‘I couldn’t be happier being a Catholic. It’s worked out well for me and it’s been a good impression on my kids.’
From Catholic Review:
Brooks Robinson, the Hall of Fame third baseman for the Baltimore Orioles whose unmatched fielding prowess and dedication to his adopted hometown endeared him to generations of Baltimoreans, died Sept. 26. He was 86.
Robinson, a convert to Catholicism who often relied on his faith to see him through several major health challenges later in his life, was known as a player who freely devoted hours to signing autographs at Memorial Stadium – and seemingly everywhere else in his retirement. His generosity with fans was captured in a famous painting by Norman Rockwell that shows the player scribbling his signature on a ball for a grinning boy.
Born in Little Rock, Ark., Robinson was raised in the Methodist Church. He converted to Catholicism several years after his 1960 marriage to his Catholic wife, Connie. In a 2010 interview with the Catholic Review, Robinson remembered that with three sons and a daughter, he thought it was important for the entire family to attend church together.
“When the kids got older, they were inquisitive and wanted to know, ‘How come Dad doesn’t go to church with us?’” Robinson told the Catholic Review. “It made a lot of sense to join the Catholic Church.”
He began studying the faith with Monsignor Martin A. Schwalenberg Jr., the Orioles’ chaplain and one of Robinson’s tennis partners. He was received into the Catholic faith in the late 1960s at Church of the Nativity in Timonium.
“I couldn’t be happier being a Catholic,” Robinson said in the 2010 interview. “It’s worked out well for me and it’s been a good impression on my kids.”
Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him…
