That being my first camp with the Jammers, I put my ideas on paper and came up with the plan of having different stations and rotating small groups around to get more individual instruction and attention from the players and coaches.

After I designed the camp to take the number of kids who registered and divide them up into smaller groups to work with the players who signed up to work the camp, I scheduled a meeting with the Jammers to go over the plan.

Sometimes, though, the best-laid plans get changed.

In the meeting just before the camp began to go over the plan, Jammers’ manager Dave Anderson decided he wanted to keep all the campers in a large group and do one thing at a time rather than do the rotation idea. I honored his wishes and we opened camp with the revised plan.

Roberts was part of the Jammers team who worked the camp. We started with Anderson addressing the campers and then began some of the components of the game. We did hitting mechanics and the campers took batting practice. We did fielding, including both infield and outfield mechanics and drills, and then we did some baserunning drills. That’s where I began to see the true talents of Dave Roberts.

Roberts was so personable with the campers. He worked with them, not only as a pro player, but also as a fellow lover of baseball with each one of those kids attending camp. He explained details with his signature smile. He talked to the kids, not at them. He patted heads and slapped high fives, always encouraging the campers to keep trying as hard as they could, and giving “way-to-go’s” to all of them. He did the same drills as the kids, not as an instructor demonstrating to the group, but as an actual part of that group, getting “down and dirty” with them.

As I watched Roberts interact with those 8 to 12 year olds (of which my son was one), and going through the drills at Stadium West, adjacent to what is now Diethrick Park, I said to myself then, “This young man is going to be a manager, or at least a coach in the Major Leagues, (and a good one) whenever his playing days are over.”

I followed Roberts’ playing days, and was ecstatic when he was signed by my beloved Cleveland Indians. Even though his days with them weren’t many, I was proud to say I knew him when. I am equally proud to say that I got the chance to meet him at his beginning in professional baseball, but even more proud to say, “I told you so.”

Seeing him where he is right now, is no surprise to me.