BALTIMORE -- As the Orioles inch closer to losing a cornerstone of their organization in shortstop Manny Machado, on Saturday night they announced a major addition: the return of Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson.
Robinson, one of six retired Orioles numbers hanging above Camden Yards' outfield, will return to his beloved team as a special adviser, effective immediately. The decorated third baseman, who spent his entire 23-year career with Baltimore, will not deal with the baseball side of things. Instead, he'll be more focused on community events and trying to promote the club and Baltimore baseball.
"I talked to [executive vice president] John Angelos about three weeks ago, and we had lunch. I told him, I'll do anything but I don't want to have to make any decisions about baseball. That's passed me by if you want to know the truth," said the 81-year-old Robinson, who joked the ability to slide into second or block home plate had also passed him by.
"I'll be doing some things to try to promote this club and get people to this stadium. It's a beautiful ballpark, and the Orioles have always tried to get people in and get people into the community."

Robinson said the timing of it was simple.
"Well just because they asked me more than anything else," said Robinson, who has a pretty full plate already as part owner of the York Revolution and president of MLB's Alumni Association. "It's not set in steel how many years I'm going to be here, but we'll see what I can do.
"I might go to Spring Training, I might do a fantasy camp, I might do a session with the players [at FanFest] that they have here in January. So that's really my job."
Robinson, considered one of the best players in franchise history and one of the best defensive third basemen in baseball history, won 16 consecutive Gold Glove Awards. He was an 18-time All-Star and won two World Series titles. His presence at Saturday's game caused a huge ovation prior to the top of the sixth inning, as Robinson stood up in his seat with cheers from the crowd and both dugouts.
That includes Machado, who Robinson is particularly fond of and has presented both of Machado's Gold Gloves to.
"Manny, I think he's done a terrific job with circumstances like they are, knowing he's probably going to be going," Robinson said. "It's got to be tough on everyone."