Now this is an action shot. Big Bob Robertson shows a mighty swing in Pittsburgh and if he’s on
target the ball is about an inch out of the frame. Poor Bob was in the midst of
a long career down-stride which saw a lot of early promise get arrested by
injuries. By the time of this photo he had no knees and a messed-up back which
constricted both his playoff time and his stats. But he was still capable of
launching an occasional dinger like in September when he busted a three-run
crack to put the Pirates in first place. They were able to hold onto that
status for about a week before the Mets got them. Bob had some mean muttonchops
on some of his cards, especially in ’73 but it’s tough to tell if he’s sporting
them here. A little too much action for details.
Bob Robertson was born and
raised in the college town of Frostburg, Maryland. He went to Mount Savage
High School, a pretty
appropriate name given some of his stats there. In hoops he scored over 2,000
points in his four seasons and in baseball as a shortstop and sometimes
outfielder he hit .568 his senior year. He was signed by the Pirates after
graduating in ’64 and because he grew a bunch his senior year was moved to
third base. There he had a bit of trouble getting acclimated to his new position
– he barely fielded .800 – but hit the ball at a .302 clip in Rookie ball with
13 homers and 63 RBI’s in only 70 games. In ’65 he moved up to A ball where he
improved his numbers on both sides, fielding at a .932 average and putting up a
.303 average with 32 homers and 98 RBI’s. In ’66 in Double A he won his
league’s triple crown with a .287/32/99 season. He finally slowed down a bit in
Triple A in ’67 when he hit .256 with 128 strikeouts in only 367 at bats. But
he also had 19 homers and 63 RBI’s in his first season of playing some at first
base. He came up to Pittsburgh
that September and hit a massive homer at the Astrodome to get everyone
excited. In ’68 he had a nice spring training but at the end of it he had to be
hospitalized for a kidney infection that required surgery and then a follow-up
after the infection spread to his other one. Bob missed the whole season and
didn’t swing the bat again until winter instructional league ball when he had
seven homers and 27 RBI’s in about 40 games. After another good spring camp he
beat out fellow rookie Al Oliver for the first base job but after hitting only
.180 with 27 strikeouts in his 78 at bats he was sent down to Triple A where he
banged out 34 with 76 RBI’s – and a big reduction in K’s – in only 360 at bats.
Robertson returned to The
Show in ’70 to again battle it out for first base time with Oliver, who had a
nice rookie year. Bob got most of the starts at first while Al added some
outfield time to keep him in the lineup. Bob turned in a pretty big year with
those homer and RBI totals in less than 400 at bats. He then added a double to
his numbers in the playoff loss to the Reds. His ’71 numbers took a slight
haircut to his prior season but his post-season was awesome. He hit three out –
one on a missed bunt sign – in one game against the Giants and for the playoffs
batted .438 with four homers and six RBI’s. He followed that up with two homers
and five RBI’s in the Series win against the Orioles, which was celebrated by
the iconic photo of Steve Blass leaping into Bob’s arms. Then the bad stuff
happened. Bob had missed about thirty games in ’71 because of knee problems. In
’72 Willie Stargell was moved primarily to first – ironically to take pressure
off his knees – and Bob put in some outfield time which aggravated his. He also
had a prolonged hitting slump and between those two elements his playing time
was reduced about a third, his average collapsed, and his power numbers tanked.
In ’73 he injured one knee badly at Wrigley and after a ’74 in which his
numbers were pretty good in the power department – 16 homers and 48 RBI’s in
only 236 at bats – he had operations on both knees. But his mobility was shot
and after bouncing to .274 with a .388 OBA in ’75 (but in only 124 at bats) Bob
had another knee operation. That killed his ’76 season during which he hit .217
with only two homers in 129 at bats.
The Pirates released
Robertson at the end of spring training in ’77. At the time he claimed he was
injured – and a back surgery performed shortly thereafter pretty much confirmed
that – and he filed a grievance against the Pirates to collect his season’s pay
since he claimed he should have been on the DL and not released (he won). In
November he signed as a free agent with Seattle
where in ’78 he had not bad numbers as a DH with a.230/8/28 season in 174 at
bats. But the Mariners released him and after a short tryout with Kansas City he hooked up
with the Blue Jays for whom he played a few games in ’79 before retiring. Bob
finished with a .242 average with 115 homers and 368 RBI’s. In the post-season
he hit .283 with six homers and 12 RBI’s in 21 games.
After playing Robertson had
his own advertising agency and also some motivational speech work. He returned
to baseball in the early Nineties to coach in the Houston organization (from about 1990 to ’97)
before hooking up as a salesman with Bayliner, a Maryland-based power boat
manufacturer, which he was doing at the time of a 2011 interview. He also does
card gigs and makes appearances on behalf of the Pirates.
Topps rightfully capitalizes
on Bob’s ’71 post-season work for the star bullets. His name is really Robert
Robertson – no imagination there – and he liked to play guitar. I know he’s way
too big but did this guy used to moonlight for The Band? And nothing personal
against Bob, but in this set he’s about the least deserving of a “10” card
designation of anyone so far.
The only true link has to go
through the Angels since Allen just didn’t pitch enough elsewhere:
1. Roberston and Leroy
Stanton ’78 Mariners;
2. Stanton and Lloyd Allen
’72 to ’73 Angels.
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