If you asked baseball fans where they could find a statue of Brooks Robinson, the universal answer would be Baltimore, of course. And they would be wrong.
Yes, a statue does exist of the beloved Hall of Famer who came to define the position of third base during his 23-year career with the Orioles.
But it is in York, Pa., where Robinson got his minor league start with the Orioles organization in 1955 — and where he is a partner in the ownership group of an Atlantic League franchise.
The presence of a Robinson statue in York only magnifies the absence of one in Baltimore near Camden Yards.
That oversight ends at noon Saturday, when a statue of Robinson, 74, who won 16 Gold Gloves during his career, will be unveiled in downtown Baltimore on the plaza between Washington Boulevard and Russell Street.
The 9-foot, 1,500-pound statue, created by Baltimore native Joseph Sheppard, depicts Robinson at third base in the act of throwing out a runner at first.
After the statue is unveiled, it will be presented by Henry Rosenberg and the Babe Ruth Birthplace Foundation as a gift to the city.
The Robinson statue will be located across the street from Camden Yards but won’t be part of Camden Yards. After all, no Orioles officials have been involved with the project.
So why haven’t the Orioles already carried out this sort of tribute to such an icon? Why aren’t they involved?
“That is a good question,” Rosenberg said. “I don’t know. I heard over the years they have talked about doing statues, but I wasn’t willing to wait. I though, ‘By gosh, we have to have it.’?”
So Rosenberg, chairman of Crown Central Petroleum and a longtime friend of Robinson’s, took it up upon himself to raise the money and direct the effort to acknowledge Robinson properly.
“I admire him not only as a ballplayer but as an individual,” Rosenberg said. “I thought, ‘We have statues for governors and mayors and others. Why not one for Brooks Robinson?’
“I sort of wondered why it didn’t happen before. But sometimes these things take time. Brooks is an ambassador to the city. It just makes sense.”
What would have made sense was for the Orioles to have undertaken such a project before this. But according to a team representative, something may be in the works.
“We are fully supportive of the endeavor and feel there aren’t enough ways to honor Brooks and his Hall of Fame career,” team spokeswoman Monica Barlow said.
“Also, we are working on a similar project that has been in the works for a couple of years, and out of deference to this weekend’s event, we have not announced it as we want Henry Rosenberg and Brooks Robinson to be able to enjoy their unveiling without us stepping on their toes. Later this offseason we will announce some exciting news in this regard but do not want to do so prior to the Brooks statue unveiling. Our project is tied in to the 20th anniversary season of Camden Yards in 2012.”
If the Orioles do honor Robinson, it will be long overdue.
Examiner columnist Thom Loverro is the co-host of “The Sports Fix” from noon to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday on ESPN980 and espn980.com. Contact him at [email protected].
