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Robin Roberts, 1926-2010

It was very sad to learn that Phillies legend Robin Roberts has passed away at age 83. Despite his advancing years, he was always the quintessential "Whiz Kid" who in 1950 pitched the Phils into their only World Series in an otherwise barren 65-year stretch, and who shut down the damn Yankees for nine innings before another Hall of Famer, Joe DiMaggio, got to him in the 10th. I always regretted coming of baseball-watching age just a few years too late to see Roberts pitch, but I always liked the way he came back here to his adopted hometown frequently, and became an ambassador between our ragged present and the Phillies of that bygone era.

He was a real class act, but he was also a link to a long-lost time when Philadelphia was at its Industrial Revolution zenith, when we still had two ballclubs in this town and there was a green cathedral right there amid the rowhouses of North Philadelphia. He will be greatly missed.