Gene Robertson

“There isn’t a better third baseman in the American League than Gene Robertson,” St. Louis Browns player/manager George Sisler said on the eve of the 1925 season.1 Indeed, that proved to be Robertson’s best year of nine in the majors (1919; 1922-26, 1928-1930).

Two years later, though, he was in the minors, supposedly banished because of his penchant for breakfast in bed. Robertson returned to the majors in 1928, just in time to win a World Series with the New York Yankees against the Browns’ crosstown rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals.

Sportswriters often commented on the 5-foot-7, 152-pound Robertson’s “diminutive” size.2 He was:

• “A plucky little fellow,”3
• Of “comparatively slight physique,”4
• “Not as tall as Rabbit] Maranville,”5
• “One of these small peppery infielders,”6 and,
• Most distressing of all, a “midget third baseman.”7

But what he lacked in physical size, Robertson made up for with smarts, according to Sisler’s predecessor as Browns manager, Lee Fohl. “His general knowledge of baseball is what impresses Fohl,” reported the Seattle Star. “He waits out the pitcher to the limit. He is a skillful bunter. In fielding Robby gets a running start on the ball the minute it starts on its course off the bat. He whips the ball across the diamond with an underhand throw and plays the slow rollers in back of the pitcher with ease. In plain words Robertson is flawless as a ball player.”8 Yet despite that praise, he was a primary starter in just two of his big-league seasons.

***

Eugene Edward Robertson was born on Christmas Day 1899 in St. Louis, Missouri, to Thomas B. Robertson, a postal clerk, and Mary E. Robertson (née Malle) a homemaker. He was the second-youngest of seven children, according to the 1910 U.S. Census: Gertrude (1889), Thomas (1891), Marie (1894), Louis (1896), John (1901), and Louise (circa 1904).9

Robertson attended the city’s Loyola Academy, then became “a star in amateur leagues while at St. Louis University.”10 He played baseball and ran track at Loyola,11 and also played football all four years there.12 In 1918, he was a quarterback and kicker for the Billikens.13 He served in the Army during World War I, and later was a member of V.F.W. Post 2313.14

Robertson attracted the attention of scouts while playing for the Donnelly Stars, a renowned local semipro team.15 He signed with the Browns in 1919, just in time to join the club for spring training in San Antonio, Texas. His “hard throws” from shortstop resulted in first baseman Sisler’s hand “bothering him for several days.”16 Robertson also “attracted a good deal of attention by the ease with which he hit the ball on the nose, sending one over the fence in batting practice.”17 After spring training, the 19-year-old was loaned to the Columbus Senators of the American Association,18 where he hit .281 as a lefty-hitting, righty-throwing shortstop.  

Robertson was called up to the Browns later that season but mostly sat on the bench. On July 17, he was used as a defensive replacement in the ninth inning of a game the Browns were losing 6-5. Sisler tied it up with a home run in the bottom of the ninth, and Robertson got four at-bats in the 17-inning marathon. He led off the final frame with a single and eventually scored the game-winner. It was his first hit in the majors, but he wouldn’t have another for three years.19

Robertson was considered for a reserve role with the Browns in 192020 – and reportedly asked for a clause in his contract guaranteeing that he would play at least once a week21 – but was sent back to Columbus.22 He hit .264 in 333 at-bats with the Senators, then was traded to the Western League’s Joplin (Missouri) Miners,23 for whom he hit .282 in 206 at-bats.

He returned to the Miners in 1921 and hit a robust .346 in 688 at-bats. After the season, Robertson returned to his home in St. Louis, where he continued a course in the law college of St. Louis University.24

The following spring he finally returned to the majors, but apparently never got the contract clause guaranteeing playing time – he again spent most of the season on the bench, getting just 27 at-bats in 18 games. He hit .296 with two doubles and a triple. The highlight came in the season finale on October 1: his walk-off RBI single with two outs in the bottom of the ninth gave the Browns a 2-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox.

“It is almost criminal to keep a player like Gene Robertson on the bench,” The Sporting News reported the ensuing spring training. “He may be ‘too fast’ for third base play. It does seem he might be slowed down a bit and made to fit in there. If some of the fans have their say it might be to this effect: ‘For the love of Mike, don’t we need a fast man at third?’ But then the fans don’t consider the technical angle that a man schooled in the insides of the game does.”25

Too fast or not, Robertson was the Browns’ Opening Day third baseman (and leadoff hitter) in 1923. However, after hitting .205 in the second half of May, he was benched, first for Frank Ellerbe and then for Homer Ezzell. Robertson was then platooned with Ezzell in June and July but hit just .226 and again was exiled to the bench. He didn’t appear in another game until pinch-hitting in the penultimate game of the season.

Robertson opened the 1924 season behind Ellerbe once more but started in the eighth game of the season and had two hits. That earned him another start, and he had two hits again; he repeated the feat twice more. In a platoon with Ellerbee between April 23 and May 28, Robertson was 26-for-65 (.400) with five doubles, a triple, and two home runs, with 13 runs scored and 11 batted in in 16 games. By August, Robertson was playing just about every day. For the season he hit a career-high .319 with 25 doubles and 52 RBIs in 439 at-bats.

