Texas Rangers.

Date of birth: February 17, 1951 Lebanon, OR

High School:  Corvallis High School (Oregon)

College: San Diego State University (San Diego, CA), University of Oregon (Eugene, OR)

First Impression; I guess this conversation was too important to ask him to stand with the bat in his hand and face the camera.

Career stats player: Dave broke into the bigs in 1972 with the Padres, and he was there the year after the first Dave Roberts (P) left.  I checked and they issued this Roberts a different number.  Shocked they didn’t just hand him the prior Roberts’ gear. 

This Roberts was a fielder, playing 3B, 2B and catcher in his career.  His first three years with San Diego he got a lot of playing time, and that would make sense since they were a new franchise and playing time was available.  He had been the Padres 1^st pick in 1972, the first overall pick. The following day, he signed with the Padres, and later that day made his major league debut, becoming the sixth player to go straight to the majors after being drafted without first playing in the minor leagues. So expectations were very high.

He didn’t hit up to expectations and thus kept getting passed over for regular playing time.  He ended up playing the 1976 season in the minors.

Following the 1976 season, the Padres sold Roberts’ contract to the expansion Toronto Blue Jays along with those of Dave Hilton and Héctor Torres. However, as the offseason went on, the Padres traded their starting catcher, Fred Kendall to the Cleveland Indians in a deal which brought them slugging outfielder George Hendrick. Owner Ray Kroc, determined to make a big splash, also signed ace reliever Rollie Fingers and catcher-first baseman Gene Tenace as free agents. With the team’s bench now a bit thin, the Padres reacquired Roberts from the Blue Jays in exchange for reliever Jerry Johnson.*

He ended up on the Rangers in 1979 and played sparingly that year, spending time in the minors.  The next year he played multiple positions for the Rangers.  He signed with the Astros after that for one season and then the Phillies for his last campaign.  He had 87 at bats total in 1981-1982.

He would not be the only #1 overall pick who was a bust in that era.

All Time Stat: Had two pinch hit homers in his career 1979 and 1980. One in extra innings on the road against Texas, he hit a homer off Bob Lacey who would take the loss and in 1980 off Joey McLaughlin.

Fun Fact: After retiring as a player, Roberts briefly joined the managerial ranks. In 1984, he managed the Eugene Emeralds of the Northwest League, then a farm team of the Kansas City Royals. The team finished 19–55, by far the worst record in the league, and Roberts never managed again. He also served as first base coach for the Indians in 1987.*

Ever a Future Star?  No, but he had a Topps All-Star Rookie Cup card in 1973

Rookie or final card? No.

Hall of Fame? Number retired? Oregon Sports Hall of Fame.

Links to stories including Dave Roberts (INF).