The next player featured in my 1971 “Minor League Days” thread is the great Brooks Robinson, who was barely out of his teens when this photo was taken of him back in 1957 as a member of the San Antonio Missions:
Robinson already had a couple of tastes of the Majors by 1957, playing
in six games and 15 games respectively in 1955 and 1956, along with 50
games in 1957.
In 1958 he’d play his first full season, and it was all cruise control
from there, as the great third baseman would go on to grab 16 Gold
Gloves, and MVP Award in 1964, appear in 15 All-Star games, and help
guide the Baltimore Orioles to two Championships and four A.L. Pennants.
By the time he hung up that golden glove after the 1977 season, he
finished with 2848 hits, 1357 runs batted in, 268 home runs and 1232
runs scored in 2896 games.
Needless to say, by the time Cooperstown came calling, he was voted in on his first try, receiving 92% support in 1983.