One of the highlights –and lowlights – of the 1924 season came on May 17 at Yankee Stadium. The highlight was his inside-the-park home run26 in the first inning, “a line drive between Bob] Meusel and Whitey] Witt” that “was hit just hard enough to give it a long carry over the grass, and the batter crossed the plate standing up.” Subsequently, with the Browns down 3-2 in the top of the fifth, Robertson smacked a one-out double to set up Sisler with two men in scoring position. That led to the lowlight: as “Robertson was sunning himself far away from second base, dreaming rapturously of that home run, Aaron] Ward rushed over to the bag, Sad Sam] Jones whirled and threw, and before you could say ‘How do you do,’ Robertson was nipped by three feet in a wild scramble off the cushion. That took the heart out of the Browns, and with two out they didn’t move a wheel, Sisler grounding harmlessly to Everett] Scott.” The Yankees went on to win the game, 7-2, put away by a three-run home run from Ward in the bottom of the same inning.27

Sisler said he made up his mind to no longer platoon Robertson after watching him play nearly every day over the final two months of the 1924 season. Sisler was reportedly “about convinced the power of a southpaw over left-handed batters is more or less of a myth.”28

Robertson played every game during the 1925 season. Though his batting average fell to .271, he set career highs in almost every counting stat, with 97 runs, 158 hits, 26 doubles, 14 home runs, 76 RBIs, and 10 stolen bases. His 14 homers that season were 70% of his career total.

“Robertson, in my opinion, has the ability to become one of base ball’s greatest third base men,” legendary sportswriter Fred Lieb wrote prior to the 1926 season.29 However, Robertson missed time during spring training after getting hit by a pitch on the arm.30 He also was out for a week in May to attend his brother’s funeral.31  Hitting just .157 at the end of May, he went to the bench, with Oscar “Ski” Melillo and then Marty McManus taking over at third.

Robertson returned to full-time duty in August after a season-ending hospital stay for Melillo and hit .347 in 75 at-bats in September. The final weekend of the season had a pair of doubleheaders at Sportsman’s Park against the first-place Yankees. Robertson thrilled fans with two singles, three doubles, and two runs scored in 14 at-bats as St. Louis swept the twin bill. Few in attendance knew they were seeing his last at-bats in a Browns uniform.

In a story often retold,32 Browns owner Phil Ball had soured on Robertson after learning his third baseman enjoyed eating breakfast in bed during road trips.33 In one version, Ball considered this a sign of weakness;34 in another, Ball objected to having to pay the additional room service charge.35 Then again, perhaps Robertson’s exile from St. Louis had nothing to do with breakfast – Ball may have still borne a grudge from an incident during the 1922 season when he was hit in the face by a foul ball off Robertson’s bat.36 The New York Times obliquely referred to Robertson’s exit as due to “personal difficulties with the St. Louis management.”37 The Sporting News, speculating in 1927 about the Browns possibly making a trade for a third baseman, said “of course” it would not be Robertson, because “Owner Ball of the Browns let him go because of personal reasons.”38

In any event, following the 1926 season Robertson’s contract was sold to the St. Paul Saints of the American Association.39 His stock had dropped so far and so fast that famed sportswriter John Kieran cited him and Harry Rice as examples of heralded young stars who faded quickly. “They come and they go; they flash and they fail,” declared Kieran. “Young Robertson, only a few years out of high school, was playing third base like a Bill Bradley, a Jimmy Collins, or a Joe Dugan, and whacking the ball at about a .330 pace. Robertson is now in the minors, and Harry Rice wasn’t even a .300 hitter at the last general reckoning. What happened?”40  

Robertson hit just .278 for the Saints in 1927, but umpire-turned-sports columnist Billy Evans said that he asked four different American Association umpires who was the best ballplayer in the league. Each said Robertson.41 While in St. Paul, Robertson retooled his swing, patterning it upon Bunny Brief’s. Brief batted a meek .223 in 569 major league at-bats (1912-17) but thereafter became a feared slugger in the American Association, hitting .361 with 51 doubles and 42 home runs for the Kansas City Blues in 1921.42

George W. Daley, writing for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, surmised that Robertson’s trade to the Saints was actually a back-door route to the Yankees under manager Miller Huggins, who reportedly had long been interested in his services.43 As Daley wrote, St. Paul was “where Huggins can lay his hands on [Robertson]. He can get anything he wishes from St. Paul and send anything there he doesn’t like.”44

The Saints had been bought two years earlier by Bob Connery, a close friend of Huggins – who, it was revealed later, secretly went in with Connery on the purchase. The Browns denied that the sale of Robertson to the Saints had anything to do with the Yankees.45 Sure enough, though, the Yankees acquired Robertson from the Saints in August, though he did not play for the Yankees in 1927.46

Robertson’s role for the 1928 season was to be insurance for Dugan at third base. “Jumping Joe” had been the starter since joining the Yankees midway through the 1922 season, but the soon-to-be 31-year-old had been plagued by a bad knee since 1924 and was coming off a .269 batting average, his lowest mark in a decade.

