There was a time when Brooks Robinson was on my mind almost daily.
Brooks and Johnny. Robinson and Unitas. These were the true giants of our Baltimore Sports scene, the clutch-hitting, smooth-fielding Orioles third baseman and the gritty champion quarterback of the Colts.
With Brooks’ passing yesterday, they are both gone from us. (Unitas died in 2002.)
I’d be remiss not to reminisce for Brooks made me better at my job.
I took regular shifts in the layout chair on the Baltimore Sun Sports desk for more than 10 years. The duties were to draw up the pages, assigning space and headline orders for all the stories and photos fit to print for the paper to be published for the next morning.
It would be on me to rip up the section if necessary. That is, I had to make adjustments should there come any late-breaking news and this did happen – a lot – a near no-hitter by Mussina, a 60-point game from Michael Jordan, a Princess dying in Paris. Yes, the news cycle ran fast and furious and it affected the whole publication.
So as I started my work night and as I organized things, I learned to pose this question to myself, “What would we do if Brooks Robinson died on deadline?”
And so I got into the practice of making two outlines for every section — just in case. At a recent reunion of our Sun Sports Dept team, someone reminded me that I always let the rest of the desk know this: “I have a plan.” I learned that this was something of a comfort to my old colleagues.
“Bible Steve” — my nickname because there were so many Steves on the staff – “would know what to do,” they said. And I have to say that I did.
We made things work and the paper got out on time every single time. I still take pride in the fabulous streaks we had at making deadline.
We made the plays like Brooks made the plays. The routine ones and the tough ones, too.
We were a solid, dependable team of clutch performers at Sun Sports. We also liked each other and got along, even when things got very, very heavy. See 9/11/2001.
In reading about Brooks from a number of stories posted in the past 24 hours I learned something I never knew. There were 10 times when Brooks drove in the only run in a 1-0 Orioles victory for he played for no one else. This is a major-league best statistic as pointed out by ESPN’s Tim Kurkjian, a writer who covered the O’s for the Sun years ago.
And what was the score last night in the Orioles’ win over the Nationals – 1-0. The lone run provided by Gunnar Henderson, a shortstop/third baseman for the present team. To me, this represents an incidental, but appropriate honor for one of the most honorable athletes who has ever lived. It is sad that Brooks will miss watching the Orioles in the playoffs next month.
Brooks was so much fun to watch on the field and a real gentleman off of it. I still recall him taking time to visit with my brother’s little league team before a game at Memorial Stadium. I got to go because my dad was the coach. He met every autograph request before hurrying out to take his spot at third. He told the kids to practice well and play hard and remember that baseball’s just a game.
Thanks Brooks, we will miss you, your style and way, and your clarity. Here’s to No. 5.