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On this date in area sports history …
Eighty-four years ago on this date, Jan. 30, 1925, Brooks Lawrence was born in Springfield. Lawrence, who died in 2000, played seven seasons in the big leagues with the Cardinals and Reds. He is a member of the Reds Hall of Fame.
On the jump, a News-Sun story on Lawrence.
Published April 28, 2000
SPRINGFIELD BASEBALL GREAT DIES.
BROOKS LAWRENCE CALLED AN ALL-AROUND ATHLETE
By Greg Billing, News-Sun Sports Writer
While most friends remember Brooks Lawrence for his ability to excel on the playing field, perhaps no one knows it better than former Springfield High School football teammate Jim Pinkerton.
“I’d have been first-string quarterback if it hadn’t been for Brooksie,” Pinkerton said with a laugh, referring to Lawrence’s size and talent. “He was a great guy.”
Lawrence, 75, died Thursday. The Springfield resident who went on to a seven-year career as a pitcher in the major leagues had been battling cancer. Family members could not be reached for comment.
“He was a nice guy and a hell of an athlete,” said Tom Conway, 75, who graduated from Springfield High with Lawrence in 1943.
“There was no question about (Lawrence becoming a success),” Conway added. “He was the best athlete in town. He could run, he could pitch, he could throw, he could play football, basketball, run track.”
Lawrence, Springfield High’s first black quarterback, spent two seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals (1954-55) and five with the Cincinnati Reds (1956-60). He retired with a 69-62 record and a 4.24 earned-run average. Lawrence’s best season came in 1956 when he opened with 13 straight wins for the Reds and made the National League All-Star team. He finished 19-10 with a 3.99 ERA that season.
“He was worthy of everything he did,” Pinkerton said of Lawrence, who often battled racism during his career. “I think he handled himself well and he was a gentleman.”
Don Rinker of Meek’s Sporting Goods in Springfield remembers Lawrence as someone willing to give back to the sport he loved to play. Rinker cited an incident when Lawrence was coaching the Wilmington College baseball team.
“He traded me a bat (Ken) Griffey Sr. had used in a game for three wood ones for his college team to use,” said Rinker. “He’s a good friend of (Joe) Nuxhall and the Griffeys.”
“He used to come in here all the time when major-leaguers had to buy their own stuff,” the 72-year-old Rinker added. “He had a pretty good career.”
Rinker, a 1947 Springfield High graduate, recalls the day Lawrence was called up from his AAA Columbus team in 1954.
“I was at his front door the day he was called up to St. Louis,” Rinker said. “My boss had heard and he told me to go over there. He was pitching for Columbus at that time and he said, `I don’t know why, they knocked me out in the first inning today.’ ”
If Lawrence had any doubts, they soon were erased. His major-league debut was on June 24, 1954, and he promptly went 15-6 with a 3.74 ERA for the Cardinals. A bleeding ulcer weakened him for the following season, when he went 3-8 with a 6.56 ERA. Lawrence was traded to the Reds during the off-season.
“He was a fine athlete,” Conway said. “He was really a friendly guy. I wish he hadn’t had this problem.
“I last saw him four months ago. I invited him to come to a coaches group. He said he would and then said he was on all that oxygen so he couldn’t come.”
After his retirement from baseball, Lawrence — a member of both the Reds and Ohio baseball halls of fame — worked 10 years at International Harvester in Springfield. He then spent 10 years in the Reds’ front office, the team’s first significant front-office minority hire, handling scouting, minor-league player development, radio and television work and season-ticket sales.
Lawrence was a member of the inaugural class of the Springfield High School Athletic Hall of Fame, which was inducted in 1998. He lettered in football, basketball and track and also played baseball. The summer baseball league for high school players — the Lawrence-Haddix League — bears his name along with that of former professional pitcher Harvey Haddix.
“He was a great guy and lot of people don’t know he was a great football player, too,” said former Springfield football teammate Jack Tuttle, 76. “When you get to be the age Brooks and I are, you get to expect the good Lord will take you somewhere along the line.”
Arrangements are pending at the Robert C. Henry Funeral Home in Springfield.
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