On Monday night at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in Baltimore, Oriole legend and Hall of Famer, Brooks Robinson was honored by his contemporaries - in both sports and the media - at a banquet and presentation in his honor aptly named, 'An Evening With Brooks'.
The charity event was a lovely one to witness in person and while I had seats in the upper tier, it was great to get a glimpse at a legend, plus an even deeper perspective of the ever humble Mr. Robinson.
Furthermore, it gave fans who lived through the glory years of the Orioles another beautiful reminder of the team's illustrious past, while, it gave a younger crowd who perhaps didn't see Brooks ever play in person (like myself) a chance to learn about and honor him.
For whatever reason, there has been some controversy on the wonderful event as WNST's Nestor Aparicio noted that there weren't any current Orioles who attended the event (which he was not too pleased about). As James noted, the event was sponsored by the Orioles, along with the Sports Legend's Museum.
Would I have liked to have seen some current Orioles, notably the prominent faces of the franchise: Adam Jones, Brian Roberts, Matt Wieters, and Nick Markakis in attendance? Most definitely.
However, as much as I'd like to have seen the stars of today attend, the night belonged to Brooks Robinson. Monday night was about his accomplishments along with being an ambassador to Baltimore sports -- not about the Baltimore Orioles.
While, Robinson may be a prominent name to the vast majority of those in Birdland, I don't know if too many of the current Orioles really know who he is or what he stood for.
Again, the event was not for the Orioles -- it was to honor Mr. Robinson, and raise money for charity. Plain and simple.
The problems with the Orioles pr-wise have been beaten like a dead horse; however, Monday's event should not even be included in the debate.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m gonna copy and paste what I said I James’ blog:
I read that thing about Brooks. And like I said on Schmucks blog – he has no connection with any current Oriole so it really doesn’t make a huge difference. It’s a ceremony for his time as an Oriole, not an asskissing event
I also agree with you, Anthony, that most of the current Orioles probably don’t know much about the man. And I don’t know the details of the event, but was it limited by invitation or was it open door? People are quick to judge without finding out the facts. And although there have been times that I’ve agreed with Nestor Aparicio, he starting to sound like, shall I say….. sour grapes? I will agree that maybe at least the faces of the franchise should’ve attended. But then again, it may have been exclusively for the Oriole’s of the heydays as well.
Dave,
I don’t think highly of Nestor, but I think his point is valid on this one. As long as the Orioles were sponsoring the event, they should have insisted that at least some of the stars and young pitchers make an appearance to this. I don’t blame the players that weren’t there. I blame the O’s for botching another opportunity to link the team’s glorious past with the players that might bring success back to the franchise.
The two things that have been consistent with the O’s in the last twelve years have been the losing and the total ineffectiveness of the front office to use the stars from yesterday that still live here to promote the team and “keep hope alive”.
Doodads and Dave, thanks for your input as always.
I’ll say this since I was there in person: It would have been nice to see some on the current Orioles in attendance on Monday, but my experience that night was not diminished one bit.
There were plenty of Baltimore sports legends there that night and again the attention was squarely on Brooks (as it should have been). I have no idea how much involvement the Orioles had in putting together the event, but for well over 1,500 people show up to an event in which they paid anywhere from $50, 110, or even more as a sponsor (especially in a depressed economy), everything was for a good cause and was undoubtedly successful.
I’d say 85% of the crowd was over 40. I don’t think they would have cared if the present-day stars of the Orioles showed up, because they wanted to see Brooks and be reminded of an era that doesn’t exist anymore.
As I said in my post, the Orioles have done plenty wrong in the past 12 years, but the anger shown by some with Monday’s event is a tad unnecessary.
To the front offices credit, they’ve been doing a lot more in PR then in years past. Like I said, it would’ve been nice if the faces of the franchise had been in attendance. But the ceremony wasn’t about that.
I would acknowledge this fact: if the yankee’s were doing a ceremony for Yogi Berra, Reggie Jackson or some other Yankee of the past, you would most definately see Jeter, Pettitte and Posada at the event. So with that example, and like I said, Roberts, Markakis and Jones probably should’ve been there. But it’s not a huge issue.
Dave, your point is well taken.
I think in the case of Yogi (aside from the years he was estranged from the team due to Steinbrenner firing him as manager), he’s around the team so much, that players actually know him.
I have seen Yogi with the Yankees during Spring Training, and around team during the regular season, so one would think Jeter, Posada and some other Yankees would definitely go out of their way to attend an event in his honor.
I don’t know at all what exposure today’s players have had with Brooks, but I think that plays a huge role in this discussion. Really, I don’t know if Brooks has been around the team all that much in the past decade or so.
Dave, I do also agree that the Orioles have taken huge steps to bring some other alumni for PR and TV stuff. As well, I think it would be very nice if some of the former Orioles would ever be willing to travel to Florida and be part of Spring Training.
Last year, if I remember correctly, Mike Cuellar and BJ Surhoff were at spring training. Then there’s T-bone, who I think has had an influence on Adam Jones’ developement as an outfielder.
Hopefully, one day Brooks will be given the respect the same way as Yogi. But untill then, building the relationship with the Oriole alumni will be an uphill battle. It’s a bit concerning that Cal hasn’t had much to do with the current team (other then owning the Ironbirds). But maybe he’s more interested in the business aspect, IDK. We also haven’t seen Frank Robinson the past decade either. Then again, and this might sound shallow, but when the Orioles start winning again maybe some of the former O’s will start coming out of the woodwork.