By MATTHEW M. BURKE

    Stealing bases is not aggressive. It’s a part of the game, that when done well, wins baseball contests. 

    It is viewed as aggressive by some because some teams don’t always do it well, and it becomes risky when there is a shred of doubt in the minds of the players between the base-paths and also in the minds of the coaches calling the shots. 

    Stealing is one area where that seed of doubt is planted for coaches and players alike when there is not enough conditioning and practice.

    As of July 8, Cotuit led the league in stolen bases with 34, one more than the second place Yarmouth Dennis Red Sox. Cotuit left fielder Mike Bianucci (Auburn) was tied for the league lead in stolen bases with Falmouth outfielder Aja Barto (Tulane), both with nine.

    So it should come as no surprise to baseball fans that Cotuit coach Mike Roberts’ son Brian, an All-Star second baseman for the Baltimore Orioles, leads the American League with 26 stolen bases, two over Cleveland’s Grady Sizemore.

    Mike’s coaching philosophy is to play “backyard baseball;” not so much to be aggressive as it is to be fundamentally sound and to excel at every facet of the game of baseball no matter how minute.

    “I consider myself a teacher of the way the game is supposed to be played,” Mike said. “I didn’t know that baserunning was wrong? So when you talk about aggressive, what’s aggressive about that? To me, that’s the way you’re supposed to run. If you can’t run, go bowl.”

    This philosophy was passed down to his son, who, despite physical limitations in height and size, has stepped into his own and has become one of the best second basemen in the game. Brian was voted an All-Star this year by his peers after coming back from what was thought to be a potentially career threatening injury to his left elbow.

    Mike is in his fourth summer as the skipper for the Cotuit Kettleers. Last summer he led the Kettleers to the Western Division finals, losing to Wareham two games to none. Interestingly enough, he previously coached Wareham in 1984 and 2000, and both of those teams finished the year leading the league in steals. Both teams also won Western Division titles. The 2000 team tied the all-time single season record for stolen bases.

    Brian followed his father to the Cape, and played for John Schiffner in Chatham in 1998, where they won a Cape League title with the help of a handful of other current Major Leaguers including Kyle Snyder of the Red Sox and Kevin Mench of the Milwaukee Brewers. Brian was drafted the following year by the Orioles out of South Carolina.

    “The philosophy really is back yard,” Mike said last weekend before playing his old team, Wareham. “I feel like when you go to the backyard as a child you don’t go to loaf, to run to first base half speed. You go to sweat and to grind it out and do things the right way. That’s really the philosophy…I want them to have fun everyday, win or lose.”

    Mike is truly a teacher of the game, a short, fit, southern gentleman with class. He is so well respected around the league that players from other Cape League teams, that he has worked with in the past, will come over and say hello prior to the first pitch, dispensing pleasantries and discussing each other’s families. Mike coached the University of North Carolina Tar Heels from 1976 to 1998, and he coached at UNC-Asheville during the 2000 season. He led the Tar Heels to two College World Series appearances and has seen 15 of his former players compete on the Major League level. 

    During the early years, he said that he had a run of at least six years where he had phenomenal shortstops, like former Major Leaguer Walt Weiss. His son Brian was little at the time and would watch. 

    Mike said that both Roberts’ would be taking mental notes and that he would teach Brian what he was seeing in players such as Weiss.

    Brian was a “late-bloomer,” according to his father. Mike said that Brian had open-heart surgery at the age of five and wasn’t “on the growth chart” until he was seven years old. 

    Father and son would throw long-toss everyday they could at the cul-de-sac outside of their home in North Carolina. Mike said that he noticed Brian’s speed early on. His son’s favorite game was pickle and he was constantly running. “We always worked on two things,” Mike said, “and that was running and throwing…because we knew he was going to be very little.”

    And while Brian might have been limited physically, he had rhythm and was fundamentally sound. Mike added that they didn’t know if Brian would be able to handle the rigors of competition until he was 19 years old.

    “I always told him that it doesn’t matter what size you are,” Mike said. “You can throw better than anybody, so you throw, you throw hard, you throw everyday, you throw line drives, and you throw them with backspin; you throw on targets. So we worked on that, and the final part was…from both sides of the plate make contact with every swing…ya know, don’t miss the baseball.”

    Mike said that once he saw that his son was strong enough to compete, Brian took off, and the rest is history. Brian played for his dad at UNC until Mike was abruptly fired in 1998. Brian then left for the University of South Carolina. Since 1999, his instruction has centrally come out of Camden Yards.

    Needless to say, Mike is proud of his son. “Its more pleased that any young man, and I tell the players that I coach every year, my goal is for any young man to have the opportunity to live his dream,” he said. “Now if that’s in music or art, the doctor, something else, then that’s fine. Enjoy baseball, but have a dream, have a focus, quit letting all the crap get in the way…I think Brian was focused, and that’s my goal with these guys, is how do you teach them the discipline and the focus, and get all the junk out of their life, to give their skills the opportunity to blossom?”

    Mike is currently a consultant working as an Executive Coach with DeLaPorte & Associates in the off-season; a Dallas based coaching firm that teaches executives organizational and leadership techniques. He said that he wants to continue to coach, whether that is in college or in the Cape League as long as his health permits. 

    As for Brian, well, he is doing just fine too, and is a Major League All-Star. Coach Roberts advocates following your dreams and having fun playing fundamentally sound baseball. It worked for Brian, so as you can imagine, Cotuit players are buying into the “backyard” philosophy.

    “Its great for Brian,” Mike said of his son’s rise to Major League stardom. “But it also helps me at times with the teaching methods that I’m using.” He continued, “When you try to show people base stealing, and certain things with their swing,” and it’s the same techniques that trained an All-Star second baseman, “when he’s having a year like he’s having this year, ya know? Players will look and say, “Well I’m not 100 percent sure I agree with Coach Roberts, but maybe it works.”