Leon Roberts, Stay For A Minute

Leon Roberts left his home in Arlington, pool freshly in, for a ten-day road trip with Texas following the 1982 All-Star break. The team spent the night in Toronto before the second half, starting against the Blue Jays. The outfielder was summoned to manager Don Zimmer’s hotel room in the morning. Roberts knew his time with the Rangers was up; he hadn’t played in weeks, and Zimmer last put him on the lineup card over a month ago.

Roberts had been a productive major league hitter up until this point. He broke out with Seattle in 1979, where he had a career year, winning the team’s MVP award with 22 home runs and an OPS of .879. Dealt to Texas in 1981, his role was reduced right before Opening Day the following season, following the this-was-a-thing interleague trade deadline. With deals forbidden between American and National League teams after April 1, the Rangers shored up their offence before Opening Day, dealing for Mets outfielder Lee Mazzilli following a trade for Expos third baseman Larry Parrish, whom Texas acquired to play right field.

Toronto inquired about Parrish during the winter meetings, but the Expos were said to have asked for any trade, including Dave Stieb.

The moves caught the attention of Blue Jays general manager Pat Gillick, who was in the market for a right-handed bat. It was a need becoming more urgent due to the struggles of Otto Velez. Entering his third season as Toronto’s primary designated hitter and sixth as a Jay, Velez hit a career-low .213 the year before. He went 3-for-24 with 11 strikeouts in spring training and was hobbling around with a bad hamstring. In the interim, Gillick acquired Wayne Nordhagen from the White Sox, but Toronto kept their eye on Roberts.

Roberts had gotten Gillick and manager Bobby Cox’s attention in the old-fashioned way: simply bashing the ball anytime he played in Toronto. Roberts was a .295 lifetime hitter against Toronto, including back-to-back three-hit games the previous season. The Blue Jays played in Texas in early July, and Cox talked to Zimmer about Roberts. Toronto’s interest was out in the open, and when Nordhagen hit the injured list, the start of Roberts’ road trip turned into a destination when the Blue Jays purchased his contract.

“If I play tonight, I'll already have played more than I did in Texas,” Roberts quipped before his Toronto debut, and Cox obligated the newcomer. Donning #3 in left field, Roberts singled and struck out twice while batting fifth between Jesse Barfield and Willie Upshaw. The playing time that eluded Roberts in Texas was available in Toronto, and he quickly settled into a platoon with the left-handed Al Woods.

Suddenly, I’m getting the itch to look into that early 2008 left field (photo credit).

Cox took some of those platoon responsibilities away in the following series. Kansas City started a trio of lefties, and the manager put his new right-handed hitter in the left-field lineup. Roberts had rewarded Cox by reaching base twice when called upon off the bench against Texas, and in the series opener, Roberts stayed hot by homering off Bud Black. The next night, his on-base streak ended with a pair of strikeouts against an otherwise-batted-around Larry Gura, and he was hitless in the series finale off Vida Blue.

Working with a 7-3 lead in the seventh, Blue gave up a leadoff single and then ASWINGANDADRIVE; a Buck Martinez blast to deep left cut Kansas City’s lead in half. Roberts was back in the outfield for the eighth as the leadoff batter walked, and the next Royal hit a sinking liner toward him. Charging in to make the catch, the ball got past Roberts, hitting the surface at Exhibition Stadium and heading towards the wall. Racing faster was the man who hit it, Willie Wilson, whose ninth career inside-the-park home run sealed a Royals win. Cox would not put Roberts back in the outfield until mid-September, with the 65-78 Blue Jays playing out the stretch.

Bought a signed 8x10 from Wilson at a spring training game a while ago. When we told him we were from Canada, he asked if “they still play that f***in’ OK, Blue Jays song.” Yes, they do, Willie.

Relegated to at-bats as a DH, Roberts also tailed off at the plate and finished the season with a .229/.274/.295 slash in 113 plate appearances. Toronto waited all season for Roberts, Velez, Nordhagen, and Woods... Hosken Powell... Tony Johnson... maaaaaybe Glenn Adams; just somebody to hit. Nobody did. The Blue Jays finished last in the AL East in 1982, partly due to league-worst production from their outfield (-4.9 WAR) and designated hitter (-4.2) spots.

Roberts was out of Toronto’s plans in the offseason, and Gillick could send him to the Royals, getting teenage slugger Cecil Fielder in return. His time with Toronto was about the worst Roberts hit during his 11-year major league career, and the fact he got anywhere near one at-bat, let alone 2,737, is astonishing. Roberts had harboured a secret he told not a soul his entire career: he couldn’t really see. It was bad enough that he needed to cheat the vision test each spring training. Despite the impairment, Roberts managed 731 career hits in a career that ended two years later with Kansas City.