In spring training, manager Huggins anointed Dugan the starter… for the time being. “Sure, Robertson’s a good ball player,” Huggins told the New York Times during spring camp in St. Petersburg. “I might even go so far as to say that he’s a very good ball player. But Dugan. . . will be in there when the fun starts, and . . .he’s going to stay in there as long as he delivers the goods. . .If his legs go bad on him, Robertson will be shoved in.”47

Three days before Opening Day, Dugan was identified as one of the few possible weaknesses on the defending World Series champions, with Robertson “a capable man in reserve.”48 That said, Dugan started 46 of the first 52 games of the season. Robertson started the others49 and saw some action off the bench, going 12-for-34 (.353) with two doubles, a home run, and 10 RBIs in 34 at-bats. By the middle of June, Robertson began to get more playing time at the expense of Dugan, who after putting up a .326/.357/.468 slash line over the first half, batted just .191 in July.

By September, the two were in a full-fledged platoon, with Robertson starting all but one game against right-handed pitching that month.50 Notwithstanding the third base competition, Robertson and Dugan preferred each other’s company as pregame warmup partners.51

Near the end of the season, Robertson was one of the pallbearers at the funeral of pitcher Urban Shocker, along with Waite Hoyt, Lou Gehrig, Earle Combs, Mike Gazella, and Myles Thomas.52 Robertson had been Shocker’s teammate on the Browns before reuniting with him on the Yankees.

Two weeks after that sad duty, the former Brown was in the World Series against the National League champion St. Louis Cardinals. Prior to the series, Robertson told the New York Sun “that the Yanks would clean up in a hurry – the Cards were already jinxed by his presence on the opposing side.”53 The Yankees’ third base platoon arrangement continued,54 with Robertson starting Game Two against Pete Alexander and Game Three against Jesse Haines. Dugan started Game One and Game Four, both against lefty Bill Sherdel. Robertson pinch-hit for him in Game Four when Alexander relieved Sherdel.

Robertson registered just one hit in eight Series at-bats but scored a run and knocked in two. Kieran called Robertson’s “flying tackle of a scorching skipper from Andy High’s bat in the fifth” the best play of Game Two. “He must have heard it coming because he had his ear to the ground when he stopped it,” Kieran wrote about a game otherwise marred by “some weird juggling of the ball by the Yankee infielders at times.”55 (Tony Lazzeri and Mark Koenig each made errors.)

Washington Daily News scribe George Kirksey described Robertson’s handiwork as a “stellar play” and “a sensational diving stop of a scorching drive.” He continued, “Robertson stopped the ball by diving full length to his right and then regained his feet in time to make a perfect throw.”56

After the series, Robertson said he’d go hunting in the Catskills and then in Minnesota. Asked if he’d do any work in the offseason, Robertson scoffed, “Work. I’ve never worked in my life and I’m not going to start now. When I get all done with baseball I’m going to finish my law course and go into business with my brother.”57

According to a story recounted by Hoyt in 1930, that offseason Robertson reportedly asked for a raise from the Yankees. The club responded with a contract for the same salary as the previous year, “with a long letter setting forth that, if it hadn’t been for the boxing, soccer and so forth at the Stadium, the year before, the club would have lost money. Hoyt said Robertson returned the signed contract with a note reading: ‘I couldn’t stand walking along the street and being pointed out as the man who broke the Yankees.’”58

With Dugan and Gazella released that offseason, Huggins said he was unsure who would be starting on the left side of the infield opposite Gehrig and Lazzeri: “At the Yankee offices, manager Huggins was overhead commenting to himself aloud upon his plans for solving the Yankee infield problem that spring. “They were interesting, to say the least,” the New York Times reported. Robertson, Koenig, and Lyn Lary were in the mix for the third base and shortstop jobs, with the odd man out to serve as the reserve.59 By the end of the month, Huggins had proclaimed Lary the shortstop and Koenig the third baseman.60 Robertson didn’t help his cause any by missing the start of exhibition games with a bad sunburn. “Gene goes collegiate during Spring training, discarding his cap and stockings. Yesterday he needed [Yankees trainer] Doc Woods’ expert handling,” observed New York Times sports columnist William E. Brandt.61

The Yankees wore jerseys with numbers for the first time in 1929. Robertson was the inaugural #22, a number later worn by Yankee notables such as Allie Reynolds, Jimmy Key, Roger Clemens, and Ben Rice. Slumping later in the season, Robertson went to the plate wearing his jersey inside-out, hoping to change his luck. Yankees business manager Ed Barrow chastised him for it: “What do you think we spent all the dough on numbers for?”62

Robertson didn’t start a game until June 1, when – after a three-game losing streak – Huggins announced that he was shaking up the lineup. Robertson supplanted Koenig at third base and Leo Durocher replaced Lary at short.

