Top 50 Players In Baltimore Sports History: Countdown 20-11
12. Brooks Robinson, 3B, Baltimore Orioles
The other Robinson, Brooks, isn’t known for his bat, but rather for his acclamation as being the greatest defensive third baseman of all-time. Nicknamed “The Human Vacuum Cleaner”, Brooks won 16 consecutive Gold Gloves during his career, tied with pitcher Jim Kaat for the second-most of all-time for any player at any position. He was drafted by the Orioles as an amateur free agent in 1955 and spent his whole 23-year career in Baltimore, where he accomplished things that most players couldn’t dream of.
In 1964, Robinson had his best season offensively, hitting for a .318 batting average with 28 home runs and led the league with 118 runs batted in, winning the American League Most Valuable Player Award. In 1966, he was voted the All-Star Game Most Valuable Player, and finished second to teammate Frank Robinson in the American League Most Valuable Player Award voting, as the Orioles went on to win the 1966 World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. In the 1970 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds, Robinson had a .429 batting average with 2 home runs; however, it was his defensive prowess at third base that stood out, making several impressive plays during the series that robbed the Reds of apparent base hits. His performance won him the World Series MVP Award.
In his playing career, Robinson was selected for the All-Star team in 15 consecutive years (1960–74) and played in four World Series. He compiled a .267 career batting average with 2,848 hits, 268 home runs and 1,357 runs batted in. Robinson led the American League in fielding percentage for a record 11 times; and at the time of his retirement, his .971 career fielding average was the highest ever for a third baseman. His totals of 2870 games played at third base, 2697 career putouts, 6205 career assists, 8902 career total chances and 618 double plays were records for third basemen at the time of his retirement. Robinson was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1983.
11. Ed Reed, FS, Baltimore Ravens
Not only is Ed Reed one of the greatest Ravens of all-time but he is also unarguably one of the greatest safeties of all-time. His ball-hawking skills led to him achieving things that no other safety could. Early on in his career, however, he was more than just a ball-hawk who got in front of quarterbacks passes and read them like a book. He blocked field goals, blocked punts, returned kicks, sacked the quarterback, and made many impactful plays with his body.
http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/ from the Glenn Younes show
With that being said, it was still his interceptions that put him over the top. In the first two years of his career, Reed picked off 12 passes. In 2004, Reed was named the Defensive Player of the Year when he set an NFL mark for most interception return yardage in a season, accumulating 358 return yards on nine interceptions. In ’06 and ’07, Reed recorded another 12 interceptions. In 2008, he had perhaps the best year of his career when he recorded nine interceptions and falling second in Defensive Player of the Year voting. During a game against the Philadelphia Eagles on November 23, 2008, Reed returned an interception 108 yards for a touchdown. This set an NFL record, breaking his own record of 106 yards set in 2004 against the Cleveland Browns. Reed finished his career with three interceptions returned for 100 yards or more.
2010 was a perfect example of Reed’s greatness. He missed the first six games of the season with a hip injury, but it didn’t hold him back from having a successful season. In his first game back against the Buffalo Bills, Reed picked off two passes. He would end the season with a league-leading eight interceptions. Reed finally earned his first Super Bowl ring in 2013, a game in which he recorded the first interception against a San Francisco 49ers quarterback in their Super Bowl history (this was their sixth Super Bowl appearance). Reed finished his career totaling the most interception return yards of all-time (1,590) and the sixth-most interceptions of all-time (64) while recording 643 tackles, seven touchdowns and two blocked punts.
Next week we are changing things up a bit as we are splitting up the top ten with 10 through 6 on Wednesday and 5 though 1 on Thursday, so be sure to check back one day early. Check out the previous 30 spots on the countdown right here: