I’ve been meaning do a Brooks Robinson card for a while. The lifetime Baltimore Oriole third baseman set the standard for attaining the top APBA fielding rating and he did it at a position which was incredibly rare to do so.
This is Brooks Robinson’s 1962 card in reprint set. In ‘62, he won his third Golden Glove of his incredible string of sixteen straight seasons between 1960-1975 honored with the award.
Brooks was always a solid hitter but he occasionally had glimpses of greatness with the bat to match his glove. His 1962 season showed he certainly no slouch at the plate. For the Orioles, he batted .303 with 23 homers and 86 ribbies. And as was the case with BRobbie, he was an everyday player starting 162 games. For thirteen seasons, he played more than 150 games.
| Split | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | BB | SO | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1962 Totals | 162 | 697 | 634 | 78 | 192 | 29 | 9 | 23 | 86 | 3 | 42 | 72 | .303 | .342 | .486 |
There is of course the 3B-6. I am not going to underestimate the value or the significance of Brooks’ fielding rating. No third baseman has attained that rating as many times as he did nor probably ever will.
Robinson’s hitting card is pretty solid, too. For a .303 hitter, his 55-7 may seem pretty generous but keep in mind that he only received two 14s (historically for all his talents, Brooks Robinson wasn’t much of walker). Add an extra 8 to the mix and BRobbie has a very solid hitting card in 1962.
One last note about this particular card… Robinson is rated as a SS-7 and a 2B-6 due to playing three games at short and two games at second. The next year he played one game at short and that was the last time he played any position other than third base.
Fun numbers: 3B-6, 55-7, did I say 3B-6?
In 1964, Brooks Robinson won the AL MVP and led the league with 118 rbis, the one and only time he led the league in a major category. Given the competition and how handily he won the ballot, it says a lot about what voters felt about his contribution with the glove.
Sorry Reds fans but any discussion of Brooks Robinson cannot be complete without bringing up the 1970 World Series. The ‘70 Orioles may have had big boppers Frank Robinson and Boog Powell in their lineup but it was slick fielding Brooks Robinson who provided the stick for the O’s and helped them defeat Cincinnati 4 games to 1.
Brooks went 9 for 21 with two homers and six rbis in the series and was named World Series MVP.
that card must be a miss print, it has Brooks as an SS-7, he’s at least an SS-8 and a 2B-7 :-)
what caught my eye was the 42-9 for a .303 average. i was expecting the 9s to be at 31 & 35 but maybe that would have caused a problem at the 42 spot.
and that 34-12 slot takes a bit of getting used to lol.
you’re right Gerald, it is a bit strange to have a 42-9.
but all kidding aside, this card cannot be stopped by a certain grade pitcher, it is perfectly balanced multiple 7, 8 & 9’s to go with the power numbers.
…and that’s how you hit .300 lol