I promise. The AC Roos sports stories will move on at some point. To other decades. To other sports. To the women. But the early year baseball ones are simply too damn good. Tonight’s story is one of them.
The Horns baseball win over the Roos in 1919 has already been the source of some great tales. The game itself. The legend of Bibb Falk. And the rookie year of 1927 New York Yankee Ray Morehart (AC ’22). Surely you would be right to assume that no additional stories could be extracted from that game, right?
You assume wrong, my friend. Not even close.
Charlie Robertson grew up in Nocona, TX, and came to Austin College in 1917 in order to study for the ministry and to play baseball, not necessarily in that order. He pitched for 3 seasons, and graduated in 1919 after that memorable game at Clark Field in Austin.
A baseball career called, and Robertson spent a few years in the minors. His big break came in 1922, when he was signed and called up by the Chicago White Sox (what is it with AC and the White Sox?). Robertson joined Bibb Falk on the roster in Chicago, and began a 7 year career in the majors. He retired in 1928 with the Boston Braves.
Robertson often struggled throughout his career. At best he could be described as a journeyman with short periods of success. His career W-L record of 49-80 was not impressive, and his lifetime ERA of 4.44 was below average at best. But he was in the majors, which is an accomplishment in and of itself.
As a rookie in April 1922, Robertson notched his first win at Cleveland against the Indians. But there would be no time to celebrate, as 4 days later he would be back on the mound against an even tougher opponent, the Detroit Tigers. That game would be played at Navin Field (later renamed Tiger Stadium) in Detroit.
The Tigers could hit. Detroit was famous in those days for poor pitching and tremendous batting. Impressively, Detroit had set the American League record for highest team batting average over a season in 1921. Even more impressively, their .316 team average that year is an AL record THAT STILL STANDS TODAY.
And the star of the Tigers squad was Ty Cobb, arguably the greatest hitter who ever lived. Cobb’s lifetime batting average of .366 remains the highest in the big leagues today. In April 1922, Cobb was on his way to one of his best seasons ever; he would finish the season with a .401 average. Only a handful of players have ever topped .400, and no one has done so since Ted Williams hit .406 in 1941.
Nevertheless, when Robertson woke up on April 30, 1922 in Detroit, he must have felt good. He must have felt REALLY, REALLY good. Because Charlie Robertson……. Austin College class of 1919……. went out to the mound in Detroit…….and pitched a perfect game. Against the best hitting team in baseball.
27 outs. No hits. No walks. No errors. 90 pitches. Cobb would go 0-3, his last at bat ending on a called strike three. As the game went on and the perfect game inched closer to reality, Cobb became increasingly livid, even accusing Robertson of doctoring the ball. But nothing would faze Robertson. The final out was a short fly ball to left. Bibb Falk had the day off, and would watch it all
from the bench.
Robertson was an instant national sensation. Papers around the country ran articles on May 1st about his outing. His performance made the New York Times, which mentioned that only two other pitchers had thrown perfect games in the modern era (one was Cy Young). He also made the Waco News Tribune, which noted that Robertson was a native Texan and “Austin College Man”. An article 4 months later in the News Tribune would mention this new star’s desire to return to Sherman during the off-season to coach.
The perfect game in Detroit would grow in stature throughout baseball’s golden age simply because no pitcher could repeat it for 34 years. Near misses were common, but none could reach the magic number of 27.
That all changed famously in 1956, when Don Larsen threw his perfect game at Yankee Stadium to defeat the Dodgers in Game 5 of the World Series. Larsen’s win would help propel New York to the title. And Yogi Berra would become known for his famous hug.
Since AC Roo Robertson’s masterpiece, there have been 15 perfect games in the majors. Only one of those 15 had a lower pitch count than Robertson (David Cone in 1999). According to an analysis at baseball-reference.com, Robertson’s perfect game was the most statistically unlikely of them all………….due to the hitting prowess of the 1922 Detroit Tigers.
How ’bout that Charlie Robertson? I always say it, but this time I truly mean it. Go. Roos.
The next story will also be baseball. And it will be a long one. In fact, it will be three separate stories that will then be combined into one. But like this one, it. is. good. Hope you enjoy, and stay tuned.
Just six days after Larsen’s perfect game in the Series in 1956, the game show “What’s My Line” invited Charlie Robertson on the show to give the participants an opportunity to figure out his current occupation by asking a limited number of questions. In the introductions, Robertson’s former occupation…including his perfect game against Cobb…comes up in the conversation. Go Roos.
And to finish things off this evening, my favorite scene from my favorite movie about a perfect game…ironically involving the Tigers once again.
