1926
Born September 30, 1926
Springfield, IL, USA
Robin Roberts Marquee Hall of Fame 1976
b. September 30, 1926 · Philadelphia Phillies 1948–1961, Baltimore Orioles 1962–1965, Houston Astros 1965–1966, Chicago Cubs 1966
He led the National League in wins four years running, from 1952 through 1955, with 28 of them in 1952, and in strikeouts in 1953 and 1954. He won at least 20 games in every season from 1950 through 1955. Across 19 years he finished 305 of his starts, threw 45 shutouts, and started five All-Star Games.
Philadelphia won the pennant in 1950, its first since 1915, and won no other while he was there. His record moved with the club: 10-22 in 1957, then 1-10 in 1961, after which the Phillies let him go at 34. Baltimore signed him anyway and got a 2.78 earned run average out of him in 1962.
He gave up 505 home runs, second in the archive only to Jamie Moyer's 522, a total built across nineteen seasons of very heavy work. As the Phillies' player representative he was one of the men who pushed the players' association toward hiring Marvin Miller in 1966. The writers elected him in 1976 on 337 of 388 ballots.
Honors
| Award | Times | Years |
|---|---|---|
| All-Star selection | 7 | 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956 |
| The Sporting News All-Star | 4 | 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955 |
| The Sporting News Pitcher of the Year | 2 | 1952, 1955 |
| Lou Gehrig Memorial Award | 1 | 1962 |
| The Sporting News Major League Player of the Year | 1 | 1952 |
Batting, season by season
| Year | Team | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1948 | PHI | 21 | 44 | 1 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 16 | 0 | .250 |
| 1949 | PHI | 43 | 67 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 18 | 0 | .075 |
| 1950 | PHI | 40 | 102 | 1 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 8 | 39 | 0 | .118 |
| 1951 | PHI | 44 | 87 | 8 | 15 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 20 | 27 | 2 | .172 |
| 1952 | PHI | 39 | 112 | 3 | 14 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 11 | 19 | 0 | .125 |
| 1953 | PHI | 44 | 123 | 14 | 22 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 29 | 0 | .179 |
| 1954 | PHI | 45 | 122 | 11 | 15 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 5 | 34 | 0 | .123 |
| 1955 | PHI | 51 | 107 | 12 | 27 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 13 | 18 | 18 | 0 | .252 |
| 1956 | PHI | 43 | 100 | 8 | 20 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 6 | 13 | 0 | .200 |
| 1957 | PHI | 39 | 80 | 5 | 13 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 4 | 16 | 0 | .163 |
| 1958 | PHI | 36 | 99 | 12 | 20 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 7 | 15 | 0 | .202 |
| 1959 | PHI | 35 | 89 | 6 | 17 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 23 | 0 | .191 |
| 1960 | PHI | 35 | 79 | 6 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 26 | 1 | .152 |
| 1961 | PHI | 26 | 33 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 0 | .091 |
| 1962 | BAL | 27 | 52 | 3 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 13 | 0 | .192 |
| 1963 | BAL | 35 | 79 | 7 | 16 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 5 | 12 | 0 | .203 |
| 1964 | BAL | 31 | 68 | 3 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 21 | 0 | .132 |
| 1965 | BAL/HOU | 30 | 56 | 2 | 11 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 6 | 13 | 0 | .196 |
| 1966 | CHC/HOU | 24 | 26 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 0 | .115 |
| Career | — | 688 | 1525 | 107 | 255 | 55 | 10 | 5 | 103 | 135 | 372 | 3 | .167 |
Pitching, season by season
| Year | Team | W | L | G | GS | SV | IP | H | ER | BB | SO | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1948 | PHI | 7 | 9 | 20 | 20 | 0 | 146.2 | 148 | 52 | 61 | 84 | 3.19 |
| 1949 | PHI | 15 | 15 | 43 | 31 | 4 | 226.2 | 229 | 93 | 75 | 95 | 3.69 |
| 1950 | PHI | 20 | 11 | 40 | 39 | 1 | 304.1 | 282 | 102 | 77 | 146 | 3.02 |
| 1951 | PHI | 21 | 15 | 44 | 39 | 2 | 315.0 | 284 | 106 | 64 | 127 | 3.03 |
| 1952 | PHI | 28 | 7 | 39 | 37 | 2 | 330.0 | 292 | 95 | 45 | 148 | 2.59 |
| 1953 | PHI | 23 | 16 | 44 | 41 | 2 | 346.2 | 324 | 106 | 61 | 198 | 2.75 |
| 1954 | PHI | 23 | 15 | 45 | 38 | 4 | 336.2 | 289 | 111 | 56 | 185 | 2.97 |
| 1955 | PHI | 23 | 14 | 41 | 38 | 3 | 305.0 | 292 | 111 | 53 | 160 | 3.28 |
| 1956 | PHI | 19 | 18 | 43 | 37 | 3 | 297.1 | 328 | 147 | 40 | 157 | 4.45 |
| 1957 | PHI | 10 | 22 | 39 | 32 | 2 | 249.2 | 246 | 113 | 43 | 128 | 4.07 |
| 1958 | PHI | 17 | 14 | 35 | 34 | 0 | 269.2 | 270 | 97 | 51 | 130 | 3.24 |
| 1959 | PHI | 15 | 17 | 35 | 35 | 0 | 257.1 | 267 | 122 | 35 | 137 | 4.27 |
| 1960 | PHI | 12 | 16 | 35 | 33 | 1 | 237.1 | 256 | 106 | 34 | 122 | 4.02 |
| 1961 | PHI | 1 | 10 | 26 | 18 | 0 | 117.0 | 154 | 76 | 23 | 54 | 5.85 |
| 1962 | BAL | 10 | 9 | 27 | 25 | 0 | 191.1 | 176 | 59 | 41 | 102 | 2.78 |
| 1963 | BAL | 14 | 13 | 35 | 35 | 0 | 251.1 | 230 | 93 | 40 | 124 | 3.33 |
| 1964 | BAL | 13 | 7 | 31 | 31 | 0 | 204.0 | 203 | 66 | 52 | 109 | 2.91 |
| 1965 | BAL/HOU | 10 | 9 | 30 | 25 | 0 | 190.2 | 171 | 59 | 30 | 97 | 2.78 |
| 1966 | CHC/HOU | 5 | 8 | 24 | 21 | 1 | 112.0 | 141 | 60 | 21 | 54 | 4.82 |
| Career | — | 286 | 245 | 676 | 609 | 25 | 4688.2 | 4582 | 1774 | 902 | 2357 | 3.41 |
On this day & linked events
2010
Died May 6, 2010
1948
Major-league debut: Robin Roberts
Robin Roberts made a major-league debut on June 18, 1948.
1954
Jim Wilson's No-Hitter
Jim Wilson threw a no-hitter for the Milwaukee Braves against the Philadelphia Phillies on June 12, 1954, winning 2–0.
1966
Final major-league game: Robin Roberts
Robin Roberts played a final major-league game on September 3, 1966.
Image: Bowman, public domain