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Baseball Great Brooks Robinson Sells Multi-Million Dollar Norman Rockwell For Charity

This article is more than 8 years old.

Imagine owning Picasso’s paint brush, Yo Yo Ma’s cello, or Harry Potter’s wand.  Here’s your chance to acquire the baseball world’s equivalent— a Brooks Robinsongame-used glove or one of his 16 Gold Glove awards for best defense at 3d base, a record for a position player — in a Heritage auction that is running November 5th through the 7th. His dazzling defense earned him immortality as “Mr. Impossible” and the “Human Vacuum Cleaner.” On top of that, he is not just a kind gentleman for a baseball player; he is a kind gentleman for a human being.

So it seems like vintage Brooks, 78,  that he decided to auction off his entire collection of baseball memorabilia, except his Hall of Fame induction ring, and to donate 100 percent of the proceeds to launch the Constance & Brooks Robinson Charitable Foundation run by his four children.  “I don’t think that there is any question that Brook’s reputation as one of the nicest guys to play the game is going to help the value,” says Chris Ivy, the director of Heritage Auction’s sports division, who visited Robinson’s home outside Baltimore to survey the collection. “The most refreshing thing that I can say after working with Brooks and his family that his reputation is whole-heartedly deserved.”

A few years ago during an in-person interview he told me with his trademark modesty that “Bench hit the ball so hard that it curved back towards me,” Robinson told me, with his trademark modesty, a few years ago during an in-person interview. “It was just a reflex.”

At the time I was in the midst of an extensive reporting and research project about him, reading old biographies and yellowed magazine clips and interviewing his teammates, manager, and opponents. “You can’t practice diving,” he added. “The only time I practiced diving was in Spring Training. They were trying to get a photo shot of me diving for a ball. I had to do it 15 times before they got what they wanted.”

During an interview I conducted at a baseball card show, Mike Schmidt, the National League’s offensive and defensive answer to Robinson, shouted to Pete Rose at another table. “Hey, Pete! Remember that play off Bench?” Robinson repeatedly robbed Rose, Bench, and the rest of the Big Red Machine in that World Series. “He made about five of them!” Rose replied to Schmidt. In 1970 Rose declared that “Brooks Robinson belongs in a higher league.”

Besides stealing the show with his glove, Robinson won the World Series’ MVP award, along with a car, for his .429 average, two home runs, and two game-winning RBIs. “If he wanted a car that badly, we’d have given him one,” Bench said.

What you probably don’t know is that Schmidt was in the house. “I was in the stands sitting behind home plate looking behind third,” he said.  At the height of his baseball college career as All-American, Schmidt skipped class and trekked from Ohio University in Athens to Cincinnati. Schmidt, like everyone else I spoke to, regards Robinson’s theft of Lee May in the 6th inning of the first game, as his apex.

The Reds’ first baseman bashed a one-hopper past the third base bag far into foul territory. Robinson back-handed the ball behind his body almost in left field and beat the runner by an eye-lash. “That is in the top 10 great plays in history or top five,” Schmidt said. “It left an indelible mark on me. Only a third baseman of his ability could do it. There was the high level of anticipation and the quick first step. He went in the opposite direction and had the wherewithal going in the opposite direction to throw it over his shoulder make a one hop throw to finish it off. Those plays seem bigger than life when you’re young and impressionable.” Performing his magic on the world stage magnified the legend.

Robinson explained to me that all he did was catch, stop, plant, and throw. “It happened mainly because we got Lee May,” he said (Note the “we,” not I). “He ran like me.” Joe Phillips, Heritage’s glove authenticator, tells a funny story that Robinson once told him. At an autograph show May yelled to Robinson, “Hey, Brooks. I made you famous!”

If you don’t believe Schmidt or need a refresher course, you’re in for a real treat viewing Heritage’s video tribute to Robinson. The Brooks Robinson Collection (Heritage)

Before Robinson arrived in the locker room for the Orioles’ victory celebration, Rex Barney, the team’s public address announcer quipped, “He’s not at his locker yet, but four guys are over there interviewing his glove.” Robinson ended up donating his leathered friend to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

His reliability on the field matched his personality. “He was definitely consistent,” said Merv Rettenmund, his Orioles teammate for six years. “Win, lose or draw. If he was 20 for 50 or 0 for 50, you didn’t know it.” Earl Weaver, Brooks’ Hall-of-Fame manager, also told me that there’s “never been a nicer guy. One of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet in your life. It was unreal. He never had a bad day.”

In Baltimore they still name their children after him almost 40 years since he retired. During an autograph appearance at the DugoutZone in the Ellicot City, Maryland, a father carrying a toddler named Brooks informed that me he had a daughter and two sons whom he had to name after relatives. “But my wife came through in the clutch with another boy we named Brooks,” he said. Another said his wife wouldn’t go for “Frank Zappa,” but was fine with Brooks.

Then there was hero-worshipper who spotted Brooks at a downtown Baltimore restaurant and did a double take. He didn’t want to interrupt him while he was eating, but as he was walking away he heard a voice from behind. “Hi, I’m Brooks Robinson,” and the man himself stuck out his hand. At the National Sports Collectors Convention in Chicago this past summer, a beaming collector showed me a store model glove Robinson signed for him as a bonus for buying only a single autograph ticket.

I asked Ivy to name his favorite lots in the Heritage auction. “Absolutely, the third base from the 1970 World Series that was bronzed and presented to Brooks,” he said.  “That base represents one of the most dominating performances in World Series history. I also like the customized batting helmet which Brooks took a hacksaw to in order to shorten the bill. And a lot which every Little Leaguer dreams about obtaining one day: His personal Topps rookie card.”

The most valuable treasure for sale is an original 1971 Norman Rockwell painting, “Gee, Thanks, Brooks” of Robinson singing an autograph for a kid. Robinson, a shrewd businessman, bought it at auction 1994 for $200,000. That proved to be a really sound investment; last year Christie’s sold a Rockwell painting featuring Ted Williams for $22.5 million, a price befitting the status of Rockwell’s work as fine art. “While we don't expect it to fetch that type of number, it will be well into seven figures,” Ivy said. What better way to celebrate Brooks Robinson than life imitating art. After all, he personifies Rockwell’s patriotic ideals of perseverance, compassion, and teamwork, proving time again that nice guys can finish first.