North Carolina State University Athletics
2016 NC State Athletic Hall of Fame: Dave Robertson
9/6/2016 9:51:00 AM | Baseball
Hall of Fame ceremony takes place Sept. 16 in the newly renovated Reynolds Coliseum
NC State Athletic Hall of Fame | 2016 Induction Ceremony | Purchase Tickets
RALEIGH, N.C. - Accepting Dave Robertson's NC State Athletic Hall of Fame induction later this month, his grandson Dave Robertson III said "Granddad never talked about his athletic accomplishments. The only time it ever came up was when somebody would mention an article in the paper. One clipping, describing him perfectly, said 'I wanted to be a doctor. I didn't mean for baseball to get in the way but it did.' He kept a note on his desk, written in the upper hand corner it read 'There is no substitute for character, no compromise for principle."
Following a nine-year major league career, Robertson became a Virginia state game warden, a post he kept for 28 years. Robertson died at the age of 89 in November 1970, but the echoes of his accomplishments across four NC State sports ripple through the fabric of time. Tim Peeler profiles this Wolfpack hero of the early 20th century:
Four-Sport Star Dave Robertson
by TIM PEELER
(Originally published on timpeeler.blogspot.com)
One of the two reserves on the first basketball team was Dave Robertson, a sophomore from Norfolk, Va. Robertson played only a few moments as a backup center in the two games against Wake Forest's Baptists, but he eventually became the first accomplished professional athlete in the early history of North Carolina A&M.
Davis Aydelotte Robertson (b. Sept. 25, 1889–d. Nov. 5, 1970) was a four-sport letterman during his college days, whose speed in football, basketball and baseball was rivaled only by teammate Harry Hartsell. On the track, he excelled at the 100-yard dash, the broad jump and the high hurdles.
It was on the baseball diamond, where he played third base and pitched, that Robertson was a superstar, paving the way for future NC State multi-sport stars like Roman Gabriel, Tim Stoddard, Andrew Brackman and Russell Wilson.
Robertson was a terror at the plate and he and future football and basketball coach Tal Stafford gave the Farmers a 1-2 pitching punch that was second to none in the southeast. In Robertson's final year, A&M lost only two games all season.
His greatest achievement in college came on April 15, 1911, when the sophomore lefthander struck out 23 batters in a 5-2 victory over Guilford College at Riddick Field. The Agromeck breathlessly proclaimed it to be "the world's college strike-out record" and "the greatest performance of its kind ever to fall to the lot of an amateur pitcher." In fact, it is a record that no individual NC State pitcher has matched in the 100 years since. It wasn't until the spring of 2009, in an 18-inning game against Akron, that a Wolfpack team surpassed Robertson's single-game total, as the staff combined to strike out 31 batters in the longest game in NC State baseball history.
A local scout who saw the game against the Quakers recommended Robertson to legendary New York Giants manager John McGraw, whose team was in the midst of winning three consecutive National League pennants. McGraw agreed to sign the young pitcher if he promised not to play football the following fall. Robertson, the team's top halfback and kick returner, talked the crusty manager into letting him play in three games for the Farmers during the 1911 season.
Against Bucknell in the season's second game, however, Robertson suffered a career-altering shoulder injury in a mass pileup of players.
"He had the shoulder strapped up and went back into the game. But he was speedily put out of commission with another damaged shoulder, and as that exhausted his supply of shoulders, he quit," said a 1916 story in The Baseball Magazine. "Later it came to light that both shoulders were broken, although he didn't realize it in the heat of battle."
The football injuries cost Robertson his pinpoint control on the mound, but not McGraw's commitment to signing him to a professional contract. He became an excellent outfielder, known for his combination of speed and power that earned him the nickname "The National League's Ty Cobb."
Less than three months after leaving A&M (and only seven weeks after the Titanic sank), Robertson made his major league debut for McGraw on June 5, 1912 in a 22-10 blowout against the Cincinnati Reds. The Giants, en route to an NL-leading 103 wins and 828 runs, didn't really need Robertson's power and speed that season, so he played in only three games.
He spent all of 1913 with the Mobile (Alabama) Sea Gulls in the South Atlantic League, where he batted .335 and smacked a whooping (during the dead-ball era) 11 home runs. He returned to the Giants in 1914 as a utility player. In 1915 and '16, Robertson tied for the National League home run championship, with 12 in each season.
Robertson loved to tell the story of how one of his homers in 1915 cost him the unheard of sum of $100.
"We were playing the Chicago Cubs in the Polo Grounds in 1915. We had a man on base and John McGraw instructed me to bunt," Robertson once told the Virginian Pilot newspaper. "A fat pitch came over and I couldn't resist. I slammed the ball into the right field bleachers for a homer, winning the game 3-2.
"But instead of receiving congratulations for my feat, McGraw said the homer would cost me $100 for disobeying orders."
He was the starting rightfielder for the Giants in the 1917 World Series against "Shoeless" Joe Jackson and the Chicago White Sox. Robertson had 11 hits in 22 at-bats against the White Sox, becoming the first player in baseball history to get a hit in every championship game. His .500 batting average also set a record that stood for 36 years until it was broken by New York Yankees outfielder Billy Martin.
He after stints with the Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh Pirates, Robertson returned to the Giants in 1922, but did not play in the only fall classic played in one stadium, the Polo Grounds, which both the Giants and the Yankees called home at the time.
His major league career ended because of a knee injury after nine seasons.
Robertson served as state game warden for 28 years after his baseball career ended and successfully operated a sporting goods store. He died at the age of 89 on Nov. 5, 1970 in Virginia Beach, Va.
