Brian Roberts, a two-time All Star and fan favourite who spent all but one year of his 14-season career with the Orioles, has retired from baseball.
Roberts, who turned 37 this month, was released by the New York Yankees in August after hitting .237 in 91 games. He said two “very good teams” were interested in signing him in August, but he decided against it. As the year went on, he said it became clear that he could no longer play at the level he demanded.
“It was just kind of my time. There were numerous reasons that I felt like I couldn’t play at a level that I was accustomed to and wanted to play at if I continued to play,” Roberts said. “I always said that I wasn’t going to be the guy that tried to hang on as long as I could.”
The Orioles drafted Roberts as a supplemental first round pick in 1999, and, within two years, he was in the big leagues. The son of former North Carolina head baseball coach Mike Roberts, he was seemingly predestined to play baseball despite being listed at 5-feet-9, 175 pounds and overcoming open heart surgery as a 5-year-old. By 2004 Roberts had become the Orioles’ full-time second baseman and leadoff hitter and, in 2005, he started for the American League in the All-Star Game.
“If you knew me from the time I was in high school I certainly wouldn’t say I was the most overconfident person in the world in my baseball abilities. I battled that, off and on, my whole career, whether I was going to be good enough,” he said. “I don’t know if that came from the expectations of being the kid of a baseball coach at a prominent school or being the smallest guy on the field, but I definitely thank God for the opportunity that he gave me.”
By the mid-2000s, Roberts was clearly the most popular Orioles player, with his No. 1 T-shirt and jersey the most visible at Camden Yards. His public image took a hit in 2007 when he was one of 19 current or former Orioles who were mentioned in Major League Baseball’s Mitchell Report on performance-enhancing drug use in the sport. He later said that he had used steroids once in 2003, but didn’t like the effect and never tried it again. (MCT)