Robertson started every game at third base but one over the next two months.63 He laid claim with six hits in two games on June 3 and June 4.64 He subsequently had his best week as a Yankee from June 16 to June 22, going 14-for-29 (.483) with two doubles, three triples, six runs, seven RBIs, and a stolen base.

He also had a hot start in July, 12-for-34 (.353) with two doubles and three walks in eight games. A modest six-game hitting streak ended on July 9, but he made up for the 0-for-5 with a game-saving gem to end the rubber match of a four-game set against his former team, the Browns. “When Gene Robertson dived back of third to collar a hard-hammered drive, then scrambled on hands and knees to tag third base for the day’s last out, the Yanks owned just enough runs to win, 8 to 7.”65 Another highlight came in a doubleheader split with the Cleveland Indians on July 20; Robertson was five-for-eight with a walk, two doubles, two runs scored, an RBI, and “fielded brilliantly all day,” wrote Brandt.66

For those two months, Robertson hit .321 with 38 runs scored and 30 RBIs in 57 games, helping the Yankees to a 40-17 record in June and July. Yet the club lost ground in the standings, as the first-place Philadelphia A’s were even hotter – 43-17 – over the same stretch.

Nine and a half games out to begin August, any hope of a miraculous Yankees comeback was erased by a 13-18 record that month that included three straight shutouts at the hands of the Browns. Robertson had the only two hits in the second of the three shutouts, tossed by General Crowder on August 24 at Sportsman’s Park.67

By that point the Yankees were thinking about next season. Three days after Robertson’s two-hit performance against Crowder, Huggins told reporters that Lary was now his starting third baseman.68 On September 17, Robertson was sold to the National League’s Boston Braves. The New York Times described it as the first step in Huggins’s rebuild for 1930.69 It would be his last: “the Mighty Mite” died on September 25.

Platooning with Les Bell at third base over the rest of the season in Boston,70 Robertson went 8-for-28 (.286). The following spring training, with Bell claimed off waivers by the Cubs, Robertson was thought to be competing for the starting job at third base.71 New Braves manager Bill McKechnie called him “a mighty good ball player” in a newspaper column: “I feel he is a better player when he is in there every day and am hopeful that he will show enough stuff to win a berth at some spot in the infield. He can play second, short or third and do a pretty good job at any position.”72

Robertson was a no-show for the first week of Braves camp. He arrived on March 8, “denying all reports that his late arrival was due to temperament or a disposition to be a holdout. A business deal in New York was responsible for his tardiness, he said.”73 Meanwhile, McKechnie decided he wanted more offense from the hot corner. In Brandt’s ornate description, “Gene Robertson, who operated on the other side of the Yankees-Braves Spring series last year this time, can do all the third base chores to the king’s taste, but falls many digits short of providing the quota of base hits McKechnie demands of his third base tender.”74

McKechnie turned to Randy Moore, a 23-year-old outfielder who had hit .369 the previous season for the Dallas Steers in the Texas League. After two errors in the first three games, Moore was moved back to the grass.75 Robertson replaced him at third in the bottom of the seventh inning on April 20 and started a 5-4-3 double play in the bottom of the ninth of the 7-2 victory over Brooklyn. The following day he started at third base and batted fourth, with mixed results: he went 2-for-3 with a walk and two RBIs against Dolf Luque and turned another around-the-horn double play, but also made an error and was picked off first base.

Robertson made 14 more starts over the next two months, with six pinch-hit appearances, but hit just .186 with a double and seven RBIs in 67 plate appearances. His last major league base hit came on May 17, an RBI single in the top of the 10th to help beat the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds, 4-3.

Four days later, with Robertson in an 0-for-16 slump, the Braves solved their third base problem – at least for that season – by trading him with cash and a player to be named later (Billy Rhiel) to the Pacific Coast League’s Portland Beavers. They received 28-year-old infielder Buster Chatham, who had hit .386 in the Western League the previous season.76

Robertson hit .292 with 33 doubles in 592 at-bats over the rest of the 1930 season in Portland. He returned to the PCL the following year, first with Portland, then with the Mission (California) Reds.77 In July, Robertson showed up late for a game.78 Five days later, he was released.79 At age 31, his playing days were over.

Details of Robertson’s life after baseball are scanty. In 1932, he reportedly traveled to Asia.80 In 1937, when the 1922 Browns held a 15-year reunion, Robertson was the only living member the team could not find in time.81 He returned to the Army during World War II, attaining the rank of staff sergeant. After the war, he became an ordnance supervisor at the Hawthorne (Nevada) Naval Ammunition Depot, retiring in 1967.82

Robertson died on October 21, 1981, in Fallon, Nevada. His wife, Esther “Sue” Robertson, died in 1974. They apparently had no children. He was survived by his sisters, Lois Weaver and Marie Powell, and a brother, Louis.83 Robertson was buried in Hawthorne Cemetery.84

Author’s Note

Gene Robertson Park in Salinas, California, is named not after our subject but for Gene F. Robertson, founder of the city’s Little League program and a member of the Salinas Valley Sports Hall of Fame. He died in 1992.

