#150 Brooks Robinson - Baltimore Orioles

Brooks Calbert Robinson
Baltimore Orioles
Third Base

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'1"  Weight:  180
Born:  May 18, 1937, Little Rock, AR
Signed:  Signed by the St. Louis Cardinals as an amateur free agent before 1947 season
Major League Teams:  Baltimore Orioles 1955-1977
Hall of Fame Induction:  1983

Brooks Robinson spent his entire 23-year major league career with the Baltimore Orioles, a record in terms of longevity with only one team.  While I'm personally partial to Mike Schmidt, Robinson is considered to be one of the best defensive third baseman in the history of the game and he won 16 consecutive Gold Gloves during his career.  He was named to the A.L. All-Star team for 15 consecutive seasons between 1960 and 1974, earning All-Star Game MVP honors in 1964.  Robinson helped lead the Orioles to World Series appearances in 1966, 1969, 1970 and 1971, winning the series in 1966 and 1970 and earning World Series MVP honors in 1970.

Robinson was named the A.L. MVP in 1964, a season in which he hit .317 with 28 home runs and a league leading 118 RBIs.  Along with his win in 1964, he finished in the top ten in A.L. MVP voting in seven different seasons.  He finished his career with 2,848 hits, 268 home runs and 1,357 RBIs.  His #5 was retired by the Orioles in 1977 at the end of his final season with the club.  Robinson was a first ballot inductee into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1983.

Building the Set
February 29, 2020 from King of Prussia, PA - Card #80
Doug and I attended the Philadelphia Sportscard & Memorabilia Show held on the bottom floor of the Valley Forge Casino on the final day of February.  This was our first baseball card show of 2020 and the fourth show we've attended in Valley Forge since March 2019.  I did a post over at The Phillies Room with a few pictures of Doug taken with some of the show's autograph guests.  We ended up adding 23 cards to our set.

We bought 19 commons, semi-stars and major star cards from John's Sports Cards and then started browsing the showroom floor.  I added some needs to my Phillies collection, but there wasn't a lot in terms of Phillies needs that caught my eye.  I thought 19 cards for our 1965 Topps set was a good enough haul for the day, but with some money left in my wallet and time to kill before our next autograph signer arrived, I shifted gears and started looking for a few more 1965 Topps cards to add.

September 2017 - Doug with Brooks Robinson statue
outside Oriole Park at Camden Yards

In the general vicinity of the autograph seekers' holding pen was a table hosted by Bel Air Sports Cards out of Bel Air, Maryland.  The dealer had neatly organized stacks of star cards from the 1960s on display and I started browsing through the 1965 Topps stack.  I found four cards I liked, got Doug's approval, and handed the cards to the dealer to tally up my total.  The prices on the four cards totaled $50 and I was prepared to pay that amount as the sign advertising the cards indicated they had already been marked down.  The dealer said, "How about $45 for the lot," and I accepted.  This Robinson card was the most expensive of the four cards, originally marked at $20.

The Card
After using the same photo for his 1963 and 1964 Topps cards, Topps mixed it up in 1965 with a different pose.  Robinson features on two league leader cards in the set and it would appear as if the photos from those cards are from the same session that yielded the photo used for his main card.  On the back, his 1964 A.L. MVP honors are mentioned, as is his 66 point jump in batting average from .251 in 1963 to .317 in 1964.

Robinson, at card #16, is one of 72 players featured within the 1965 Topps Embossed insert set and one of four Orioles in the set.  He's also in the harder to find 1965 Topps Transfers insert set.

Orioles Team Set

1965 Season
Robinson had another great year in 1965, albeit not as stellar as his 1964 season.  An All-Star again, he hit .297 in 144 games, with 18 home runs and 80 RBIs.  He was tops on the team in RBIs, but Curt Blefary (#49) led the team in home runs with 22.  Robinson missed a few weeks in May when he had his thumb broken by a Hank Aguirre (#522) fastball.  Both Bob Johnson (#363) and Davey Johnson (#473) filled in for Robinson while he was out.  The Orioles had another solid year, finishing in third place in the A.L. with a 94-68 record.

1957 Topps #328

1964 Topps #230

1971 Topps #300

1975 Topps #50

1978 Topps #4

Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  1957 Topps #328
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (22):  1957-1978
Most Recent Mainstream Card:  2020 Topps Heritage Baseball Flashbacks #BF-15

2,130 - Robinson non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 3/22/20.

Sources:  
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
National Baseball Hall of Fame
SABR
The Trading Card Database

In some cases, the first and last cards listed above are subjective and chosen by me if multiple cards were released within the same year.  Most recent mainstream card may also be subjective and does not include extremely low serial numbered cards, buybacks or cut autograph cards.

Prior Card:  #149 Wayne Schurr - Chicago Cubs

Next Card:  #151 Kansas City Athletics Team Card