Sports

Hall of Fame 3B, O’s star Brooks Robinson dies

Published

2 years ago

September 27, 2023

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ESPN News Services

Sep 26, 2023, 05:50 PM ET

BALTIMORE — Hall of Fame third baseman Brooks Robinson, whose deft glovework and folksy manner made him one of the most beloved and accomplished athletes in Baltimore history, has died. He was 86.

“We are deeply saddened to share the news of the passing of Brooks Robinson,” his family and the Baltimore Orioles said in a joint statement. “An integral part of our Orioles Family since 1955, he will continue to leave a lasting impact on our club, our community, and the sport of baseball.”

The statement did not say how Robinson died.

The Orioles held a moment of silence before their game against the Washington Nationals, and the teams lined up outside their dugouts to pay their respects. Also before the game, fans gathered around the 9-foot bronze statue of Robinson inside Camden Yards.

“Great player, great guy on the field, great guy off,” said fellow Orioles Hall of Famer Jim Palmer, who was overcome with emotion. “Respectful, kind. And you don’t meet too many guys like that. Brooks was a genuine person. There was no acting. Brooks was just a genuine person

Coming of age before the free agent era, Robinson spent his entire 23-year career with the Orioles. He almost single-handedly helped Baltimore defeat Cincinnati in the 1970 World Series and homered in Game 1 of the Orioles’ 1966 sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers for their first crown.

Robinson participated in 18 All-Star Games and earned the 1964 AL Most Valuable Player award after batting .318 with 28 home runs and a league-leading 118 RBIs. He finished his career with 268 homers, 1,357 RBIs and a respectable .267 batting average in 2,896 career games.

But he will be forever remembered for his work ethic and the skill he displayed at the hot corner, where he established himself as one of the finest fielding third baseman in baseball history, whether charging slow rollers or snaring liners down the third-base line.

Known as the “Human Vacuum Cleaner,” Robinson won 16 consecutive Gold Gloves — second only to pitcher Greg Maddux’s (18) for most by a player at one position. Robinson also places third in career defensive WAR at 39.1 behind shortstops Ozzie Smith (44.2) and Mark Belanger (39.5), who was Robinson’s teammate for 13 years with the Orioles.

“Brooks was maybe the last guy to get into the clubhouse the day of the game, but he would be the first guy on the field,” former Orioles manager Earl Weaver said. “He’d be taking his groundballs, and we’d all go, ‘Why does Brooks have to take any groundballs?’

“I wouldn’t expect anything else from Brooks. Seeing him work like that meant a lot of any young person coming up. He was so steady, and he steadied everybody else.”

Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1937, Robinson eventually made Baltimore his home but never really lost his southern twang, which was just fine with fans in blue-collar Baltimore, who appreciated his homespun charm and unassuming demeanor.

Dubbed “Mr. Oriole,” he was a sports hero in Charm City, in the pantheon with former Colts quarterback Johnny Unitas and Orioles infielder Cal Ripken, who performed for a different generation.

Ripken was known as The Iron Man because he played in 2,632 consecutive games, but Robinson wasn’t fond of sitting on the bench, either. From 1960-1975, he played in at least 152 games in 14 seasons and in 144 games the other two years.

“I’m a guy who just wanted to see his name in the lineup everyday,” he said. “To me, baseball was a passion to the point of obsession.”

Robinson retired in 1977 after batting only .149 in 24 games. His jersey was retired that year.

“I will always remember Brooks as a true gentleman who represented our game extraordinarily well on and off the field all his life,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. “On behalf of Major League Baseball, I send my deepest condolences to Brooks’ family, his many friends across our game, and Orioles fans everywhere.”

Robinson’s most memorable performance came as MVP of the 1970 World Series, when the Orioles bounced back from their stunning defeat to the New York Mets the year before and Robinson redeemed himself after batting just 1 for 19 in that series. Because he was so sensational in the field during Baltimore’s five-game triumph over the Reds, few remember he hit .429 and homered twice and drove in six runs — or that he made an error on his first play in the field.

In Game 1, Robinson delivered the tiebreaking home run in the seventh inning. One inning earlier, he made a sensational backhanded grab of a hard grounder hit down the line by Lee May, spun around in foul territory and somehow threw out the runner.

Robinson contributed an RBI single in the second game and became forever a part of World Series lore with his standout performance in Game 3. He made a tremendous, leaping grab of a grounder by Tony Perez to start a first-inning double play; charged a slow roller in the second inning and threw out Tommy Helms; then capped his memorable afternoon with a diving catch of a liner by Johnny Bench. The Series ended, fittingly, with a ground out to Robinson in Game 5, a 9-3 Orioles win.

