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Hall of Fame third baseman and former Baltimore Orioles great Brooks Robinson (right), in Harrisburg for a charitable golf event benefiting the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation, takes a moment to chat with one of the others getting ready to play in the Ollie's Open Wednesday morning at Colonial Golf and Tennis Club. Robinson is president of the Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association, a group that furnished nearly three dozen former professional baseball players for Wednesday's event.

(Michael Bullock, PennLive.com)

As the replays of baseball wunderkind Manny Machado stumbling across first base Monday afternoon and falling to the ground in pain provide constant reminders of how one 21-year-old's season came to an inglorious end, those pictures caused another baseball wunderkind from a different era to recall his own twisted knee.

Seems some 56 years earlier, a 20-year-old Brooks Robinson suffered a damaged knee when he stepped awkwardly on first base during a game early in the 1957 season against the Washington Senators. What followed was rehab, a stint in the minors and, ultimately, a wonderful journey to baseball's Hall of Fame.

Yet while the talented Machado is just beginning his major league career, he does play the same position ... for the same team in the same city that Robinson thrilled for more than two decades with his sparkling play at third base.

Safe to say Robinson's career turned out OK.

Baltimore Orioles Hall of Famers Cal Ripken Jr., Eddie Murray, the late Earl Weaver, Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson and Jim Palmer pose in front of the Brooks Robinson statue at Baltimore's Oriole Park at Camden Yards shortly after it was unveiled last September before a game against the Boston Red Sox.

Although the horrific video of Machado's misstep had everyone who follows Charm City's favorites believing the worst, the subsequent reports have everyone believing he'll be OK following some downtime and plenty of rehab.

Assuming the Miami-born Machado is able to resume his career at the remarkably high level he's already reached — and assuming he spends some two-plus decades playing for the Orioles — the idea that one Hall of Famer encountered a similar misstep to a possible future Hall of Famer is downright chilling.

Maybe history is merely repeating itself.

"You know what?" Robinson wondered late Wednesday morning. "It's really strange. [In] 1957, I was 20 years old, I opened the season with the Orioles and two weeks into the season I hurt my knee going to first base playing the Washington Senators.

"I had to zig-zag around and I stepped on the base wrong and I had a torn cartilage. I was out for two months and I went to San Antonio and came back," added the 76-year-old Robinson, in Harrisburg for the Ollie's Open, a charitable event at Colonial Golf and Tennis Club designed to raise funds for the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation.

"But that's what I thought about. I'll be doggone. He's 21 years old, I was 20 getting to 21 and I'll be darned if I didn't get hurt. But any way. Good-looking player. Nice kid. I don't know him except to say hello to him one time.

"I'm happy for him and hopefully he doesn't have to have an operation. ... I think they're still debating what to do, but it seems like he's gonna be OK with just a six-eight week rehab and everything."

While doctors and medical experts continue to discuss what's next for Machado, Robinson's career certainly turned out OK following his untimely misstep.

The Orioles' Manny Machado, shown during a spring training game in Florida, suffered a season-ending knee injury on Monday during a loss to the Tampa Bay Rays. Some 56 seasons ago, Orioles Hall of Fame third baseman Brooks Robinson suffered a knee injury when he, like Machado, stepped awkwardly on first base.

For instance:

* Robinson collared the American League's most valuable player award in 1964 (.317, 35 doubles, 28 home runs, 118 runs batted in) and finished in the top 20 of the MVP balloting on nine other occasions.

* Playing lead roles for Orioles teams that won World Series in 1966 and 1970 — Robinson was tagged World Series MVP in 1970 when Baltimore bested Cincinnati in five games — and finished second in 1969 and 1971.

* Robinson was selected to 15 consecutive all-star games (1960-1974).

So when Robinson weighs in on Machado's abilities, listen. The guy knows a little something about playing third base — and playing the hot corner well.

"He's just got a great arm," Robinson said. "He's got that great instinct. He's a shortstop converted, I'm a second baseman converted. And going over to third, it's instinct. Hand-to-eye coordination. Three or four yards, you do or you don't. And he's got that all. He just seems to make the plays. Knock 'em down, throw 'em out.

"He's made a terrific transition and he's 21 years old, he's got a long way to go."

Hall of Fame pitcher Gaylord Perry, one of six Hall of Famers on hand, signs autographs not far from the No. 1 tee at Colonial Golf and Tennis Club.

Robinson had something else going for him — ambidexterity.

As those who've witnessed him during autograph sessions can and will attest, Robinson doesn't sign his name with his right hand.

That's right, he's a lefty.

"It helped me get my glove in the right spot," Robinson admitted. "I eat left-handed. I write left-handed. Ping-pong, tennis, shoot a rifle left-handed. So I do everything [left-handed] except play baseball. Threw right and hit right.

"So it's sort of strange, but it certainly helped me fielding."

President of the Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association, a group represented Wednesday at the Ollie's Open by nearly three dozen former major league players, Robinson joined fellow Hall of Famers Cal Ripken Jr., Jim Rice, Bill Mazeroski, Gaylord Perry and Rollie Fingers at Colonial for a round of golf.

He also took some time to answer a few questions about Machado — one of his successors at third base since his retirement in 1977 — and an Orioles club that was eliminated from playoff contention just one night earlier.

"To me, they got carried away with the home run — which is all right," said Robinson, who belted 268 home runs during his 23 seasons with the Orioles. "They just had a tough time scoring. That's the only thing I figure.

Hall of Fame shortstop and former Baltimore Orioles great Cal Ripken Jr. converses with former Montreal Expos pitcher Steve Rogers moments before teeing off on the first hole at Colonial Golf and Tennis Club in suburban Harrisburg.

"It seemed like they hit the home runs, but they didn't make as they call it 'little ball.' Get the runners [home when they're] in scoring position, that's the only thing I can figure. No one is much better than anyone else. When the season started, I thought Toronto was gonna be the best team in the league.

"They had some problems that never worked out, but you never know."

Ripken also offered his thoughts about the Orioles, his home for some 21 seasons mostly at shortstop but also at third base. Ripken, who retired following the 2001 season, entered baseball's Hall of Fame in 2007.

"I think the Orioles play in the toughest division in all of baseball, one would argue, in the American League East," said Ripken, the American League's MVP in 1983 (when the Orioles defeated the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series) and 1991. "Boston's turnaround has been remarkable. John Farrell's done a really good job.

"If you look at this Orioles team, I thought they had a better nucleus of a team than they did last year — but the difference was last year they were magical at winning the one-run games and the extra-inning games. And that's about execution and sometimes a little bit about momentum," Ripken continued.

"Earl Weaver would never say that momentum carries over from one game to the next, but when you feel like you've won the one-run games and you feel that magic's happened late in games, when you get in that situation you believe positive things will happen. This year it hasn't happened for the Orioles in those one-run games.

Yet Orioles fans should not despair about Buck Showalter's club going forward.

"I know that you couldn't expect to have the same kind of year you had last year, but they're a playoff-caliber team," Ripken added. "They're a very good team.

"Down the stretch here, they just couldn't make it happen. I have high expectations for them next year. Their pitching staff continues to develop. They have more depth in their starting staff. And you know Buck's going to manage the bullpen well."

Of course, one particular knee will be discussed all winter long.

Which brings us back to another knee belonging to another third baseman and ...

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