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| Cooperstown: Class of '83 |
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"Whether you want to be or not, you do serve as a role model. People will always put more faith in baseball players than anyone else."
Brooks Robinson
On July 31, 1983, Brooks Robinson, along with George Kell, Juan Marichal, and Walter Alston, was forever immortalized with his enshrinement into the national Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Brooks not only had all the necessary statistics to earn him this passage but also had the qualities that made him the most beloved Oriole of all time. As Earl Weaver once said about him, "Brooks leads the league every year in everything that is right."
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Brooks with Comm. Bowie Kuhn
On January 12, 1983, Brooks was officially elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. He received 92% of the votes cast (344 of 374) which was the ninth highest percentage in the history of the BBWAA Hall of Fame elections (surpassed only by Cobb, Aaron, Wagner, Ruth, Mays, Feller, Williams, and Musial). He became only the 14th player elected to the Hall in his first year of eligibility (excluding the five that were picked in the Hall's first election).
1999 Topps Card Signed HOF Plaque Card Actual HOF Plaque
Brooks, at the formal induction on July 31, will become the third Oriole to make it along with Frank Robinson (89%, 370 of 415) who was chosen on the first ballot in 1982. Since then, there have been three other Orioles inducted, Jim Palmer ('90), Earl Weaver ('96), Eddie Murray ('03), and Cal should be a shoe-in in 2007.
The induction was held in Cooperstown on Sunday, July 31. On Monday, August 1, the annual Hall of Fame Game will be played at Doubleday Field between the Orioles (not a coincidence) and the World Champion St. Louis Cardinals.
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Brooks' Hall of Fame Badge
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Alston (accepting for), Kell, Marichal, Robinson
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