anniversary time
One hundred years ago – in September of 1919, to be precise – Ray Roberts of Cruger made his big league debut, a rather impressive stint of 6 2/3 innings for the Philadelphia A’s against the Chicago White Sox at Shibe Park. Roberts entered the game in the first inning after Lefty York had made a mess of things. Six runs were charged to York. Facing a lineup of Shoeless Joe Jackson, Buck Weaver, Chick Gandal and others from the infamous Black Sox scandal, Roberts allowed just one run in his time on the hill that day. The A’s lost 7-0. The Mississippi State alumnus made two more appearances that season and got roughed up in both, finishing with a 7.71 ERA. He never pitched in the majors again. At the plate, Roberts was 1-for-4 with a steal and a run. Maybe he missed his calling. … This year marks the debut anniversary of several Magnolia State names of note, among them Willie Mitchell (1909), Sam Leslie (1929), Luke Easter (1949, as the first black Mississippian to break in), Marshall Bridges (1959), Bob Didier (1969) and Marcus Lawton (1989). Lawton, from Gulfport, came up through the New York Mets’ system and established a reputation as a base-stealing machine, notching 111 steals in A-ball in 1985 and 44 the next year with the Double-A Jackson Mets. He finally reached the majors with the Yankees but got into only 10 games and swiped just one bag. That was it. Making The Show is certainly something to celebrate, but as is often noted, staying there is harder to do. Ten years ago, six Mississippi natives made their big league debut: Julio Borbon, Roosevelt Brown, Jarret Hoffpauir, Tony Sipp, Craig Tatum and Donnie Veal. Only Sipp, a Pascagoula native now with Washington, had a sustained MLB career.