Brooks Robinson-The Human Vacuum Cleaner

All third baseman are measured by the high standards set by Brooks Robinson, who played the position for the Baltimore Orioles for the better part of 23 seasons. Brooks Robinson holds the Major League Baseball marks for the most games played by a third baseman with 2,870, highest fielding percentage lifetime at the hot corner (.971), and the most putouts, assists, and double plays as well. At the plate, Brooks Robinson was a clutch hitter who at one time held the record for most homers by a third baseman, but when he is remembered, it is glove that comes to mind above all else. After he won the MVP of the 1970 World Series against Cincinnati, Reds' manager Sparky Anderson, who watched Brooks Robinson almost single-handedly defeat his team with his defensive prowess sighed, "I hope the car they give him has an extra large glove box."

Brooks Robinson was born in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1937. When he was eighteen, the Orioles signed him as an amateur free agent, and he would eventually become one of the faces of the franchise, which had just moved from St. Louis in 1953. Brooks came up to the big club in 1955 for a taste of the majors, but managed only a pair of base hits in 22 at-bats. The next season he played in fifteen games for the Orioles, and the following year Robinson saw action in fifty contests. By the time Brooks Robinson was twenty one years old in 1958, he was the regular third baseman for Baltimore. Originally a second baseman, Brooks hadn't even played high school baseball when he was discovered by a scout playing in a church league. Had he stayed at second, he would have been a great one there as well, but he was moved over to third to take advantage of his wonderful reflexes and soft hands.