September 18, 1977 (I was 8 years old.)
This isn't the first game I went to, but it's the first I remember distinctly. Here's the narrative from SABR:
Three teams had been battling all year for the 1977 American League East crown and as of Sunday afternoon, September 18, the Yankees held a 2½ game lead over the Orioles, who themselves were two games ahead of the third-place Red Sox with only 13 games remaining. While the Yankees were playing the Tigers in a three-game weekend series, the Orioles and Red Sox were battling it out at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. The Birds had taken the first two from Boston and were sending Mike Flanagan to the mound. Flanagan was on his way to a 15-win season and was opposed by Mike Paxton, who would win ten games in this, his rookie season. The Red Sox had three future Hall of Famers, Carl Yastrzemski, Jim Rice, and Carlton Fisk, gracing the middle of their lineup, while soon-to-be Rookie of the Year and future Hall of Famer, Eddie Murray, was DHing and hitting fifth for the Orioles.
No one had come to the ballpark that day, however, just to root on the Orioles or to see two good teams who would each win 97 games. Everyone had come to pay tribute to another future Hall of Famer, a player who had been a part of the Orioles graced third base since the second year of the franchise’s existence, Brooks Robinson. Sunday, September 18, 1977, was “Thanks, Brooks” Day in Baltimore....
An era unlike any other in Baltimore sports history had come to an end and fans entering the stadium that beautiful Sunday afternoon seemed stunned but ready to pay proper homage to their hero. That, they did. As the 1978 Orioles’ press guide described it, “In an emotionally charged atmosphere, Brooks Robinson was accorded a sustained, nerve-tingling ovation as he entered the field and rode around the warning track in a 1955 model Cadillac, manufactured the year he made his major league bow in Baltimore...
The Oriole players were sitting in the grass along the third base line, appropriately enough, and at one point toward the end of the ceremony, DeCinces went to third base, lifted the bag from the ground, and presented it to Brooks.
The particulars of the game itself are forgotten to me in the 40 years now past, but that last part is the part I remember most clearly -- and the ride he took in the '55 Caddy -- is indelibly etched in my mind. Our hometown hero. And the best part was all the kids got orange "5" jerseys, and so many of us wore them to school the next day, we could've almost fielded a whole team of little Brooksies.