Robert Long III, or Robbie, had just lost one of his first wrestling matches for Our Lady of Mount Carmel School in Baltimore County. When the referee moved to raise the arm of the victor, as is tradition, Robbie had another idea.

He raised his own arm high.

Rob Long, his father, tried to get Robbie’s attention in the crowd. The radio and Mid-Atlantic Sports Network host hoped those around him wouldn’t think his son was trying to show up the winner or be a bad sport. Robbie, who has autism, meant no such thing.

“They understood, no, he wasn’t showing anyone up,” said Long, recalling one of his favorite memories of Robbie. “He had fun. He was having fun, and that’s what I love about sports for him.”

Having fun — that is worth raising his hand for, win or lose. Robbie, who’s now 26, played three sports at Mount Carmel. He earned the 2017 medal of courage award from the Maryland chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame. He didn’t need to be the best; the fact he was out there at all was enough.

Before Camden Yards hosts Autism Acceptance Night on Thursday, Long and Jim and Susan Palmer reflected on their experiences as parents to a child with autism, a neurological and developmental disorder that affects how people communicate, learn and interact with others, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Local groups involved with autism awareness have been invited to Thursday night’s game. The visibility is meaningful to Long and the Palmers — their children are who they are, and they deserve to go where they can feel comfortable.

“He’s perfect in my eyes,” Susan Palmer said of her son, Spencer, 28.

Susan Palmer said kids are accepting of Spencer, but she sometimes catches adults staring at her son or whispering and laughing.

“It’s very important to have compassion for people, especially for the parents,” she said. “The kids don’t know somebody is making fun of them or laughing at them, but the parents pick up on this and it’s hard. You’re just trying to fit in, to get through the day, and if somebody can just smile at you and show you some compassion, that really goes a long way.”

Jim Palmer, the Hall of Fame pitcher who won three World Series championships with Baltimore, first met Spencer when the boy was 4. As the relationship between Jim and Susan grew more serious, Jim began to learn more about what interested Spencer.

For Robbie, talking about Palmer’s 558 games might be riveting. Not for Spencer. Every child is different, and Spencer most connected with books and movies.

He realized “in order to get Spencer interested in him, or to like him, or to engage with him, that he had to work extra hard,” said Susan, who married Jim in 2007. “I think he found that a challenge he was really excited about, because when Spencer will engage with you, you’re so excited. You’re so happy. You’re like, ‘He’s talking to me, he’s looking at me, and he’s laughing at what I have to say.’

“Jim Palmer won Spencer over, but Spencer won Jim Palmer over,” Susan continued. “It went both ways. It was really sweet to watch unfold. Jim Palmer was just silly with him and went into his world and talked about movies.”

Jim Palmer concurred. Early in their relationship, Jim noticed how Spencer tended to avoid eye contact. He challenged Spencer with reminders — “Eye to eye, Spencer,” he’d say — and moved from there to bonding over “Toy Story” and “Finding Nemo,” among other films.

What Spencer really loves, however, are trains.

“He knows everything in the world about trains,” Susan Palmer said.

Everything? Susan and Jim Palmer might be watching a show, and when a train comes on the screen, Spencer can rattle off the make, country of origin and when it was manufactured. During a trip to Disney World when Spencer was 8, he went inside the roundhouse, where a steam train was being worked on. Spencer asked the guide, “The clutch is going to go right there, isn’t it?” He was right.

“He’s a savant that way,” Susan Palmer said.

Robbie Long works that way with sports, too. He watches the Orioles nightly and will attend Thursday’s game with his dad. Robbie played football and baseball, along with wrestling, at Mount Carmel. He began playing around 11, when he joined a youth baseball team.

Playing in the field was difficult. But swinging the bat? That was fun.

“He’d sometimes go up to the plate, batting right against a right-handed pitcher, sometimes left against a left-handed pitcher,” Long said. “It didn’t matter. Whatever side he wanted. He would make contact. He fancied himself a switch hitter. It was whatever he was feeling at that time, and it was funny. Sometimes in the on-deck circle he would practice right-handed and then go up left-handed. And nobody said anything, let him do what he wanted to do.”

His coaches and teammates could tell how hard Robbie worked to be out there with the rest of the kids. On top of that, he was pretty good. But his dad worried his son’s wish not to play in the field would limit his opportunities.

In the car one day driving to a game, Rob Long explained to his son that he might not be in the lineup. Long’s friend, Tim, also coached on the team. And Tim’s son spoke up to dispel what Long had just said.

“He can be a DH. He can hit. You don’t have to worry about him going in the field,” Long recalls Robbie’s teammate saying. “And that was the first time I realized, this kid can make friends of his own.”

That helped to settle the anxiety that is natural for the parents of a child with autism. When Long and Yedda found out their son had autism when he was 5, Long felt nervous. But by leaning on Yedda — who Long said “was almost created to be the mother of an autistic kid” — and through resources and education from the Kennedy Krieger Institute and Pathfinders for Autism, Long grew more comfortable.

“I’m not going to lie to you, man, you go through that moment when you first get that diagnosis, as a father, you think about all the things you had planned for your son,” Long said. “What’s next? But, as he settled in, I settled in. And it went from me being worried to, ‘Man, he’s a blessing.’ ”

Susan Palmer felt those nerves, too. She could tell before Spencer was 1 that he had autism. It took many more months for the official diagnosis, but the outlook of Spencer’s life changed.

She learned to practice self-care and discovered she could create her own path.

“People are going to tell you that you need to go to other people’s birthday parties, get your kid out and be as social as possible,” Susan Palmer said. “Just do what feels good to you, and if a social setting isn’t comfortable for you, practice self-care.”

And take the wins where they are. Just as Robbie raised his arm after a wrestling match, win or lose. He had fun.