Thank you, Brooks Robinson

So many people seem to have their own story like this about the Baltimore Oriole and Hall of Fame third baseman

When I was a kid growing up in Maryland, we had a neighbor across the street who was a flight attendant. She sometimes worked the Orioles charter flights.

This was just after Brooks Robinson had finished his baseball career and he was on these flights as a member of the Orioles TV broadcast team.

Our neighbor didn’t have any kids of her own and she was very close to us— she still comes to my parents’ house most years for Christmas Eve.

On these flights, she’d often talk to Brooks. She’d sometimes tell him stories about my siblings and me.

One year, they were on a flight sometime around April and he recalled that my birthday was approaching.

A few weeks later, the ball in the photo below arrived for me in the mail.

I got to meet Brooks a few times over the years as he made appearances to sign autographs around the area. He was an amazingly kind man, who took time to speak genuinely to people.

The last time I saw him was about six years ago at a local appearance, after not seeing him for maybe 30 years. I introduced him to my two sons…