Tuesday of last week we all got the sad news that Brooks Robinson had passed away at the age of 86. There were a lot of rememberance posts on Twitter and spots on TV about it. Obviously from a sporting perspective the man was a Hall of Famer and legend, but he was also that from a personal perspective and that showed what he did for fans and the TTM community.
Brooks was very accommodating, especially for his status as a Hall of Famer but also as a local great in the Baltimore/Washington area. I know in recent years he asked for people not to send him any more requests, but it seemed as though he kept signing things… because that’s the guy he is.
I can’t say I am a real O’s fan, but if I had to choose an American League team, it would be the Orioles. That goes back to their battles with the Yankees in the playoffs and their sort of underdog status because of that. Also, when I moved to the DMV I just felt like I needed to follow (I won’t say root for) a local team (which at the time was only the Orioles) and really that was sort of harmless to my Mets fandom. Sure it was easy to root for organization that had Cal and the record and everything like that that I lived through, but it went beyond that.
Probably about 40 years ago my Dad went to a race track which I think was Pocono Downs to watch one of our horses race. At the track Brooks Robinson was signing autographs and my Dad had him sign a racing program. I still have that to this day. I honestly don’t know if it was the first autograph I acquired (I wasn’t with my Dad so I can’t say I got it) but it was one of the first.
But even going beyond that, it was an opportunity to learn about baseball and bond with my Dad. Did I know who Brooks Robinson was… no, not at all. But it made me ask and my Dad was happy to tell me. He got to see Brooks first hand in 1969 from the outfield bleachers at Shea during the World Series. My Dad loved baseball and talking about the legend of any player, let alone one that he liked, was right up his alley as Dad was a great story teller.
So is it hyperbolic of me to say that he started my obsession… sure. But that’s something you do when you think about baseball and personal legends like Brooks… and Dad.
Bye Brooksie, we’ll miss you.
The Review
Here’s what happened on the blog last week:
- Monday: Walt Terrell
- Tuesday: Craig Janney, Tom Burgmeier
- Wednesday: Harold Pressley
- Thursday: Skip Lockwood
- Friday: Buck Martinez
- Saturday: Kevin Stevens
- Sunday: Doug Corbett
I had a Boston theme for the #twofortuesday with the Bruins and Red Sox represented in those posts. There was a little more hockey and basketball during the week too. Other than that it was all baseball.
The Preview
Here’s what I have coming up for this week:
- Monday: Mr. Robinson…
- Tuesday: Captain Kirk…
- Tuesday: In the Meier…
- Wednesday: Mr. Jones and me…
- Thursday: Kasper the friendly ghost…
- Friday: Reid all about it…
- Saturday: Taylor made…
- Sunday: The great Walt…
Somehow I keep finding opportunities for the #twofortuesday posts. This week I’ll have a Minnesota theme to them. And there’s going to be a little bit of all the sports this week too.
Other Notes
I keep on saying that I have been having disappointing weeks, but while that is mostly based on a number, maybe I should just realize that the reality of my returns is officially changing. I sent out less per week this year (on purpose) and I think in maybe the last two months I have tried more coaches or team requests (that take longer) and maybe some more things that were not as guaranteed a return. In the end, the numbers are what they are.
So what are the numbers this week? I got back eleven returns with one of those being a failure. That was Steve Braun and I found that I put the wrong address number on there. Very frustrating, but I got it back out with the correct number.
I didn’t get back any paid returns but I did see two stragglers. The longest was Brad Miller who I sent to while he was with the Rangers last year (407 days). The other was Ray Childress who I sent to in February and that was out for 200 days.
The Recent TTM Success page is updated.
Have a great week!