You don't say no to Sandy Unitas.
As much as Brooks Robinson would have preferred to stay home tonight, Unitas wouldn't let him.
Instead, Robinson will be honored at the Babe Ruth Museum's annual gala. It's a big-deal affair at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall with the usual VIP cocktail reception and a host of heavy hitters - Cal Ripken Jr., Earl Weaver, Jim Palmer, Lenny Moore, Art Donovan, Wes Unseld among them - on hand to celebrate the life and career of the legendary Orioles third baseman.
They're calling it "An Evening with Brooks," which has a nice understated ring to it.
But the truth is, it almost didn't happen, since the man himself was planning "An Evening on Brooks' Couch in Front of the TV" until Unitas, a museum board member, called a few months ago.
The widow of Baltimore Colts great John Unitas knew getting the low-key Robinson to attend an affair in his honor would be a hard sell.
"Sandy said, 'I know what you're going to say when I ask you this question,' " Robinson recalled the other day. " 'You're going to say the same thing John always said: No.'
"And I did. I said, 'No, thank you, I've been honored enough.' "
But Sandy Unitas was persistent.
Money from the gala would go for a good cause, she told him, for the Babe Ruth Birthplace Foundation and the American Cancer Society.
Brooks Robinson was always a soft touch for charity. Besides, he had had his own scare with prostate cancer months earlier before undergoing successful radiation treatment.
So after a minute or two, he caved. And after Unitas hung up, the next sound you heard was the museum's board of directors pounding the conference table for joy and shouting: "Print up the programs, boys! Brooks is on board!"
"We think he's the most beloved Oriole of all time and the face of Orioles baseball," said Mike Gibbons, the museum's executive director.
The reason he's beloved, Gibbons continued, "is mostly because he's such a nice human being. I also think Brooks came along in the infancy of the Orioles' franchise. And we watched him grow up and as the team grew, we grew as fans."
It's hard to believe Brooks Robinson, ever youthful-looking, is 72 now.
He has homes in Owings Mills and Southern California and stays busy as president of the Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association and minority owner of independent league teams in Waldorf, York, Pa., Lancaster, Pa., and Camden, N.J.
