Ticket form Sept 19, 1977. Red Sox at Baltimore - “Thanks Brooks Day”.

Ticket has “Brooks Retires” in ink on the front.

Three teams had been battling all year for the 1977 American League East crown and as of Sunday afternoon, September 18, the Yankees held a 2½ game lead over the Orioles, who themselves were two games ahead of the third-place Red Sox with only 13 games remaining. While the Yankees were playing the Tigers in a three-game weekend series, the Orioles and Red Sox were battling it out at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. The Birds had taken the first two from Boston and were sending Mike Flanagan to the mound. Flanagan was on his way to a 15-win season and was opposed by Mike Paxton, who would win ten games in this, his rookie season. The Red Sox had three future Hall of Famers, Carl Yastrzemski, Jim Rice, and Carlton Fisk, gracing the middle of their lineup, while soon-to-be Rookie of the Year and future Hall of Famer, Eddie Murray, was DHing and hitting fifth for the Orioles.

No one had come to the ballpark that day, however, just to root on the Orioles or to see two good teams who would each win 97 games. Everyone had come to pay tribute to another future Hall of Famer, a player who had been a part of the Orioles graced third base since the second year of the franchise’s existence, Brooks Robinson. Sunday, September 18, 1977, was “Thanks, Brooks” Day in Baltimore.

Brooks’ career had been winding down for over a year, and he entered the 1977 season as a player-coach. He pinch-hit occasionally, but Doug DeCinces had taken over third the previous season, and when catcher Rick Dempsey came off the disabled list on August 21st, Brooks went on the voluntarily retired list. Immediately, the Orioles front office began to plan a celebration in Robinson’s honor, but he saw no need for it. Finally, General Manager Hank Peters and Public Relations Director Bob Brown convinced Brooks that the celebration was really for the fans and so he agreed with the stipulation that there to be no gifts and that any donations go to the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center and the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation.1

An era unlike any other in Baltimore sports history had come to an end and fans entering the stadium that beautiful Sunday afternoon seemed stunned but ready to pay proper homage to their hero. That, they did. As the 1978 Orioles’ press guide described it, “In an emotionally charged atmosphere, Brooks Robinson was accorded a sustained, nerve-tingling ovation as he entered the field and rode around the warning track in a 1955 model Cadillac, manufactured the year he made his major league bow in Baltimore.”2