Acknowledgments

This story was reviewed by Bill Lamb and Rory Costello and fact-checked by Paul Proia.

Sources

In addition to the sources shown in the notes, the author used Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org.

Notes

1 Billy Evans, “Baseball Fans Watch George Sisler’s Work,” Seattle Star, March 31, 1925: 15.

2 “Arctic League Base Ball on Tap Today: Browns Are Formidable Without Sisler,” Washington (DC) Evening Star, April 15, 1923: 73.

3 “Browns Make Race Four Team Affair,” The Sporting News, August 7, 1924: 1.

4 “Rookie Stars Early,” Seattle Star, Aug. 8, 1922: 12.

5 “Hallahan Slated to Hurl Tuberculosis Benefit Game Today,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, June 24, 1930: 16. This likely was hyperbole as Maranville’s listed height was 5’5.”

6 Davis J. Walsh, “St. Louis Browns Had Lots of Luck Last Year, But T’was All Bad, Fohl Says, Looking Now with Bright Eye,” South Bend (Indiana) Morning-Times, March 18, 1922: 2.

7 George Kirksey, “Less Famous Yankees Seek Place in Spotlight,” Washington (DC) Daily News, October 9, 1928: 19. In addition, sportswriter John B. Foster reported that the newly acquired Dusty Cooke, who had a listed height of 6-feet-1 and weight of 205 pounds, was “as big as two Gene Robertsons.” See “Yankees Big Need Is Rounding Out; They Hit in Spasms,” Harrisburg (Pennsylvania) Telegraph, May 27, 1930: 15.

8 “St. Louis Browns Uncover Pair of Baseball Phenoms at Mobile,” Seattle Star, March 29, 1922. The other “phenom” was Cedric Durst, Robertson’s teammate on both the Browns and Yankees.

9 Louise had changed the spelling of her first name to Lois, according to Robertson’s obituary in the Reno (Nevada) Gazette-Journal, November 2, 1981: 20: “Surviving are his sister, Lois Weaver of Laguna Hills, Calif.; and sister, Marie Powell and brother, Louis, both of St. Louis.”

10 “Rookie Stars Early.” The St. Louis Star called Robertson “the Rogers Hornsby of the Muny League” in several game stories in 1917.

11 “Municipal League Produced Latest Star of Browns,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, July 18, 1919: 11.

12 Joseph F. Holland, “Mayor Kiel Will Assist in Opening the Season at the Pikeway School,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, October 3, 1918: 9: “Robertson played half back at Loyola Hall for four years and consequently is no novice at the game. Gene is shortstop of the Donnelly Stars, state champion baseball team of Missouri.”

13 Joseph F. Holland, “Varsities Hopeful that They Will Be Allowed to Open Season Shortly,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, October 13, 1918: 11: “Kicking practice was the order for the most part of the afternoon at St. Louis. Coach Reardon, who is assisting Quigley, had the punters and drop-kickers for some time. Gene Robertson appears to be the best of the lot. Long and high spirals are the products of his attempts at punting, while at drop-kicking he drove the ball over the bar repeatedly from the thirty-five-yard line, at which point he was stationed by the coach. Robertson looks like a certain shot for a backfield position. He is fast, and is an open-field runner of exceptional ability. His late development in kicking makes him doubly valuable.” An article on November 9, 1918, on page 7 of the same newspaper reported he was a quarterback; another, on page 7 in the issue of December 18, 1918, reported he had earned a varsity letter in football as a freshman.

14 Robertson’s obituary, Reno (Nevada) Gazette-Journal, November 2, 1981: 20.

15 Ray Gillespie, “St. Louis Grew Many Stars in Old Kerry Patch,” The Sporting News, July 10, 1957: 7. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 3, 1918: 24, referred to Donnelly as “state amateur baseball champions.”

16 “Browns to Use Three Pitchers in Game Today,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 22, 1919: 10.

17 Floyd L. Bell, “Brownies Workout at Camp,” St. Louis Star, March 18, 1919: 15.

18 “Gene Robertson Stars with Columbus Team,” St. Louis Star, September 25, 1919: 16.

19 “Rookie Stars Early,” above. The newspaper incorrectly reported the July 17 game as his major league debut: “Gene had the remarkable record of stepping from the college field into a star role in his first major league game.” In fact, the Browns had used Robertson as a pinch-hitter in both ends of a July 4th doubleheader against Cleveland.

20 “Pennant Hopes of St. Louis Revived,” Memphis News Scimitar, March 8, 1920: 12.

21 “Must Play Him,” Washington (DC) Times, February 10, 1920: 14. Numerous newspapers had briefs about the clause.

22 “Robertson Released,” Omaha Daily Bee, April 11, 1920.

