Melvin Henry Roberts (January 18, 1943 – September 1, 2007) was an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who is ...

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

. Primarily an

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

during his playing days, all spent in the

minor leagues Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...

, Roberts spent four seasons (1992–95) in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

as the first-base coach of the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

,Obituary, ''Spartanburg Herald-Journal,'' 2007-9-3
/ref> including service on the Phillies' 1993 National League pennant-winning team. Roberts was born in

Abington Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Abington Township is a township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. It is adjacent to Philadelphia's northern fringe. The population was 55,310 as of the 2010 census, making it the second most populous township in Montgomery County after Lower ...

, graduated from

Abington Senior High School Abington Senior High School is a three-year co-educational high school in Abington, Pennsylvania, United States. The school was a two-year high school known as Abington South Campus from September 1964 until June 1983. In September 1983, Abingt ...

, and attended both

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then called Ba ...

and Spartanburg Technical College. A

right-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subjecti ...

batter and thrower who stood tall and weighed , he signed with the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

in 1961 and played in their

farm system In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team, feeder club, or nursery club is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher ...

for four seasons. After spending 1965 out of pro baseball, Roberts signed with the Phillies' system, playing for the 1966

Spartanburg Phillies Spartanburg is a city in and the county seat, seat of Spartanburg County, South Carolina, United States. The city of Spartanburg has a municipal population of 38,732 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the 11th-largest c ...

as a teammate of

Larry Bowa Lawrence Robert Bowa (born December 6, 1945) is an American former professional baseball shortstop, manager, and coach in Major League Baseball (MLB), who played for the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs, and New York Mets. Bowa went on to ma ...

and

Denny Doyle Robert Dennis Doyle (January 17, 1944 – December 20, 2022) was an American professional baseball second baseman who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies, California Angels, and Boston Red Sox. Listed at and , h ...

on a club that won a

Western Carolinas League file:John Henry Moss.png, Portion of plaque displaying likeness of John Henry Moss at Municipal Stadium, Hagerstown, Maryland The Western Carolinas League was a Class D (1948–52; 1960–62) and a low Class A (1963–79) full-season league in Am ...

record 25 consecutive games and the league championship.Minor league record
from

Baseball Reference Baseball-Reference is a website providing baseball statistics for every player in Major League Baseball history. The site is often used by major media organizations and baseball broadcasters as a source for statistics. It offers a variety of advan ...

With lengthy service as a player, coach and manager, Roberts became a longtime resident of

Spartanburg, South Carolina Spartanburg is a city in and the county seat, seat of Spartanburg County, South Carolina, United States. The city of Spartanburg has a municipal population of 38,732 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the 11th-largest c ...

. In 781

games played Games played (GP) is a statistic used in team sports to indicate the total number of games in which a player has participated (in any capacity); the statistic is generally applied irrespective of whatever portion of the game is contested. Basebal ...

, Roberts batted .234 with 588

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014 - a British compilation album se ...

during a ten-season minor league playing career. After 1970, Roberts' last full-time season as a player, he became a coach in the Philadelphia organization with the

Peninsula Phillies A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on al ...

(1971),

Reading Phillies Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

(1972; 1977), Spartanburg (1973–76; 1978–83; 1985–86), and

Bend Phillies The Bend Phillies were a minor league baseball team located in Bend, Oregon. The Phillies were members of the Class A Short Season Northwest League from 1979 to 1986. Prior to 1981 the team was named the Central Oregon Phillies. History Professio ...

(1985). He was the Phillies' roving minor league outfield instructor for one season (1984). He then became a manager at Bend (1987) and Spartanburg (1988–91) before joining the Major League coaching staff of Phillies' manager

Jim Fregosi James Louis Fregosi (April 4, 1942 – February 14, 2014) was an American professional baseball shortstop and manager, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from to , primarily for the Los Angeles / California Angels. He also played for the ...

in .Information
at

Retrosheet Retrosheet is a nonprofit organization whose website features box scores of Major League Baseball (MLB) games from 1906 to the present, and play-by-play narratives for almost every contest since the 1930s. It also includes scores from every major ...

Upon leaving the Phils in 1996 after a 30-year career with the organization, Roberts joined the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. The Braves ...

as a minor league coach and spent his final 12 seasons in baseball with the Braves. In 2007, his final campaign, Roberts was a coach with the Rookie-level

Danville Braves The Danville Braves were a Minor League Baseball team in Danville, Virginia. They were an Advanced Rookie-level team in the Appalachian League and were a farm team of the Atlanta Braves. The Braves have played home games at American Legion Post 3 ...

of the

Appalachian League The Appalachian League is a collegiate summer baseball league that operates in the Appalachian regions of Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina. Designed for rising freshmen and sophomores using wood bats, its season runs from ...

when he died unexpectedly just as the season was concluding, in

Danville, Virginia Danville is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States, located in the Southside Virginia region and on the fall line of the Dan River. It was a center of tobacco production and was an area of Confederate activity ...

, at age 64, leaving a wife and four children.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Mel 1943 births 2007 deaths 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American people African-American baseball coaches African-American baseball players Artesia Dodgers players Bakersfield Bears players Baseball coaches from Pennsylvania Great Falls Electrics players Major League Baseball first base coaches Minor league baseball managers People from Abington Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Baseball players from Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Philadelphia Phillies coaches Raleigh-Durham Phillies players Reading Phillies players St. Petersburg Saints players Salisbury Dodgers players Santa Barbara Dodgers players Spartanburg Phillies players Sportspeople from Spartanburg, South Carolina Tidewater Tides players