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Roberts ready for another run Time marches on. The year was 1984 and Mike Roberts was first managing in the Cape Cod Baseball League for the Wareham Gatemen. His 6-year-old son Brian served as batboy for the team. While the Gatemen made the playoffs that year, the elder Roberts didn’t return to the Cape until 2000, when he once again managed Wareham, this time to the Western Division title. Son Brian did return to the Cape in 1998, leading the Chatham A’s to the league championship series title over Wareham.
Now 20 years after managing the Gatemen, this spring Mike Roberts became the field manager of the Cotuit Kettleers. And Brian, the former batboy, is 26 and the leadoff hitter and second baseman for the Baltimore Orioles. Mike Roberts replaced Garrett Quinn at the Kettleers’ helm. Quinn, who opened last season with 13 straight wins and a playoff berth was married last August and has taken on new job responsibilities. A native of Kingsport, Tenn., the 54-year-old Roberts has made his mark on all levels of baseball over the years. He went to the University of North Carolina where he earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in physical education. He was a catcher for the Tar Heels, was drafted by the Kansas City Royals, and played two full seasons and part of a third in the minor leagues before asking for his release to pursue his master’s degree. At the age of 26, Roberts became head coach at North Carolina and from 1976 to 1998 led the baseball team to five Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season titles, four ACC tourney crowns and a pair of College World Series appearances. The next two years, he coached and was assistant athletic director at UNC-Asheville. All totaled, his teams made nine NCAA postseason appearances.
He was offered the athletic director post at Florida Southern, but felt that would take him too far away from the field and the student-athletes. Instead, he decided to go after a doctorate degree in sports administration at the University of New Mexico, "semester by semester. I want to be a faculty member in sports administration in the next two to three years," he says. "I relate to students. But when the athletes tell me it’s too hard to do studies and play sports, I tell them I’m 54 and I’m still doing it so they can too. It gets their attention." Son Brian’s big break after being drafted by the Orioles in 1999, came when another former Cape Leaguer, Mike Bordick, was injured in June 2001. Bordick had been drafted in 1986, the same year he starred for the Yarmouth Dennis Red Sox. His father says Brian has made the most of his opportunity to play with the Orioles. Through Sunday’s games, Brian was batting .260 with 18 doubles, 18 runs batted in and 20 stolen bases. "It shows there’s still hope for the little guy in this sport," the proud father says of his 5-9, 175-pound son. "That if you’re just an average size, you can still reach your dreams." Roberts and his wife Nancy also have a 29-year-old daughter, Angela, a CPA in Dallas, so they have had plenty of travel opportunities. His goal as Kettleers field manager is "to give players a great experience playing in the league and to return home energized by their experience." Looking forward to his third Cape League season, he speculates, "Probably our best player will be Justin Maxwell, who was drafted but didn’t play at the University of Maryland this season because of an injury. And we have a young man from Florida International named Dennis Diaz who is a real speedster. I like to run too." No doubt Roberts is hoping Diaz will follow in Brian’s footsteps, stealing bases. “I’m happy," muses Roberts. "I’m finally managing OVER the bridge," perhaps proving it’s worth waiting to cross your bridges — until you come to them.
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