Joseph Albert Armand "Skippy" Roberge (May 19, 1917 – June 7, 1993) 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 ...

, an

infielder An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field. Standard arrangement of positions In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns playing offensive and defensive roles. ...

whose professional career lasted for ten seasons between 1939 and 1952 (with 1943–1945 missed due to military service during World War II) and included 177

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 ...

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), ...

for the

Boston Braves The Atlanta Braves, a current Major League Baseball franchise, originated in Boston, Massachusetts. This article details the history of the Boston Braves, from 1871 to 1952, after which they moved to Milwaukee, and then to Atlanta. During it ...

(1941–1942; 1946).

Early years

Skippy Roberge was born in

Lowell, Massachusetts Lowell () is a city in Massachusetts, in the United States. Alongside Cambridge, It is one of two traditional seats of Middlesex County. With an estimated population of 115,554 in 2020, it was the fifth most populous city in Massachusetts as of ...

, on May 19, 1917.Baseball-almanac.com
/ref> He attended Keith Academy, now part of

Lowell Catholic High School Lowell Catholic is a private, not-for-profit, college preparatory school in Lowell, Massachusetts. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston and is a Xaverian Brothers Sponsored School. Lowell Catholic High School was established ...

, from 1933 to 1937,Lowelcatholic.org
/ref> where he was the football quarterback, All-American forward for the basketball team, and shortstop and pitcher for the baseball team.
/ref> He did not attend college. After high school, Roberge joined a semi-pro baseball team in the Lowell Twilight League, and the Lowell

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

basketball team, where he played until 1938 when he tried out for the Braves, then nicknamed the Boston Bees.

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 ...

Casey Stengel Charles Dillon "Casey" Stengel (; July 30, 1890 – September 29, 1975) was an American Major League Baseball right fielder and manager, best known as the manager of the championship New York Yankees of the 1950s and later, the expansion New York ...

liked what he saw and assigned Roberge to a Class D farm team, the

Bradford Bees The Bradford Bees were a minor league baseball team based in Bradford, Pennsylvania. The team was a charter member of the Pennsylvania-Ontario-New York (PONY) League and played 18 seasons from 1939 to 1957 (the team sat out the 1943 season due t ...

, for 1939. The next year, in 1940, Roberge moved up to the Class B team, the

Evansville Bees Evansville is a city in, and the county seat of, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States. The population was 118,414 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the state's List of cities in Indiana, ...

, then to the Class A team, the Hartford Bees, before entering the Majors.

Baseball career

Roberge was a right-handed backup utility

Infielder An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field. Standard arrangement of positions In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns playing offensive and defensive roles. ...

for the

from 1941 to 1942, 1946. Listed at , he made his Major League debut at the age of 24. He never started a game, but finished his career with 508 at-bats and a .220 batting average, with 3 home runs. *1941 (55 games): 15 RBIs, .216 batting average. *1942 (74 games): 12 RBIs, .215 batting average. *1943–1945: Roberge served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

during World War II (see below). *1946 (48 games): 20 RBIs, .231 batting average. All in all, Roberge batted in 177 games with a career slugging percentage of .283. He also fielded in 163 games with 17 errors, and a .972 fielding percentage.

Military service

Roberge served with the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

Company C, 52d Infantry Regiment (Anti-Tank) The 52nd Infantry Regiment ("Ready Rifles") is an infantry regiment of the United States Army. The charges on the canton of the regiment's coat of arms represent the 11th Infantry from which this regiment was formed in 1917. Its first combat s ...

, 4th Signal Battalion with the rank of Technician Fifth Grade. The first few months while stationed in England, he played and taught baseball as part of a traveling squad around England. But in late 1944, as the Allied Forces advanced, Roberge was sent to the front lines, where he was wounded in the

Roer River The Rur or Roer (german: Rur ; Dutch and li, Roer, , ; french: Rour) is a major river that flows through portions of Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. It is a right (eastern) tributary to the Meuse ( nl, links=no, Maas). About 90 perce ...

crossing at

Linnich Linnich is a town in the Düren (district), district of Düren in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located on the Rur, River Rur (Roer river), approx. 10 km north-west of Jülich. Economy Linnich is the home of Schweizeris ...

, Germany, on February 14, 1945, which earned him the

Purple Heart The Purple Heart (PH) is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after 5 April 1917, with the U.S. military. With its forerunner, the Badge of Military Merit, w ...

. Roberge was discharged in December 1945.

Later years

Even though his war wound hindered his return to the majors, Roberge continued to play baseball in the minor leagues. He briefly retired from the game for the 1951 season, but spent one final season in the minors playing for the Double-A

Little Rock Travelers The Little Rock Travelers were an American minor league baseball team located in Little Rock, Arkansas, and members (1902–1910, 1915–1958, 1960–1961) of the Southern Association, which as a Class A, A1 or Double-A (baseball), Double-A circuit ...

in 1952 before leaving professional baseball at the age of 35. He then worked the next 22 years back in his hometown at the

General Electric Company The General Electric Company (GEC) was a major British industrial conglomerate involved in consumer and defence electronics, communications, and engineering. The company was founded in 1886, was Britain's largest private employer with over 250 ...

, while coaching local youth leagues. Roberge was inducted into the

's Athletic Hall of Fame. Roberge died in his hometown of Lowell on June 7, 1993, at the age of 76, and is buried in St. Joseph Cemetery in Lowell.

References

Baseballinwartime.com
Family Article. {{DEFAULTSORT:Roberge, Skippy 1917 births 1993 deaths United States Army personnel of World War II Boston Braves players Bradford Bees players Evansville Bees players Hartford Bees players Indianapolis Indians players Little Rock Travelers players Major League Baseball infielders Milwaukee Brewers (minor league) players Baseball players from Lowell, Massachusetts Toronto Maple Leafs (International League) players United States Army non-commissioned officers