23 “Deal in Players Made in Western,” Ogden (Utah) Standard, August 6, 1920: 8. Columbus traded Robertson and outfielder Ike Wolfer to Joplin for second baseman Walter Krueger.

24 “Robertson Takes Up Law,” (Indianapolis) Indiana Daily Times, November 8, 1921: 8.

25 “More Talent Than Browns Can Handle,” The Sporting News, March 15, 1923: 1.

26 It was Robertson’s second career home run, the first an over-the-fence drive at Sportsman’s Park the previous month on April 27, 1924.

27 “Yanks Beat Browns Before 40,000 Fans,” New York Times, May 18, 1924: S1. Following a triple and a walk, “Ward depopulated the two cushions with the longest drive of the day – a high and mighty homer over Ken] Williams’ head and into the left field seats midway between the foul line and the extreme corner of the stand.”

28 “Gene Robertson Makes Good as Regular Batter,” Indianapolis Times, December 25, 1924: 7.

29 Frederick G. Lieb, “Team Packs a Wallop Unsurpassed in League,” Washington Evening Star, March 24, 1926: 26.

30 Dick Farrington, “New Men Make St. Louis Teams Appear Stronger,” The Sporting News, April 15, 1926: 6.

31 John B. Keller, “Uncertainty of Pastime Revealed in Sislermen,” Washington Evening Star, May 12, 1926: 26: “The Browns also are minus Gene Robertson, who plays second or third base for them when he is around. Gene’s brother [John] died this week, and he has gone home to attend the funeral. He will rejoin his club in Boston, where it is to play its nest series.” Robertson didn’t play in the finale of a three-game series at the Philadelphia A’s on May 10, then missed all four games at the Washington Nationals before rejoining the team on May 18 at the Boston Braves.  

32 The tale appeared three times in The Sporting News alone: twice in J.G. Taylor Spink’s “Looping the Loops” column (August 20, 1942, and August 16, 1945) and once in Dan Daniel’s “Over the Fence” column (August 24, 1944). In addition to numerous newspapers by way of former umpire Billy Evans’s syndicated column, “Billy Evans Says,” the anecdote also appeared on page 22 of the September 2, 1942, edition of YANK: The Army Newspaper: “Phil Ball, owner of the Browns, once ordered Infielder Gene Robertson to be fired because he had breakfast in bed. He was sent to the Yankees where they don’t care where you eat breakfast as long as you get a few base hits afterwards.”

33 This wasn’t the first time Ball took issue with a player’s lifestyle on road trips. Ball suspended Shocker for the final month of the 1923 season after the spitballer insisted that his wife accompany him on a road trip, according to Ball’s SABR Bio Project biography by Steve Steinberg. Ball wanted to trade Shocker, but Sisler talked him out of it. After a down year in 1924, Sisler relented, and Ball traded Shocker to the Yankees.

34 Billy Evans, “Playing the Field,” Indianapolis Times, August 13, 1927: 10. “‘I don’t want any of those pink tea guys on this ball club,’ Ball is reported to have said. ‘Any fellow who eats breakfast in his room should be in the movies. He’s a helluva ball player. Get rid of him.’”

35 Dan Daniel, “Over the Fence,” The Sporting News, August 24, 1944: 10: “It came to the ears of the highly irascible and not always unjust Phil Ball, then owner of the Browns, that one Gene Robertson, a third baseman, was in the habit of eating his breakfast before he climbed off his couch. On the road, there were items of service charges for this luxury.”

36 “Ruth Makes Homer as Yanks Win, 14-5,” New York Times, June 11, 1922: 27. “It was an off day, indeed, for the Browns all around, for their owner, Phil Ball, was struck under the right eye and his face severely lacerated by a foul tip from Gene Robertson’s bat in the seventh inning. Ball was occupying a box over his club’s dugout when the accident occurred.”

37 John Kieran, “Sports of the Times,” New York Times, February 24, 1928: 24.

38 “Yanks-Sox Reported Planning Big Deal,” The Sporting News, August 11, 1927: 1. The newspaper speculated that the Yankees and White Sox were working on a blockbuster headlined by Willie Kamm for Meusel.

39 James R. Harrison, “Yanks Trade Jones for Giard-Durst,” New York Times, February 9, 1927: 14: “The Browns sold Third Baseman Gene Robertson to St. Paul for $5,000,” the newspaper reported. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch had an Associated Press article giving the price as $7,500. See “Gene Robertson Sold to St. Paul by Browns for $7,500,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 9, 1927: 24.

40 John Kieran, “Sports of the Times,” New York Times, July 1, 1927: 19.

41 “Playing the Field,” above.

42 William McCullough, “Robertson’s Third Base Play Satisfies Yank Fans,” Brooklyn Times, July 30, 1929: Sports-1: “He became a student of Bunny Brief, leading hitter in the American Association, and former White Sox slugger. Players in that league say it was nothing for him to trot out to the field as early as 10 AM and hit away until regular practice started.” In the same article, McCullough reports that Robertson was to be called up to New York during the 1927 season but injured his knee.

