Dave Roberts

David Wayne Roberts (born February 17, 1951) is an American former professional baseball third baseman and catcher, who played all or part of ten seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the San Diego Padres, Texas Rangers, Houston Astros, and Philadelphia Phillies, between 1972 and 1982.

Roberts attended Corvallis High School (Oregon) and played college baseball for the University of Oregon, where he was primarily a shortstop.

Early on, the Padres decided to experiment by putting Mike Ivie—who himself had been the first overall pick by the Padres in the 1970 draft as a catcher—at third base.

Although Ivie hit decently, his defense was poor, and he wound up splitting time with Ted Kubiak and Héctor Torres.

Meanwhile, Roberts was having a decent, but not spectacular, season with Hawaii, batting .262 with 12 homers and 71 RBI in 121 games.

He was given another shot at the majors in late August, and once again he finished the year as the Padres regular third baseman, batting .283 in 33 games down the stretch.

After his junior year, he was made the number one overall pick in the 1972 Major League Baseball Draft by the Padres on June 6.

The following day, he signed with the Padres, and later that day made his major league debut, becoming the sixth player to go straight to the majors after being drafted without first playing in the minor leagues.

Roberts spent most of the remainder of the 1972 season as the Padres' regular third baseman.

However, he was shifted to second base in mid-September following the promotion of Dave Hilton from the minors.

Overall, he hit .244 with five home runs and 33 runs batted in.

With regular Tito Fuentes injured to start the season, Roberts opened the 1973 season as the Padres' regular second baseman.

After five games, in which he went 1-for-16, Fuentes returned, and Roberts was sent to the bench.

Over the next 17 games, Roberts played in eight, all as a pinch hitter.

At the end of April, with Roberts batting .083 and without an extra-base hit, he was demoted to the minor leagues.

Playing with the Triple-A Hawaii Islanders, Roberts hit .375 in 22 games.

Meanwhile, Hilton, who had started the year at third base, was batting .208.

Hilton was returned to the minor leagues and replaced by Roberts, who was the regular third baseman the rest of the season.

Roberts responded with what would be the best offensive season of his career, as he posted career highs in batting average (.286), home runs (21) and runs batted in (64) as well as several other categories.

Roberts remained the Padres' starter at third base in 1974, but struggled out of the gate.

He batted just .194 in April without a homer.

It got worse in May, as he batted .163.

Although he finally hit his first home run of the year on May 13, he had just seven extra base hits and seven RBI through the first two months.

On July 21, batting just .178 in 88 games, Roberts lost his starting job, as he was once again replaced by Dave Hilton.

Things did not get any better, as Roberts batted .095 the rest of the way without an RBI to finish the season with a .167 average.

In his first full major league season since 1974, Roberts batted .220 with just one home run in 80 games.

In 1975, Roberts found himself starting the year back in the minor leagues in Hawaii.

Veteran Glenn Beckert opened the year as the Padres' third baseman, but lasted just three games.

After the 1975 season, the Padres traded two pitchers to the Houston Astros for third baseman Doug Rader, who would be their full-time third baseman in 1976.

Rather than keep him in the majors on the bench, the Padres sent Roberts back down to the minors, where—in a reversal of what they did with Ivie—he was converted to catcher.

This time, Roberts did not return to the majors, as his offensive numbers in Hawaii slipped to a .249 average with 10 home runs and 53 RBI.

Following the 1976 season, the Padres sold Roberts' contract to the expansion Toronto Blue Jays along with those of Dave Hilton and Héctor Torres.

However, as the offseason went on, the Padres traded their starting catcher, Fred Kendall to the Cleveland Indians in a deal which brought them slugging outfielder George Hendrick.

Owner Ray Kroc, determined to make a big splash, also signed ace reliever Rollie Fingers and catcher-first baseman Gene Tenace as free agents.

With the team's bench now a bit thin, the Padres reacquired Roberts from the Blue Jays in exchange for reliever Jerry Johnson.

Roberts' return allowed the Padres to give Tenace more playing time at first base, where Ivie was still considered to be underachieving, without having to give significant playing time to third catcher Bob Davis.

Roberts also played several games in the infield.

He appeared in the second game of a doubleheader against the Pittsburgh Pirates, entering the game in the 12th inning at third base and going 0-for-3.

Dave Roberts was playing 3rd base on July 18 when Steve Arlin came within one out of no-hitting the Philadelphia Phillies until Denny Doyle bounced a single over Roberts head.

Padres Manager Don Zimmer was playing his infield in to guard against the bunt.