I heard the news today about the death of Robin Roberts, the greatest right-handed pitcher the Phillies have ever had. He pitched in the first game I ever went to. It was at old Connie Mack Stadium in about 1965 maybe. I went with the Norco Little League. And ironically, Roberts pitched not for the Phillies, but for the Cubs. And ever stranger, the pitcher for the Phillies? Another hall of fame righthander, name of Ferguson Jenkins.
Anyway, many years later I met Robin Roberts, when I was working as the stats guy in the TV booth for Prism, feeding stats to Karry Kalas, Chris Wheeler, Mike Schmidt, among others. Roberts came into the booth for some reason and I asked him for his autograph, something I rarely did around the athletes I worked with and around. When I asked, he said, "Sure...no charge!" And then he quickly smiled and gave me his autograph, which I've long since lost. He came across as just the kind of person you'd want your teams' stars to be like - just a very kind, likable guy.
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