“I’m beginning to see Brooks in my sleep,” Reds manager Sparky Anderson said during the Series. “If I dropped this paper plate, he’d pick it up on one hop and throw me out at first.”

Robinson was elected into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot in 1983. In 1999, he was named to baseball’s All-Century team, which honored the best 25 players of the 20th century. His No. 5 is one of just six jerseys retired by the Orioles franchise.

Starting in 2009, Robinson was beset by a string of health scares. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2009, had abdominal surgery in 2010, developed an infection while recovering from the abdominal surgery in 2011 and in 2012 his chair fell off a platform at a banquet, forcing him to spend a month in the hospital.

In his later years, Robinson auctioned off nearly all of his vast memorabilia.

“My children, they have everything they ever wanted from my collection,” Robinson said in 2015. “We’ve been very blessed, my whole family, all the years we’ve been in Baltimore. So it’s time to give back.”

Robinson said “every cent” of the proceeds was to go to the Constance and Brooks Robinson Foundation for distribution to worthy causes.

In July 2018, Robinson was announced as the Orioles’ special adviser, with Robinson saying he’ll be more focused on community events.

“I talked to [chair and managing partner] John Angelos about three weeks ago, and we had lunch,” Robinson said. “I told him, ‘I’ll do anything, but I don’t want to have to make any decisions about baseball. That’s passed me by, if you want to know the truth.'”

In addition to his role in the Orioles front office, Robinson also served as president of the Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Sports

Thousands attend race event honoring Gaudreaus

Published

3 hours ago

May 31, 2025

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Thousands attend race event honoring Gaudreaus

Associated Press

May 31, 2025, 03:19 PM ET

SEWELL, N.J. — A few days after brothers John and Matthew Gaudreau died when they were struck by a driver while riding bicycles on the eve of their sister Katie’s wedding, family friends were visiting parents Guy and Jane at their home during a rainstorm. Looking outside after the skies cleared, they saw a double rainbow that brought them some momentary peace.

Since then, Jane Gaudreau had not gotten any signs she attributed to her sons, so she sat in their room Friday and asked them for some divine intervention to clear out bad weather in time for an event to honor their legacies. After a brief scare of a tornado watch the night before, a rainbow appeared Saturday morning about an hour before the sun came out for the inaugural Gaudreau Family 5K Walk/Run and Family Day.

“I was so relieved,” Jane said. “I was like, ‘Well, there’s my sign.'”

Thousands attended the event at Washington Lake Park in southern New Jersey, a place John and Matthew went hundreds of times as kids and around the corner from Hollydell Ice Arena, where they started playing hockey. Roughly 1,100 people took part in a walk or run in person, along with more than 1,300 virtually in the U.S., Canada and around the world.

“I think it speaks to them as a family, how close they were and how everybody loved being around them,” said Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk, one of a handful of NHL players who were close to the Gaudreaus and made a point to be there. “You just see the support from this community and from other players as well that are here and traveled in. It just says a lot about Johnny, Matty, their legacy and this family as a whole, how much support they have because they’re such amazing people.”

Along with honoring the NHL star known as “Johnny Hockey” and his younger brother who family and friends called Matty, the goal of the event was to raise money for an accessible playground at Archbishop Damiano School where Jane and her daughter Kristen work. It was a cause John and Matthew had begun to champion in honor of their grandmother Marie, who spent 44 years at the school and died in 2023.

It became their mother’s project after their deaths.

“Jane works every day with children with disabilities, and she knew how important it was for the playground to be built,” said family friend Deb Vasutoro, who came up with the idea for a 5K. “The playground has been a project for, I think, four or five years, and there just never was enough funding. When the boys passed and Jane needed a purpose, she thought, ‘Let’s build the playground.’ It was the perfect marriage of doing something good to honor the boys and seeing children laugh and smile.”

The Rev. Allain Caparas from Gloucester Catholic High School, which the brothers attended and played hockey for while growing up in Carneys Point, said raising funds for the playground is an extension of the impact they had on the community.

“They’re continuing to make a difference in the lives of so many others,” Caparas said. “Johnny and Matthew lived their lives with purpose, and now we’re celebrating that.”

Social media filled with mentions from folks in Columbus and Calgary, the NHL cities in which John Gaudreau played, and as far away as Ireland and Sweden. Paul O’Connor, who has been tight with the Gaudreau family from son Dalton being childhood best friends with Matthew, couldn’t empty out his inbox because he kept getting notifications about signups and donations.

