On this day in 1962 in a ceremony prior to a spring training game the Phillies honored the newest Yankee, and former Philadelphia player, Robin Roberts by retiring his number 36 uniform number. Roberts wore the number for 14 seasons while with the Phillies and started the game against his former team giving up four runs in three innings. Roberts, the future Hall of Fame right hander would get the win in a 13-10 Yankees victory.
Robin Roberts; This is one pitcher where stats don't tell the true story!
ReplyDeleteOne has to look very close to see what the stats don't tell a casual observer.
His Walks of 1+ per 9, and his SO around 3 per 9 show he had great C&C. In fact, it was too good. Everyone dug in at the plate against Robin (no one dug in against pitchers in those days, if one wanted to keep their head)!
Players learned after about 5 or 6 years, he would never throw at a hitter and his C&C was so good batters began digging in against him without the worry of being hit...those that were hit, took one for the team.
Bottom line is, his stats don't show how good he was nor, how good he could have been if he was a "Junk Yard Dog" on the mound...something like Sal "The Barber" Maglie.