Robert Brooks (November 1, 1945 – October 11, 1994) was an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

player. He appeared in 55

games A game is a Structure, structured type of play (activity), play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an Educational game, educational tool. Many games are also considered to be Work (human activity), work (such as p ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

over parts of four seasons for the

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (frequently referred to as the Oakland A's) were an American Major League Baseball (MLB) team based in Oakland, California from 1968 to 2024. The Athletics were a member club of the American League (AL) American League We ...

(– and ) and

California Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West Division. Since 1966, the team has pl ...

(). An

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...

and native of

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, he threw and batted

right-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to and causing it to be stronger, faster or more Fine motor skill, dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dext ...

and was listed as tall and .

Career

Brooks entered pro baseball in 1965 when he was chosen by the Athletics (then in

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

) out of

Los Angeles Harbor College Los Angeles Harbor College (LAHC) is a Public college, public community college in Wilmington, California. It is one of two community colleges serving the South Bay, Los Angeles, South Bay region of Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles. LAHC s ...

in the 15th round of the first-ever MLB June amateur draft. He earned his first big-league call-up in September 1969 after an All-Star season in the Double-A Southern League, when he led the circuit in

runs scored In baseball, a run is scored when a player advances around first, second and third base and returns safely to home plate, touching the bases in that order, before three outs are recorded and all obligations to reach base safely on batted bal ...

(102) and

home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run ...

(23), and tied for the league RBI title (100). Brooks appeared in 29 late-season games for Oakland in 1969, starting 21 as a corner outfielder, smashed three homers and drove in ten runs, batting .241. However, that would be his most extensive big-league trial: over the next four years, he appeared in only 26 total

MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

games, and spent all of 1971 and the bulk of the other three seasons in Triple-A. He finished his professional career in 1975 after two years in the

Mexican League The Mexican Baseball League (, or LMB, ) is a professional baseball league in Mexico. It is the oldest running professional sports league in the country. The league has 20 teams organized in two divisions, North and South. Teams play 114 games ...

. Brooks collected 33 hits in his 55 major-league games, 11 of them for extra bases—six doubles and five homers—along with 20 runs batted in. He batted .231 lifetime. In retirement, Brooks became an active youth baseball coach in his community,

Harbor City, California Harbor City is a highly diverse neighborhood in the South Bay and Harbor region of Los Angeles, California, with a population upward of 36,000 people. Originally part of the Rancho San Pedro Spanish land grant, the Harbor City was brought int ...

; a baseball diamond there is named Bobby Brooks Field.Ayers, Thomas, ''Bobby Brooks,''

Society for American Baseball Research The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) is a membership organization dedicated to fostering the research and dissemination of the history and statistical record of baseball. The organization was founded in Cooperstown, New York, on Au ...

Biography Project

Death

He died of complications from

multiple sclerosis Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease resulting in damage to myelinthe insulating covers of nerve cellsin the brain and spinal cord. As a demyelinating disease, MS disrupts the nervous system's ability to Action potential, transmit ...

on October 11, 1994, at the age of 48.

References

External links

, o
Retrosheet
1945 births 1994 deaths African-American baseball players American expatriate baseball players in Mexico Baseball players from Los Angeles Birmingham A's players Burlington Bees players California Angels players Cañeros de Los Mochis players Neurological disease deaths in California Deaths from multiple sclerosis People with multiple sclerosis Dorados de Chihuahua players Iowa Oaks players Los Angeles Harbor Seahawks baseball players Major League Baseball outfielders Modesto Reds players Oakland Athletics players Peninsula Grays players Rieleros de Aguascalientes players St. Cloud Rox players Salt Lake City Angels players Tiburones de La Guaira players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Toledo Mud Hens players 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen Los Angeles Harbor College alumni {{US-baseball-outfielder-1940s-stub