“It just keeps growing,” O’Connor said. “And people that couldn’t be here, they’re doing a virtual [5K]. If they can’t do either, they’re just throwing money at the cause.”

Tears welled up in the eyes of Guy and Jane as they talked about the event. His speech to the crowd was brief and poignant at the same time.

“I’d like to thank everybody for coming,” Guy said after running the 5K. “It really means a lot to Jane and the girls and the family. We miss the boys, and it really means a lot for us to have you here to honor my boys. Thank you.”

The sea of people first in the rain and then the sunshine included folks in gear from all across hockey. Tkachuk wore a “Johnny Hockey” hoodie with Gaudreau’s name and No. 13 on the back.

He handed sticks, collected from various vigils in late August and early September, to race winners along with fellow players Erik Gudbranson, Zach Aston-Reese, Tony DeAngelo and Buddy Robinson.

“Our family wouldn’t have missed this,” Gudbranson said after flying in Friday night following a trip to Walt Disney World. “Hockey’s a very tight community. It’s still a tragedy. We miss the boys.”

The aim is to hold the event annually moving forward, potentially in Calgary and Columbus.

“We thought this was such a good thing to honor the boys we want to keep it up,” Jane said. “I just think each year it’ll just get better and better.”

Sports

Panthers’ Lundell, Luostarinen clear for Final G1

Published

3 hours ago

May 31, 2025

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Panthers' Lundell, Luostarinen clear for Final G1

Field Level Media

May 31, 2025, 02:29 PM ET

Florida Panthers forwards Eetu Luostarinen and Anton Lundell will be ready for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final on Wednesday night in Edmonton, coach Paul Maurice said Saturday.

Both players were injured in Wednesday’s series-clinching Game 5 win against the Carolina Hurricanes.

Panthers forward A.J. Greer‘s status for the series opener against the Oilers remains uncertain. He missed Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals and was on the ice for only 4:22 in Game 5 due to a lower-body injury.

All three players did not participate in Saturday’s practice, the first team skate since the defending champions booked their spot in the Final rematch.

“I think the only question mark is Greer,” Maurice said. “We will list him as day to day. The other guys are fine. They will be back on the ice tomorrow when we do a little bit of an optional.”

Luostarinen, 26, recorded 24 points (9 goals, 15 assists) in 80 games during the regular season and 13 points (4 goals, 9 assists) in 17 games this postseason.

Lundell, 23, tallied 45 points (17 goals, 28 assists) in 79 games in the regular season and 12 points (5 goals, 7 assists) in 17 playoff games.

Greer, 28, posted 17 points (6 goals, 11 assists) in 81 games in the regular season and three points (2 goals, 1 assist) in 12 playoff contests.

Sports

Stanley Cup Final odds: McDavid is Conn Smythe fave in Panthers rematch

Published

3 hours ago

May 31, 2025

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Stanley Cup Final odds: McDavid is Conn Smythe fave in Panthers rematch

May 31, 2025, 09:30 AM ET

It’s a rematch of the last year’s Stanley Cup Final, as the Edmonton Oilers take on the Florida Panthers. If you need a quick refresher, Aleksander Barkov and the Panthers went up 3-0 to start the series before Connor McDavid and the Oilers won the next three to force a Game 7. The Panthers prevailed in the deciding match to take home their first championship, though McDavid would win the Conn Smythe Trophy for playoff MVP despite being on the losing team.

This year, the Oilers dispatched the Los Angeles Kings in the first round (again), the Vegas Golden Knights in the second round, and the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference Finals. Meanwhile, the Panthers defeated their in-state rivals, the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round, the Toronto Maple Leafs in a seven-game second round, and the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Finals.

The Oilers opened as early favorites in Game 1, but series odds have been close to a toss-up. McDavid is the current odds-on favorite to win the Conn Smythe.

All odds accurate as of publish time. For more, go to ESPN BET.

Odds to win Conn Smythe Trophy

The Conn Smythe Trophy is awarded to the player deemed to have been the most valuable to his team throughout the playoffs. Only players with 100-1 odds or better are listed. More odds available at ESPN BET.

Connor McDavid, Oilers: -110
Sergei Bobrovsky, Panthers: +250
Aleksander Barkov, Panthers: +400
Leon Draisaitl, Oilers: 10-1
Matthew Tkachuk, Panthers: 25-1
Sam Bennett, Panthers: 30-1
Carter Verhaeghe, Panthers: 50-1
Brad Marchand, Panthers: 60-1
Stuart Skinner, Oilers: 60-1
Sam Reinhart, Panthers: 75-1
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Oilers: 100-1