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Another Baseball Legend Passes: Hall of Famer Robin Roberts Dies at 83

May 6, 2010, 5:20 PM UTC

â†µWhenever a manager talks about pitch counts in today's game, it has to make the old-timers laugh a little bit. Hall of Famer Robin Roberts pitched in 676 games in his 19-year career, an average of 36 appearances per season. Pitch counts? In those 19 years in the big leagues, Roberts averaged 248 innings per season and had 305 complete games. Yes, Roberts was from a time when pitchers didn't care so much about 100 pitches and hitting the showers. You went out and you pitched until nine innings were done.â†µ

â†µâ†µIn 1952, Roberts started 37 games for the Phillies and finished 30 of them. The next year, he started 41 and finished 33 of those games. From 1950-1955, Roberts won at least 20 games every season, with his best year coming in 1952 when he finished the year 28-7 with a 2.59 ERA. He also finished second in the MVP race that year (note: the Cy Young Award was not given out until 1956).â†µ

â†µâ†µRoberts was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1976. He died Thursday at the age of 83.â†µ

â†µâ†µIn addition to being a great player, Roberts was a great fan of the game too, making sure to catch every Phillies game he could until he passed away. He even watched Wednesday night’s game against the Cardinals. Yep, even in life, Roberts went out a winner. Per Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com:â†µ

â†µâ†µâ‡¥“Dad didn’t miss a Phillies game on television, including [Wednesday] night,” said his son, Jim. “He really loved this team and was so thrilled that he was included in the World Series festivities the last two years.â†µâ‡¥â†µâ‡¥“He’d sit there and would comment, ‘Did you see Jimmy make that play? ... Chase can really play this game ... My man Jayson is some kind of an athlete ... Did you see that change-up from Cole? ... How strong is Ryan? ... Roy makes pitching look so easy and it isn’t ... I wish I had Brad’s slider ... Shane can fly, can’t he?”â†µâ‡¥

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Pat Gallen of Phillies Nation reports that the team will wear #36 patches on their jerseys and keep Roberts’ uniform in the dugout for all games.â†µâ†µRoberts was in the mind of legendary Daily News columnist Stan Hochman, who wrote a piece for Thursday about the book “The Mental ABC’s of Pitching,” by Harvey Dorfman. The book, explained Hochman, is responsible for the success Roy Halladay and Jamie Moyer can boast in their careers. Hochman leads his piece with an immediate counterpoint, thanks to a memorable conversation with Roberts:â†µ

â†µâ†µâ‡¥BACK IN THE DAY, I asked Robin Roberts to talk about his philosophy of pitching. This was before he staggered through a 1-10 season, before manager Gene Mauch said he was “pitching like Mollie Putz,” before the Phillies released him, before he pitched five, count ‘em, five more seasons on his way to the Hall of Fame.â†µâ‡¥â†µâ‡¥“Strike one,” Roberts said.â†µâ‡¥
â†µâ‡¥â†µâ‡¥Eureka! The essence of pitching success in two words. “Strike one.”â†µâ‡¥

â†µâ†µWhile Dorfman’s book refutes that claim, it illustrates two things: first, that there are different ways to approach the game; and second, Robin Roberts was relevant until the day he passed. He’ll remain that way, too.â†µâ†µHere’s a neat video that J.T. Ramsay found of Roberts on the famous game show What’s My Line. He was a man of all trades.â†µ

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