5 Dave Roberts Baseball Cards to Celebrate Dave Robertseseses
Which one did YOU grow up with?
Pssst! In case you didn’t hear, today is Dave Roberts’ birthday.
No, not that Dave Roberts.
Not that one, either.
Guess again, assumption monster.
Man, you stink at this game.
Here, let me help you out, courtesy of baseball cards from the five major league Dave Robertseseses…
1966 Topps Dave Roberts (#571)
In the long history of MLB, this Dave Roberts was the first Dave Roberts to make his way all the way to the show. Sorta hard to believe it took that long, I know.
But the Daves Robertses would catch up quick, as you’ll see shortly.
First, though, this Dave Roberts was born in Panama in 1933 and signed with the Orioles 20 years later. It took him another nine seasons and four franchises to make his way to the majors, debuting with the expansion Astros in September 1962.
He hit .245 in a 16-game cup of coffee, spent 1963 back in the minors, but actually landed on one of those four-men Topps rookie cards the same year. In 1964, Roberts appeared in 61 games for Houston, mostly at first base and as a pinch hitter.
After spending all of 1965 in Triple A, Roberts caught a break when the Pirates selected him in the Rule 5 draft after the season. That meant he’d have to be on the big league roster all season, and Topps apparently decided to get a jump on that, slotting him for their high-number series.
The result is the sweet hunk of cardboard you see above.
Even so, Roberts ended up playing only 14 games with the Bucs before spending the rest of the season with the Triple-A Columbus Jets—I’m not quite sure how that played out, given the Rule 5 rules.
Whatever the case, the Orioles bought Roberts’ contract in September, and he promptly bolted for Japan, where he played through 1973.
1970 Topps Dave Roberts (#151)
This Dave Roberts, on the other hand, was born in Ohio in 1944 and signed with the Phillies out of high school in 1963. He was only slightly quicker on the MLB draw than was our first Dave Roberts, spending six years in the minors across three franchises before finally debuting for the newly-minted San Diego Padres.
The Friars had plucked Roberts from Pirates in the 1968 expansion draft, then got him into his first big league game the next July. He would finish his rookie season 0-3 with a 4.81 ERA across 22 appearances, mostly in relief. His next appearance would be on the blue-ski 1970 Topps card you see above.
San Diego used Roberts as a swingman the next year, when he went 8-14 with a 3.81 ERA before moving into the rotation more or less full time in 1971. After a 14-17 showing that summer, he picked up some Cy Young votes that fall.
The Astros noticed, and traded three players to acquire Roberts for 1973. He went on to win 47 games in four seasons with the Astros and overall spent parts of 13 summers in the big leagues for eight different franchises.
1973 Topps Dave Roberts (#151)
Now this is the Dave Roberts I grew up with…but just barely.
By the time I found Roberts, he was sliding out of 1981 wax packs on Texas Rangers baseball cards. And by the time I cared about baseball cards, he was a 1983 Topps Phillies teammate of Pete Rose and Mike Schmidt.
What I didn’t know then was that Roberts was already finished in the big leagues by then, having played his last game in September of 1982. It was the end of a decade-long run that began when the Padres — yes, those same Padres — made Roberts the first overall draft pick in 1972.
Roberts spent exactly zero games in the minors that summer, playing 100 games and hitting .244 with five home runs and 33 RBI. It was all enough to land him both a Topps rookie card in 1973 and one of those little gold trophies to adorn the thing.
Roberts opened 1973 as the Padres’ primary third baseman, though a rough start finally bought him a minor league stint for most of May. Still and all, he managed to hit .286 and club 21 home runs in that majors that year.
That would turn out to be Roberts’ peak, but he did play parts of ten seasons in the big leagues for four different clubs.
And, looking back, his career shines a light on one of baseball’s great unanswered questions — how in the world could the Padres trade Dave Roberts at his peak when they knew good and well they were going to draft Dave Roberts the next June???
What a missed opportunity for us all!
1999 Topps Traded Dave Roberts (#T32)
Now this is probably the Dave Roberts most baseball folks think of when they hear “Dave Roberts” these days. That’s fair, too, considering that Roberts is the most recent Dave Roberts to play in the major leagues.
And that he scored a pretty famous postseason run, helping keep the Red Sox alive in the 2004 ALCS against the Yankees.
Roberts has a good baseball story outside of that, too, having made it to the majors after being drafted in the 47th round in 1993 by the Indians and in the 28th round in 1994 by the Tigers.
Those uninspiring draft slots were for a college player, too, not some raw high schooler with plenty of upside. The baseball road ahead looked tough for Roberts, and it was.
It took him more than five years to get a sniff of the majors, but he kept plugging away and along the way, he ended up with Cleveland anyway (via a 1998 trade). He would finally make his big league debut in 1999, then split parts of the next nine summers between the majors and minors.
Only in 2002, with the Dodgers, did Roberts avoid spending time on the farm. He did log enough time in the bigs to land on some baseball cards, though, including the 1999 Topps Traded card you see above.
After the Giants released Roberts before the 2009 season, he returned to Boston, in the broadcast booth. A year later, he returned to the Padres as a special assistant, then moved on to coaching.
2021 Topps Allen & Ginter Dave Roberts (#308)
OK, I lied.
This is actually the Dave Roberts most baseball folks think of when they hear “Dave Roberts” these days.
After all, manager seats don’t come much more high-profile than the one in the Dodgers’ dugout, and it’s a position Roberts has held since 2016. And with five 100-win seasons, three National League pennants, and a World Series title to his name, Roberts has earned his spotlight.
That spotlight includes a few manager cards, like this 2021 Topps Allen & Ginter.
And, yes, this somewhat of a hedge to get us to five MLB Dave Robertses.
But this Roberts also gives us a trivia(l) tie to our first Dave Roberts — Dave Roberts IV was born in Japan in May of 1972, the second-to-last year of Dave Roberts I’s career in Japan.
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In addition to these guys, there is also another Dave Roberts who shows up in Baseball Reference as having played for the independent Rockford RiverHawks in 2002.
And, for what it’s worth…
Dave Robertson played in the majors from 1912 through 1922 (minus 1913 and 1918) for the Giants, Cubs, and Pirates.
Daryl Robertson played in 9 games for the 1962 Cubs.
Dale Roberts pitched in two games for the 1967 Yankees.
So, out of all these Dave Roberts and Dave Roberts facsimiles and barely-trying-to-hide near-names, which one has a birthday today?
That would be Dave Roberts #1 above, the minor league slugger (38 dingers in Triple-A ball in 1965) who debuted in the majors at age 29. He was born on June 30, 1933, and passed away in Alabama in October 2021.
And that concludes this week’s rundown of “A Dave Roberts Near You.”
Stay tuned for a special episode of “To All the Mike Browns I’ve Known Before.”
Kidding.
Probably.
Thanks for reading.
—Adam
Arguably the most famous steal of second in history. (Dave’s in the Red Sox HOF for one steal!) Pinch runner Roberts brought into the game specifically to steal second and get in scoring position. Everyone in the park, both teams, pitcher, catcher, knew he was going to steal. And he did. Great throw, lightning fast tag by Jeter. But not as lightning fast as Dave. My father-in-law from California said Roberts, when he was with the Padres, was blindingly fast but couldn’t hit. I told him we already had hitters. https://www.si.com/.image/t_share/MTY4MjYyNjkwMzYzMDI0NjYx/dave-roberts-si2jpg.jpg
I can't think of a more boring name than "Mike Brown."
Great, funny and entertaining write-up.