ROBIN ROBERTS was a remarkable person who will be missed by all who know him. He will be remembered as a Hall of Fame pitcher, for his two years 1947-1948 as an outstanding pitcher for the Twin City Trojans and as a great supporter of the Vermont Mountaineers.

In his eulogy at his funeral in Tampa, Florida Vermont Mountaineers General Manager Brian Gallagher said in part: “Robin Roberts was a special person who will be missed by all who knew him. Not only was he a great player, but he was an even better person.”

Robin Roberts was a wonderful story teller. The one I will remember the most is how he became a pitcher.

When he reported for practice at Michigan State, his coach said, “what are you doing out here, Roberts? You’re a basketball player.” (Roberts was an all-Michigan State basketball player.)

Roberts said, “I can play this game, coach.” His coach said, “What do you play?” Roberts said, “What do you need?”

His coach said, “I need a pitcher.”

Roberts, who wanted to play third base, said, “I can do that, coach.”

Several years ago, Gallagher asked me to take Roberts and his wife, Mary, to the Supreme Court and to the Governor’s Office. Jeff Amestoy, who was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and a great baseball fan, wasn’t there that day, so I asked Roberts to sit in his seat. Roberts then picked up a gavel, with many people in attendance, and said, “I can do this job.” Roberts’ confidence made one feel there was no job he could not do.

Henry Jurras, a sports report for the Montpelier Argus had this to say about Roberts: “Probably no other Northern League rookie made the jump to the major leagues quicker than Robin Roberts.” Within two months after joining the Philadelphia Nationals, Roberts had won seven games.” Roberts will always be a favorite in Vermont because he was big enough to blow a kiss back in this direction after scaling the heights in spectacular fashion.

Roberts in his recent book “My Life in Baseball” said “Ray Fisher, the University of Michigan baseball coach asked Roberts to play in Montpelier.” Roberts said: “I was headed for a phenomenal time, pitching for the Twin City Trojans, the name for Montpelier and Barre, Vermont. I was paid $175.00 a month for expenses, and all we did was to play baseball. We did not have any outside or part-time jobs. From June 15 to Labor Day, we played almost every day, 60 games total.”

In his recent book, “Green Mountain Boys This Summer”, Roberts said he had fond memories of his days in Vermont. “We were really good then. I won 17 straight starts that year in Vermont, and I signed with the Philadelphia Phillies. I was in the big leagues the next June.” Although Roberts had had good coaching at Michigan State and in the Majors, he said of his Northern League coach, Fisher, “Ray taught me everything.”

When Roberts set a new record for pitching in the Northern League, the Montpelier Evening Argus wrote: “Robin Roberts, Twin City's blue-eyed bullet baller, today stands stamped as the best there is in Northern League pitching circles, after smashing a record that has consistently defied defeat for several years.”

Stan Musial, one of the greatest players ever to wear a St. Louis Cardinal uniform, had this to say about Robin Roberts: “Although our playing days were both involved off the field and trying to better the lot of major league baseball players, our true passion was for the game of baseball and for the competition it fostered as I have learned firsthand from our Hall of Fame weekends together over the years, Robin Roberts is one of baseball's great story tellers. He has an uncanny memory of the games, events, people, and places of 40 or 50 years ago when he and I had our battles on the ball diamonds and in Philadelphia and St. Louis.”

Roberts won 286 games during a 19-year career with the Philadelphia Phillies. From 1952 to 1955, he had six consecutive 20 victory seasons and 19 in the seven year. During his career, he hit five home runs. He hit home runs from the left side of the plate and the right side of the plate.

A masterful control pitcher who struck out nearly three times as many batters as he walked, Roberts’ theory was to let the batter hit the ball as often as possible.

Every story I’ve ever read about Roberts talked about his pitching skill. It is important to point out that he is a pretty good hitter also. In a story in the Times Argus, with the headline “Robin Roberts Racks Up Seventh Win Yesterday, Slams Pair of Two-basers and Bats in Four Runs.” The article continued: “Robin Roberts, the blondhaired boy who uses a bullet for a fast ball, rattled off his seventh straight win yesterday afternoon against the Bennington General’s and his 8-1 victory helped the Twin City Trojans to keep base with the Keene Blue Jays for the league leadership.”

“The Robin really feathered his nest yesterday. He rang up six out of six official starts and then to bottle-cap the proceedings, he busted out with a pair of two-base hits, one of which cleared the bases in the first inning. Later, the Michigan Stater blasted another wholop to right field to score another run, which gave Robbie a total of four runs batted into the day.”

During the past several years, he’s come back to Montpelier a number of times to help the team raise funds and kept in close contact to ask about the team, players and community. He finished 305 in his big league career, which is unthinkable in today’s game. He not only had a lot complete games, but led a complete life.