By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

CHINA GROVE — It was 1998, so Joe Hubbard was wearing one of those old-school pagers while he was coaching the Kannapolis American Legion baseball team.

His pager beeped one July night, letting Joe know that it wouldn’t be long before he would be a father for the first time.

Cal Ripken Jr, the Ironman shortstop of the Baltimore Orioles had a streak of playing in consecutive games that would reach 2,632 a few months later. Joe was an Orioles fan and a baseball lifer from a baseball family, so that first boy was named Cal. That was an easy one.

Cal grew up, played high school ball for the team his dad coached — the Northwest Cabarrus Trojans — and went on to play in college for Mars Hill. Now he’s in PT school in Winston-Salem.

The next son to be born to the Hubbards was named Ty. That’s not a Baltimore Orioles name, but it’s certainly a universally recognized baseball name.

It’s not like you can name a baby “Babe.”

The Hubbards grew up in southern Rowan County, and while Cal had played for Northwest Cabarrus, Ty grew up playing ball for years with a strong group of players and he stuck with them at South Rowan High, even though it meant some awkward moments — like trying to beat his dad’s team a couple of times a year.

Ty was a tremendous high school player as a second baseman and was one of the keys to South Rowan’s 2022 3A state championship. He signed with Catawba, and while injuries wrecked his freshman season, big things are expected in the future if he can stay just healthy. He’s suffered a hamstring pull in fall baseball.

Brooks was the third Hubbard boy, the last one, and while he could have been named Eddie or Frank or even Boog, he was named after Mr. Oriole, Brooks Robinson, who won 16 Gold Gloves and is unanimously considered to be the greatest defensive third baseman of all time.

Brooks didn’t hit as well as George Brett or Mike Schmidt or Eddie Mathews, but he hit well enough and did it long enough to be a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame the first year he was eligible.

The son of an Arkansas fireman, Brooks Robinson played in his first MLB game when was 18, and by the time he was 20 he was in Baltimore to stay. He was still there when he was 40 in 1977. He became a beloved figure in Baltimore where thousands of male babies — and quite a few girls — were named Brooks.

Like his brothers, Brooks Hubbard plays baseball, and like Ty, he plays for the South Rowan Raiders, but he’s the first outfielder in the family in many years.

He runs well, he can go get it in the outfield, and he’s getting some pretty good size on him. He’s a senior this year.

Brooks Robinson died on Tuesday at age 86. It was Brooks Hubbard who broke the news to his father that one of his childhood heroes had passed away.

On Tuesday, Brooks and his South teammates played a game in the fall league at Staton Field, and Brooks did something he’d never done. He walloped what may have been the first homer of his life, definitely the first since he’s been in high school.

Brooks’ mother, Jill, got to witness it, but Joe didn’t. He was watching the Northwest Cabarrus team play.

“It’s not like Brooks said he was going to go hit a home run or anything like that, but it was awfully fitting the way it happened,” Joe Hubbard said. “Brooks Robinson dies and my Brooks goes out and hits his first home run. He hit it in honor of his namesake. It was a really cool thing.”

East Rowan coach Brett Hatley was watching at Staton Field, saw the ball Brooks connected with leave the park, and texted Joe Hubbard that his boy had just nuked one.

A few seconds after that text, Jill Hubbard, who could hardly believe what she’d just seen, was excitedly phoning her husband with the same news.

Joe is 55 now and he has been teaching and coaching 33 years.

He’s amazed at how fast the years have gone by, but he’s 40 years older than some of his players. He’s 30 years older than his assistant coach.

He’s coached incredible players like the Seager brothers during a wonderful career, but Tuesday was one of the best baseball nights he’s ever had.