Created in 2012 and now boasting 36 total members, the NC State Athletic Hall of Fame will honor its 2016 class in a grand reopening gala on Friday, September 16 at the newly-renovated Reynolds Coliseum. To purchase tickets to the NC State Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2016 Induction Ceremony, click HERE.
RALEIGH, N.C. - Accepting Dave Robertson's NC State Athletic Hall of Fame induction later this month, his grandson Dave Robertson III said "Granddad never talked about his athletic accomplishments. The only time it ever came up was when somebody would mention an article in the paper. One clipping, describing him perfectly, said 'I wanted to be a doctor. I didn't mean for baseball to get in the way but it did.' He kept a note on his desk, written in the upper hand corner it read 'There is no substitute for character, no compromise for principle."
Following a nine-year major league career, Robertson became a Virginia state game warden, a post he kept for 28 years. Robertson died at the age of 89 in November 1970, but the echoes of his accomplishments across four NC State sports ripple through the fabric of time. Tim Peeler profiles this Wolfpack hero of the early 20th century:
Four-Sport Star Dave Robertson
by TIM PEELER
(Originally published on timpeeler.blogspot.com)
One of the two reserves on the first basketball team was Dave Robertson, a sophomore from Norfolk, Va. Robertson played only a few moments as a backup center in the two games against Wake Forest's Baptists, but he eventually became the first accomplished professional athlete in the early history of North Carolina A&M.
Davis Aydelotte Robertson (b. Sept. 25, 1889–d. Nov. 5, 1970) was a four-sport letterman during his college days, whose speed in football, basketball and baseball was rivaled only by teammate Harry Hartsell. On the track, he excelled at the 100-yard dash, the broad jump and the high hurdles.
It was on the baseball diamond, where he played third base and pitched, that Robertson was a superstar, paving the way for future NC State multi-sport stars like Roman Gabriel, Tim Stoddard, Andrew Brackman and Russell Wilson.
Robertson was a terror at the plate and he and future football and basketball coach Tal Stafford gave the Farmers a 1-2 pitching punch that was second to none in the southeast. In Robertson's final year, A&M lost only two games all season.
His greatest achievement in college came on April 15, 1911, when the sophomore lefthander struck out 23 batters in a 5-2 victory over Guilford College at Riddick Field. The Agromeck breathlessly proclaimed it to be "the world's college strike-out record" and "the greatest performance of its kind ever to fall to the lot of an amateur pitcher." In fact, it is a record that no individual NC State pitcher has matched in the 100 years since. It wasn't until the spring of 2009, in an 18-inning game against Akron, that a Wolfpack team surpassed Robertson's single-game total, as the staff combined to strike out 31 batters in the longest game in NC State baseball history.
A local scout who saw the game against the Quakers recommended Robertson to legendary New York Giants manager John McGraw, whose team was in the midst of winning three consecutive National League pennants. McGraw agreed to sign the young pitcher if he promised not to play football the following fall. Robertson, the team's top halfback and kick returner, talked the crusty manager into letting him play in three games for the Farmers during the 1911 season.
Against Bucknell in the season's second game, however, Robertson suffered a career-altering shoulder injury in a mass pileup of players.
"He had the shoulder strapped up and went back into the game. But he was speedily put out of commission with another damaged shoulder, and as that exhausted his supply of shoulders, he quit," said a 1916 story in The Baseball Magazine. "Later it came to light that both shoulders were broken, although he didn't realize it in the heat of battle."
The football injuries cost Robertson his pinpoint control on the mound, but not McGraw's commitment to signing him to a professional contract. He became an excellent outfielder, known for his combination of speed and power that earned him the nickname "The National League's Ty Cobb."
Less than three months after leaving A&M (and only seven weeks after the Titanic sank), Robertson made his major league debut for McGraw on June 5, 1912 in a 22-10 blowout against the Cincinnati Reds. The Giants, en route to an NL-leading 103 wins and 828 runs, didn't really need Robertson's power and speed that season, so he played in only three games.
He spent all of 1913 with the Mobile (Alabama) Sea Gulls in the South Atlantic League, where he batted .335 and smacked a whooping (during the dead-ball era) 11 home runs. He returned to the Giants in 1914 as a utility player. In 1915 and '16, Robertson tied for the National League home run championship, with 12 in each season.
Robertson loved to tell the story of how one of his homers in 1915 cost him the unheard of sum of $100.
"We were playing the Chicago Cubs in the Polo Grounds in 1915. We had a man on base and John McGraw instructed me to bunt," Robertson once told the Virginian Pilot newspaper. "A fat pitch came over and I couldn't resist. I slammed the ball into the right field bleachers for a homer, winning the game 3-2.
"But instead of receiving congratulations for my feat, McGraw said the homer would cost me $100 for disobeying orders."
He was the starting rightfielder for the Giants in the 1917 World Series against "Shoeless" Joe Jackson and the Chicago White Sox. Robertson had 11 hits in 22 at-bats against the White Sox, becoming the first player in baseball history to get a hit in every championship game. His .500 batting average also set a record that stood for 36 years until it was broken by New York Yankees outfielder Billy Martin.
He after stints with the Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh Pirates, Robertson returned to the Giants in 1922, but did not play in the only fall classic played in one stadium, the Polo Grounds, which both the Giants and the Yankees called home at the time.
His major league career ended because of a knee injury after nine seasons.
Robertson served as state game warden for 28 years after his baseball career ended and successfully operated a sporting goods store. He died at the age of 89 on Nov. 5, 1970 in Virginia Beach, Va.
Created in 2012 and now boasting 36 total members, the NC State Athletic Hall of Fame will honor its 2016 class in a grand reopening gala on Friday, September 16 at the newly-renovated Reynolds Coliseum. To purchase tickets to the NC State Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2016 Induction Ceremony, click HERE.
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