Dave Roberts (first baseman)

Dave Roberts
First baseman
Born: June 30, 1933 (1933-06-30) (age 78) Panama City, Panama
Batted: Left	Threw: Left
MLB debut
September 5, 1962 for the Houston Colt .45s
Last MLB appearance
May 11, 1966 for the Pittsburgh Pirates
Career statistics
Batting average	.196
Home runs	2
Runs batted in	17
Teams
Houston Colt .45s (1962, 1964) Pittsburgh Pirates (1966) Sankei/Yakult Atoms (1967-1972) Kintetsu Buffaloes (1973)
Career highlights and awards
Most Valuable Player, Pacific Coast League 1965

David Leonard Roberts is a former Major League Baseball first baseman who played 22 seasons of professional baseball. Of all professional baseball players whose careers began in 1952 only Hank Aaron had a longer career.^{[citation needed]}

Minor leagues

Roberts started out in class C ball with the Porterville Comets of the Southwest International League in 1952. After a strong 1955 season in Class AA ball playing first base opposite Brooks Robinson at third for the San Antonio Missions in the Texas League, Roberts was demoted back to Class A ball in 1957 when another Texas league team refused to play against any team with black players.^{[citation needed]} He had played ten seasons in the minors before finally getting a shot at the majors with the Houston Colt .45s expansion team in 1962. Roberts ended his American professional baseball career with the Columbus Jets in 1966.

Major leagues

Roberts' major league career was uneventful. Between stints with the Oklahoma City 89ers, he collected just 178 at bats with Houston, playing mostly first base, but also some outfield. In 1966, he got one final shot at the majors with the Pittsburgh Pirates, but went just 2-for-16 and was out of the majors for good.

Japanese leagues

In 1967, Roberts made his way to the Sankei Atoms of the Japanese Central League. He made the all star team in 1968 and became the first gaijin to hit 40 home runs. He was an all-star in 1969, 1971 and 1972. In 1971, he set the record for home runs by a gaijin at 145.^{[citation needed]} He played for them until 1973, when he lost his job to the newly-signed Joe Pepitone. (Pepitone lasted 14 games. His name came to be used to mean "goof off" in Japanese vernacular).^{[citation needed]} Roberts played one more season for the Kintetsu Buffaloes before retiring.

References

External links

• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)

Persondata
Name	Roberts, Dave
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	June 30, 1933
Place of birth	Panama City, Panama
Date of death
Place of death