Robert Brinton

A lifelong baseball fan, Robert Brinton had a close connection to the Cactus League and left an impression on everyone who knew his efforts to support and expand it. Robert Brinton’s love of baseball started early. His father, Dilworth Brinton, worked with Mesa rancher Dwight Patterson to help lure the Chicago Cubs to Mesa, and little Robert got his start selling Cubs spring training programs and watching players’ cars at Rendezvous Park in the 1950s.

A longtime member of the Mesa Hohokams, Brinton later served as president of the Cactus League and the Mesa Visitors and Convention Bureau. He was instrumental in helping to preserve Major League Baseball’s presence in Arizona, tirelessly promoting the importance of the Cactus League as an economic engine and tourist draw to the Grand Canyon State. His political efforts helped prevent the migration of teams to Florida, as did his leadership on the 2012 Keep the Cubs bond election in Mesa.