Rick Roberts paced deliberately from the end of the hallway to the home dugout’s entrance at Point Stadium.
His eyes red and slightly tearing, Roberts resembled a manager who had just addressed his gritty team after a solid AAABA Tournament appearance that ended too soon for players, coaches and their fans.
The Delweld manager walked up the short steps and went back down. He turned to an onlooker and delivered a message that bodes well for the city’s baseball fans.
“I’m telling you, Johnstown is going to win this thing,” Roberts said after Delweld put a scare into 26-time AAABA Tournament champion Baltimore before falling 4-3 on Thursday night. “I can see it coming.”
In 64 AAABA Tournaments, the host team has failed to win the title. Make no mistake, Johnstown’s entries have made August a month worth waiting for each summer. In six-plus decades of baseball there have been numerous big finishes, crazy plays, unlikely rallies and – yes – bad breaks and heartbreaks.
Fans who’ve been at the Point or Roxbury – or any of the outlying fields – for the better part of their lives can hardly wait for Roberts’ prediction to come true. On the back of a program-ad baseball card cutout, Tribune-Democrat photographer John Rucosky went as far as stating that he “looks forward to witnessing the Johnstown entry win the tournament at least once in my lifetime.”
J.R. isn’t alone.
That’s why it’s worth listening to Roberts and even sharing his optimism.
Roberts has a better grasp on baseball in general and this area’s youth movement than most people. A former 10th-round draft pick of the Detroit Tigers, Roberts advanced as high as Class AAA in the minors and was regarded highly enough to earn a spot on the Los Angeles Dodgers 40-man roster before arm problems ended his career.
He can spot a talented group. Even though he’ll step down as field manager, Roberts sees a strong nucleus waiting for Delweld GM Chris DelSignore, who managed the team prior to this season.
“We have nine high school kids on our roster,” Roberts said. “Those kids matured unbelievably during the summer. That’s going to be a learning experience for those kids to come back next year. They’re going to be tournament ready.
“A lot of the credit has to go to the coaching staff I have with me,” he added. “Casey Long, Garrett Sidor, John Rougeaux, James Mehall, Tom McCreary, the trainer Jimmy Stofko. Each one of those guys had a job and they all did their job great. The kids learned from each one of us.”
Teaching baseball is a big part of Roberts’ life.
Instead of stepping away from the game, Roberts joined former major league pitcher Mike Holtz in establishing the ERA Sports Inc., a Richland Township indoor facility where hundreds players learn fundamentals. Roberts also is an assistant coach at UPJ.
When he says he sees a AAABA Tournament title in Johnstown’s not-so-distant future, Roberts brings some insight and credibility that comes from playing, coaching and teaching at so many different levels.
Here’s hoping Roberts’ crystal ball soon finds the strike zone for Johnstown.
Mike Mastovich is a sports writer for The Tribune-Democrat.
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