Brooks Robinson

Baltimoreans can rejoice. Brooks is back. On Monday the Dorothy L. and Henry A. Rosenberg Jr. Foundation along with The Babe Ruth Birthplace Foundation announced that construction is underway for a statue honoring legendary Orioles third baseman Brooks Robinson. The statue, which will depict Robinson preparing to throw a runner out at first base, will be placed across from the northwest side of Camden Yards, on the plaza between Washington Boulevard and Russell St. Almost two years ago the Baltimore Public Art Commission unanimously approved plans for the 9-foot-high, 1,500 pound statue, and it will be unveiled at a ceremony on Oct. 22, 2011.

The 30 best high school baseball players as selected by the Maryland State Association of Baseball Coaches will be playing in the 31st annual Brooks Robinson All-Star game on Sunday, June 10. Chesapeake-Anne Arundel County coach Ken King, chairman of the event that will be held at Camden Yards after the Orioles game that afternoon, said the lineup will be a "Who's Who" of players in the state. A year ago, fans got to see the Baltimore Sun's baseball Player of the Year T.J. Pipik from Reservoir combine with Ryan Redinger of Mountain Ridge for a four-hit, 5-0 shutout for the North Stars.

Orioles B. Robinson statue to be unveiled Saturday A 9-foot-tall bronze statue of Hall of Fame third baseman Brooks Robinson will be unveiled Saturday between noon and 1 p.m. at Washington Boulevard Plaza between Washington Boulevard and Russell Street, directly across from the northwest side of Oriole Park. The statue, which depicts the Orioles legend preparing to throw out a runner at first base, weighs more than 1,500 pounds and is positioned on a base that is approximately 25 feet by 25 feet, with a series of risers leading to the 41/2-foot-tall pedestal.

Brooks Robinson   owned third base. Still does. At his sendoff in 1977 - a "Thanks, Brooks" Day at a packed Memorial Stadium - Robinson's successor, Doug DeCinces, removed third base from its moorings and presented it to the Orioles  veteran. "This is always yours," DeCinces said. Baltimore agreed. In 23 years on that spot, fans said, how many runs had Robinson's glovework saved? How many rallies had he killed with his backhand stabs, airborne stops and off-balance pegs to first base?

Brooks Robinson   owned third base. Still does. At his sendoff in 1977 - a "Thanks, Brooks" Day at a packed Memorial Stadium - Robinson's successor, Doug DeCinces, removed third base from its moorings and presented it to the Orioles  veteran. "This is always yours," DeCinces said. Baltimore agreed. In 23 years on that spot, fans said, how many runs had Robinson's glovework saved? How many rallies had he killed with his backhand stabs, airborne stops and off-balance pegs to first base?

Brooks Robinson remains in a south Florida hospital, recovering from a broken shoulder that he suffered in a fall during a banquet Friday night. Henry Rosenberg, primary financier of a statue of Robinson that was erected near Camden Yards last year, said the Orioles' Hall of Famer was recuperating from the accident. "He's in a hospital and he's doing OK," Rosenberg said Monday. A floor nurse at Memorial Regional Hospital, in Hollywood, said Robinson, 74, was "resting comfortably, and sleeping" in a semi-private room there.

The crowd of about 1,000 surrounding his new statue showered the greatest glove man in the history of the hot corner with a spirited and loving ovation at Saturday's unveiling ceremony. Then something quite unusual happened. Brooks Robinson wept. "I haven't had an applause like that in a long time, believe me," he said, choking up along the way. "Thank you very much. " It was a very special tribute to a very special Baltimore legend, but nobody knew how special it would feel until Robinson had trouble finding the words to thank all the people who came together on a cool afternoon outside Camden Yards to show their appreciation for his great baseball career and a life so well lived.

Here they were, 30 of Maryland's finest, tracing the white chalk at Oriole Park before the start of the Orioles' game against the Colorado Rockies yesterday. They were there because they had earned it, because they were the best at what they did and Camden Yards, if only for a late afternoon, was all theirs. That's why the young men who participated in the Brooks Robinson All-Star High School Game didn't mind the 11-man lineups, didn't mind waiting for foul balls to be tossed back onto the field so play could resume, didn't mind starting a game and knowing that someone on the bench would finish it. And as the sun fell on the park, the South held on to beat the North, 5-4, in seven innings.

As part of their 20th anniversary at Camden Yards, the Orioles in 2012 will unveil six statues of the modern franchise's Hall of Famers in a revamped area beyond the bullpens in left-center field. Each of the six men who have gone into the National Baseball Hall of Fame as an Oriole — Frank Robinson, Brooks Robinson , Earl Weaver , Jim Palmer, Eddie Murray and Cal Ripken Jr. — will be honored with his own free-standing bronze statue. All six have been involved in the process, which has been ongoing for more than a year.

DOGWOOD HARBOR - For one day, Phil Price's 47-foot fishing boat had a Hall of Fame defense and an All-Star offense. The small, orange-and-black flags flying from the rigging signaled why: No. 3 and No. 5 were on board. No. 3, as in Harold Baines. No. 5, as in Brooks Robinson. But, as someone pointed out to Robinson, it could easily have been a No. 34 up there. That was the Hall of Famer's number during spring training in 1957. Who knew? Not Robinson. "I'll be darned," he said, shaking his head when shown an Orioles early-season program from that year.

