iām going to keep writing chapters until a button is pushed that says, āYou donāt physically or mentally have it anymore.ā Iām going to continue to build those bridges. You donāt have to get old. You can keep renewing yourself by doing new things that grow out of the things youāve done previously.ā