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1976 Topps #107 - Dave Roberts
There are a lot of guys named Dave Roberts in baseball! This Dave Roberts played in the majors from 1972-1982. He was the first pick in the 1972 Amateur Draft. Roberts signed with the San Diego Padres on June 7, 1972 and made his major league debut on the same day. Dave stayed with the Padres through the 1972 season, batting .244 in 100 games.
- Dave spent a few games with AAA Hawaii in 1973, but spent most of the season with the Padres. He had his best season, batting .286 with 21 HR in 127 games. Roberts fell off badly in 1974 (.167 in 318 AB).
- He spent most of 1975 in Hawaii. Dave batted .283 in 33 games with the Padres in '75. He went back to Hawaii for the entire 1976 season. Roberts stayed with the Padres for the entire 1977 season (.220 in 186 AB) and split the 1978 season between Hawaii and San Diego (.216 in 112 AB).
- Dave was involved in a big trade with the Rangers after the 1978 season (Traded by the San Diego Padres with Oscar Gamble and $300,000 to the Texas Rangers for Kurt Bevacqua, Bill Fahey and Mike Hargrove). Roberts split time between AAA Tucson and the Rangers (262 in 84 AB) in 1979. Dave played every position except pitcher in the '79 season. He played every position except pitcher and shortstop in 1980 for the Rangers and batted .238 in 235 AB.
- Dave signed with the Houston Astros as a free agent after the 1980 season. He batted .271 in 54 AB for the Astros in 1981 and then was traded to the Phillies. He only batted 36 times in 1982 before he was released on May 17, 1982.
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I was a big fan of his. I believe his contract with the Astros was a big one at the time. Despite his relative lack of production, he was versatile and had potential. He just never quite put it together.
ReplyDeleteDave had a lot of talent, but, like Johngy said, never put it together. He ended up being kind of a utility player, even learning to catch just to stay in the big leagues.
ReplyDeleteThat contract he had with the Astros was one of those "big" free agent contracts in the late 70's-early 80's, but I don't know what he did to earn it other than being the #1 pick in 1972.
In some ways, his career was a lot like Phil Nevin's, although Nevin had some higher highs.
San Diego Padres should be always competitive enough to keep pace with the others. I really like them; they’ve always been my favourite teams in MLB. Just read about them here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.padreshome.com