Rooting for a Baseball Legend

Officials Hope a Hall of Famer Can Ensure Success of the Blue Crabs

Even the most die-hard baseball fans would be forgiven for not knowing who -- or what -- the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs are, but legendary Baltimore Oriole Brooks Robinson promises to change that.

At the moment, the team technically does not exist. There is a full coaching staff, but less than half the team is signed. When the roster is filled, the team will play this spring for the Atlantic League, a baseball outpost that features competition between teams such as the Somerset (N.J.) Patriots and Bridgeport (Conn.) Bluefish.

But Charles County leaders are banking on the team -- and its co-owner Robinson -- to help boost its prominence. Even though Charles is one of the fastest-growing counties in the Washington area, the community still fights the perception that it is a cultural backwater. Officials hope that a professional baseball team, owned by a Maryland legend and playing in a state-of-the-art stadium, will banish that image forever.

As Charles's population and per-capita wealth have skyrocketed, its shopping, dining and recreation offerings have struggled to keep up. The 4,500-seat Blue Crabs stadium will be by far the largest-capacity gathering place in Southern Maryland and is projected to pump $27 million annually into the local economy through baseball and off-season events.

"This is helping create a new atmosphere in Charles County," said Keith Vogel, who bought Blue Crabs season tickets in the fall. "We're not rednecks and country bumpkins around here; we're a young, emerging community."

Now 70, Robinson has emerged from a tranquil retirement to make his first-ever foray into a team's front office. He says he's thrilled to be a part-owner of the Blue Crabs, which will be based in Waldorf. He makes regular visits to the stadium -- which is under construction in the massive planned community of St. Charles, about 45 minutes from downtown Washington -- and appears at almost every public event. His grinning face is plastered on billboards throughout the region, as well as on the team's home page. He lobbied legislators in Annapolis to fund the team's stadium -- and won, of course.

"I'm having so much fun I can't even tell you," said Robinson, who has lived in the Baltimore area since his playing days. "And the fact that it's in Maryland, in an area where people are Orioles fans and might actually remember who I am, that makes it even nicer."

Few baseball fans have forgotten Robinson, although he walked away from the game in 1977. The Hall of Famer and 16-time Gold Glove winner is widely considered the best defensive third baseman of all time, and he played his entire 23-year career in Baltimore. After 15 years broadcasting Orioles games, he settled into a life of golf and motivational-speaking engagements in 1993. He thought he was done with baseball forever until the Atlantic League came calling.

For a small-time franchise with no established name recognition, playing within an hour's drive of two big-league teams, plus double-A (in Bowie) and single-A (in Woodbridge) clubs, a baseball giant onboard can make a significant difference in trying to build a fan base. Several independent minor league baseball teams have closed over the past decade, and although Atlantic League teams are required to demonstrate sufficient market size to fill a 5,000-seat stadium, filling seats is often a problem. At the end of the 2005 season, the Nashua (N.H.) Pride left the Atlantic League for the lower-level Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball after averaging 1,300 fans a game.

Robinson's name is a large part of the reason team officials are confident they can fill the seats for 70 home games a year. "It makes introducing a new team so much easier," said General Manager Mark Viniard, a veteran of several minor league teams. "It gives us instant legitimacy to say: 'Oh, and Brooks Robinson is the owner. You may have heard of him.' "

Much of the Blue Crabs' strategy for a successful first year has revolved around celebrity names -- former Boston Red Sox manager Butch Hobson will lead the team on the field, with former Oriole Andy Etchebarren as bench coach. And team officials have unabashedly made Robinson the centerpiece of their marketing campaign. It's a wise decision, said John Maroon, a spokesman for the Aberdeen IronBirds, and he should know: The single-A IronBirds have sold out every home game on the shoulders of their owner, Cal Ripken.

When the legendary Orioles shortstop bought the team, then based in Utica, N.Y., in 2002, many people doubted that Aberdeen, population 14,000, could support a team. But when the IronBirds opened at Ripken Stadium, with Ripken throwing out the first pitch, the fans turned out en masse, with thousands coming from out of town or out of state. Maroon said a similar strategy could well pay off for the Blue Crabs.

"When the team first started, everything was about Cal," Maroon said. "He was at every event, probably at 20 home games a year [out of 38]. Eventually it came to a point where the IronBirds were established as part of the community, and now we don't need him quite as much."

Ripken, who at 47 is more than two decades younger than Robinson, was significantly more involved in the minutiae of the IronBirds than Robinson plans to be with the Blue Crabs. But Robinson said he is impressed with the quality of Atlantic League baseball, which recruits former major leaguers as well as younger players passed over by major league or triple-A teams, and he plans to be at as many games as possible.

"There's nothing I like better than being at baseball games. I watch baseball at Johns Hopkins, Little League games, whatever," he said. "I never wanted to do anything in my whole life but put on a baseball uniform."

He picked up a Southern Maryland Blue Crabs hat, pulled it snugly over his silver hair and grinned widely.