Brooks was my one true sports idol. I'm not going to get into his stats. It's not about stats -- even though they were amazing. To me, what Brooks Robinson embodied was the sheer love of baseball, and he shared it with anyone who saw him play.
I remember watching an Orioles game on television with my aunt Sharon. I said I liked watching baseball on television better than in person because the camera let you see everything. My aunt strongly disagreed. She said, "When you go in person you can watch Brooks all the time, not just when the camera's on him." She was right. And, I have to admit it, whenever my father took me to a Junior Orioles game, my eyes were always fixed on third base. You could always count on seeing him make an amazing catch, but, more interestingly, he always seemed to know where the ball would go. He had an encyclopedic knowledge of batters and pitchers which helped make him a perennial golden glove.
After college, my first career was in the advertising business. I loved the work, but one thing frustrated me: I had never met Brooks Robinson. It seemed like everyone in the Baltimore advertising or media community had met Brooks Robinson except me! Everyone had stories about him. (I never heard a bad one!) I complained about my lack of Brooks all the time to the annoyance of my colleagues.
One day I went to Producers Video for a rare audio session. (I'm a video guy.) The earlier session was running late so had to wait in the lobby. I sat down on the sofa and started reading the newspaper. Before long, someone came in and sat down right beside me. He was close -- it was a two seat sofa -- but I never looked away from the newspaper. About fifteen minutes later, the audio engineer came down and said he was ready. When I followed him back upstairs, he said, "Well, you can't complain about not meeting Brooks Robinson anymore."
"What are you talking about?" I asked.
"You were sitting right next to him," he answered.
I immediately ran back down to the lobby, but Brooks was already gone. He was in the studio, and I didn't want to bother him there.
Crap!
So, I never did officially meet Brooks Robinson, but I did get sit to next to him for about fifteen minutes.
That still counts for the bucket list.
Rest in peace, Mr. Robinson. You were the best third basement who ever lived, and, by all reports, a great guy.
I recommend taking a deep dive on Brooks on YouTube. Here's a good place to start:
My novel Chapel Street is now available! You can currently buy the Kindle and paperback at Amazon and the Nook, paperback and hardcover at Barnes & Noble.
Listen to me read some chapters here:
Follow me on Twitter: SeanPaulMurphy
Follow me on Facebook: Sean Paul Murphy
Follow me on Instagram: Sean Paul Murphy
Subscribe on YouTube: Sean Paul Murphy
No comments:
Post a Comment