43 “Browns Deny Marty McManus Will Be Traded,” East St. Louis (Illinois) Daily Journal, January 13, 1926: 17: “One player deeply interesting New Yorkers, is Gene Robertson, Brownie third baseman, who has been sought for years by the Yanks.”

44 George W. Daley, “Howley Believes Sam Jones Will Give Browns Needed Top-Line Pitching Strength,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 9, 1927: 24.

45 “Yanks Trade Jones for Giard-Durst.” In writing about that deal, Harrison added: “The Browns sold Third Baseman Gene Robertson to St. Paul for $5,000, but it was denied that this was part of the Yankee-Brown deal, although St. Paul is a New York ‘farm.’” Steve Steinberg’s SABR biography of Bob Connery has an extensive list of the many players moved between the Saints and Yankees while Connery owned the team.

46 Richards Vidmer, “Huggins in Tears Over 12-Game Lead,” the New York Times, August 9, 1927: 20: “Yesterday it was announced that Gene Robertson, former third baseman of the Browns, had been purchased from the St. Paul club of the American Association. Cash and players were involved in the deal, but how much of either wasn’t revealed. Robertson will report as soon as he can be spared.” Robertson’s page on baseball-reference.com reports the deal as $20,000 and a player to be named later, but the player is not named. Evans, in his August 13 column, said it was $20,000 in cash and three players to be named later.

47 James R. Harrison, “Huggins Will Keep Joe Dugan at Third,” New York Times, March 3, 1928: 12. With Lazzeri holding out, Harrison reported Robertson would play second base, and the reserves would be Gazella and Durocher, “the rough young diamond from St. Paul.” Lazzeri’s holdout ended soon after, signing a two-year contract with the Yankees.

48 James R. Harrison, “Baseball Season Begins This Week,” New York Times, April 8, 1928: S1. After listing the starters at each position and the pitching staff, Harrison opined: “There is not, with the exception of Dugan and possibly Herb] Pennock, one of those who has passed his peak and is slipping back…. In three infield and two pitching positions the Yanks are bound to be even better than a year ago. Dugan may not last the season, but Robertson is a capable man in reserve.”

49 Two of those starts came May 7 and May 8; the New York Times reported on May 8 that Dugan was “unable to perform at his customary post” without citing a cause. See Richards Vidmer, “Yanks Win, 8 to 5, and Sweep Series,” the New York Times, May 8, 1928: 20. It may have been his troublesome left knee. Robertson also started at third base on May 13 and 14 after Ownie Carroll hit Dugan with a pitch on May 12.   

50 Dugan started in the first game of a doubleheader against righty Bump Hadley on September 7; he went 0-for-3 with a walk in the 11-0 loss. It was the last time Dugan started against a right-handed pitcher as a Yankee. “With Manager Huggins using Gene Robertson so frequently at third base, it is evident that he thinks Joe Dugan can’t go the pace any more,” Kieran wrote in his New York Times column on September 19. “That would leave the Yankees with three weak points to be repaired for next season – behind the bat, on the mound and at third base.” Platooning was a curious choice as Dugan had reverse splits in 1928 – .323/.356/.443 against RHP and .225/.261/.315 vs LHP. After the season, he was waived and claimed by the Boston Braves.

51 John Kieran, “Sports of the Times,” the New York Times, May 23, 1928: 31. Kieran reported that Ruth warmed up with Benny Bengough, Gehrig and Combs with Pat Collins, and Meusel with Johnny Grabowski. “Koenig and Lazzeri are free lances. They warm up with anybody.”

52 “Last Tribute to Shocker,” Associated Press story as it appeared in the New York Times, September 16, 1928: 149.

53 “Will Wedge, “Most Yanks Turn Thoughts to Relaxation as Busting Bams and Larruping Lous Tour,” The Sporting News, October 18, 1928: 2.

54 Associated Press sports editor Frank Eck, writing about the Indians and Giants possibly using platoons in the upcoming 1954 World Series, cited Dugan-Robertson as an example of platoon from earlier series. See Frank Eck, “Two-Platooning Is Nothing New in Series; It Began Years Ago,” Associated Press story as it appeared in the Staunton (Virginia) Evening Leader, September 29, 1954: 5.

55 John Kieran, “Sports of the Times,” New York Times, October 6, 1928: 25.

56 Kirksey, “Less Famous Yankees,” above.

57 Wedge. Robertson’s brother, Louis, was listed as a lawyer who owned his own business in the 1950 U.S. Census.

58 Thomas Holmes, “Boy Wonder Grows Up to Crash Big League Stage in Record Time,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, January 22, 1930: 24.

59 John Drebinger, “National League Meets Here Today,” New York Times, February 5, 1929: 31.

60 But when the games started, it was Durocher at shortstop and Lary on the bench; after 22 games, he swapped them, then 12 games later went back to Durocher.