Orioles left fielder Nolan Reimold will be sidelined for at least two more games with a bulging disk in his back, but the club is hopeful that the diagnosis explains the health problems the 28-year-old has been experiencing this season. Including Tuesday night, Reimold has missed six of the club's past 12 games, including four consecutive April 21-25, because of severe neck spasms. Although he was dealing with lingering neck discomfort, Reimold had started the Orioles' past five games, but after getting to the team hotel after Monday's contest, Reimold experienced tingling in his hands and contacted head athletic trainer Richie Bancells . Reimold "had some tingling and numbness in his fingers, which is common with a bulging disk," manager Buck Showalter said.

The intense stare is captured, the look of a slugger tracking a ball hit well into the night. The bat is dangling from the bronzed Frank Robinson's left hand. “I'm looking at the ball going out in the outfield, but I am ready to drop that bat and get my damn butt down the bases,” the flesh-and-bones Robinson quipped Saturday evening. “I don't want to stay up there [at the plate] too long.” Robinson, the Hall of Fame outfielder who led the Orioles to their first world championship in 1966 and a string of three more World Series appearances in the next five years, on Saturday became the first player to have his likeness replicated in a life-size bronze statue in the Garden of the Greats picnic area behind center field at Camden Yards.

As a player and manager, Frank Robinson represented seven major league organizations in eight cities. These days, he lives about 2,700 miles away in the Los Angeles area and makes it back to Baltimore only about two or three times a year. But when Robinson gets stopped in the street, wherever he is, there's one team people almost always ask him about. "People will say, 'I remember you, you played with the Orioles,'" Robinson said. "I'll say, 'Well, I played 10 years with Cincinnati first.' "'Oh, you did?

Brooks Robinson remains in a south Florida hospital, recovering from a broken shoulder that he suffered in a fall during a banquet Friday night. Henry Rosenberg, primary financier of a statue of Robinson that was erected near Camden Yards last year, said the Orioles' Hall of Famer was recuperating from the accident. "He's in a hospital and he's doing OK," Rosenberg said Monday. A floor nurse at Memorial Regional Hospital, in Hollywood, said Robinson, 74, was "resting comfortably, and sleeping" in a semi-private room there.

Orioles Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson broke two bones in his rear shoulder area, including his clavicle, when he fell backward at least 6 feet from an elevated stage during a charity event Friday night in Hollywood, Fla., the Palm Beach Post reported. Robinson, 74, was sitting at the top of a three-tiered stage as part of pre-game dinner festivities before Saturday's annual Joe DiMaggio Legends Game in Fort Lauderdale. Robinson apparently attempted to get up from his chair at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino and leaned back against a curtain that had no railing or wall behind it. "After all the interviews were done, he leaned back, thinking there was a wall behind the curtain, but there was no wall," Johnny Elias, a retired bullpen catcher for the Montreal Expos, told the Palm Beach Post.

DALLAS - Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson looked like his old self when he showed up for the announcement on Monday that fellow third baseman Ron Santo had been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. That should come as a big relief to Orioles fans, who have been fretting about his ill health over the past couple of years. But Brooks wasn't at the Hilton Anatole Hotel to talk about himself. He came to honor a man who had been passed over by the Hall of Fame voters of the Baseball Writers Association of America and the former incarnation of the Hall of Fame's Veterans Committee.

The third baseman was an immovable object in the American League lineup. He played in his first All-Star Game in 1960, his last in 1974 and was a member of every All-Star team in between.The outfielder was named to 12 All-Star teams and was the first player to hit All-Star home runs for both the National and American leagues.The pitcher was picked to six All-Star squads, appeared in five games and was the American League starter in four of those years.Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson and Jim Palmer won't be in either lineup when the 64th All-Star Game comes to Baltimore on Tuesday night.

Baseball is a game of comparison, so it was inevitable St. Louis Cardinals star Scott Rolen would begin to hear his name mentioned with the greatest players who ever took a sharp one-hopper off the chest at third base. Brooks Robinson? Rolen is a bigger offensive threat and has a stronger arm. Mike Schmidt? Rolen is a more talented defensive player. The whole package? Well, that's why they have sports talk shows. You could argue best-ever third baseman all night. No one who saw Robinson in the 1970 World Series is going to defer to a seven-year veteran.

Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson looked fit and upbeat as he took part in the news conference announcing that Ron Santo has been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. He praised Santo as one of the great third basemen of all time and weighed in on a number of subjects, including the current state of his health and the current state of the Orioles. "I've got a couple of procedures to go, but after the middle of January, I'll be all finished," said Robinson, who has had several procedures to deal a liver problem and faces surgery to correct a hernia.

As part of their 20th anniversary at Camden Yards, the Orioles in 2012 will unveil six statues of the modern franchise's Hall of Famers in a revamped area beyond the bullpens in left-center field. Each of the six men who have gone into the National Baseball Hall of Fame as an Oriole — Frank Robinson, Brooks Robinson , Earl Weaver , Jim Palmer, Eddie Murray and Cal Ripken Jr. — will be honored with his own free-standing bronze statue. All six have been involved in the process, which has been ongoing for more than a year.