61 William E. Brandt, “Lary Likely to Get Shortstop Berth,” the New York Times, February 28, 1929: 31. Brandt also joked: “A case of sunburn for Lou Gehrig would give George Burns a chance to prove he is a first baseman. Gehrig is cavorting at first base every minute of the practice session that he is not driving baseballs at the lake beyond right field.” Burns had nine appearances with the Yankees in 1929, all as a pinch hitter, before getting sold to the Philadelphia Athletics on June 19.

62 Henry L. Farrell, “Hooks and Slides” syndicated column as it appeared in numerous newspapers including the Santa Ana (California) Register, July 26, 1929: 10.

63 The one game he didn’t start in June and July was the second game of a doubleheader on June 22; he pinch ran for Bill Dickey in the bottom of the ninth and was thrown out at the plate as the would-be winning run. The Yankees finally won it in the bottom of the 14th.

64 Harold C. Burr, “Gene Robertson Gives Huggins Credit for His Six Hits in Two Games,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 5, 1929: 25. Burr’s provocative opening: “‘So I began choking her,’ said Gene Robertson, with the simplicity of the great. There was nothing murderous in the little remark, unless making six hits in two games is murdering the White Sox pitching.” Huggins had advised Robertson to choke up on the bat.

65 William E. Brandt, “Ruth’s 18th Homer Helps Beat Browns,” the New York Times, July 10, 1929: 27. “Rick] Ferrell batted for the pitcher. His cut over third was sound and looked like the winning hit until Robertson dived for it, clutched it cleanly with his gloved hand, then crawled pell-mell to tag third with his hand for a forceout of Ski] Melillo.”

66 William E. Brandt, “30,000 See Yankees and Indians Divide,” New York Times, July 21, 1929: 132.

67 William E. Brandt, “Yanks Shut Out for Third Straight Time,” New York Times, August 25, 1929: S7. “Robbie’s double over first base in the first inning was the only Yankee hit in the first eight innings. In the ninth, after two out, the same spry third baseman biffed a single to left. The single, like the double, excited nothing in the way of help from subsequent Yankee swingers. Robertson’s visit to second base in the first inning was the only case of a Yank getting even half way to score.” Two weeks later, on September 11, Crowder shut out the Yankees again, this time at Yankee Stadium. He allowed five hits, and Robertson had one of them, a pinch-hit single. Robertson was 11-for-33 off Crowder in his career.

68 Andy Lang, “Huggins Plans to Place Lary at Hot Corner,” Brooklyn Standard Union, August 27, 1929: 42.

69 “Huggins of Yankees Is Critically Ill,” New York Times, September 23, 1929: 40.

70 Dugan, Robertson’s warm-up partner from the Yankees, also was on the Boston Braves in 1929, but only started two games after July 8; the Braves also had signed Collins, the former Yankees catcher, but sold him to Buffalo on May 25 after he appeared in just seven games and went 0-for-5 with three walks. “The Braves haven’t been very fortunate in getting helpful material from Huggins’ clan, but Judge Fuchs thinks Robertson will do the team more good than some of the others.” See “Carrigan Reflects on Game’s Changes,” The Sporting News, September 26, 1929: 5.

71 “Carrigan Appears Through at Boston,” The Sporting News, December 12, 1929: 1.

72 Bill McKechnie, “McKechnie Optimistic Over Task at Boston,” Washington Evening Star, March 4, 1930: 29.

73 “Benton, O’Farrell Sign with Giants,” Associated Press story as it appeared in the Washington Evening Star, March 8, 1930: 22.

74 William E. Brandt, “M’Kechnie Instils Fight into Braves,” New York Times, March 19, 1930: 35.

75 Moore didn’t return to the hot corner until August and made two errors in his first game back. He played a total of 13 games at third base in 1930 and made five errors in 38 chances, an .868 fielding percentage. Moore fared much better in 1931, with only three errors in 15 starts (.944 fielding percentage), and just one in 28 starts in 1932 (.985 fielding percentage), but never played the position in the majors again.

76 “Coast League Sells 3 Stars to the Majors,” Wilkes-Barre (Pennsylvania) Evening News, June 6, 1930: 17.

77 Robertson was traded from Portland to Mission in exchange for John Monroe, who played in the majors in 1921. See “Mission Reds Trade Monroe to Beavers,” Stockton (California) Evening Record, April 30, 1931: 28.

78 Max Kofskey, “‘Bad Boys’ on Mission Club Anger Joe Devine,” San Francisco News, July 13, 1931: 13.

79 “Gene Robertson Draws Release from Missions,” San Francisco Examiner, July 18, 1931: 16.

80 Roy Stockton, “Extra Innings,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 20, 1932: 2D.

81 “Browns Seeking Gene Robertson,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, June 23, 1937: 11.

82 Robertson Obituary, above.

83 Robertson Obituary.

84 Photos of his tombstone are available through his entry on FindaGrave.com: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/72699156/gene-robertson.