A flawless finish

By MARVIN HOGAN, Sports Editor

March 24, 2008 05:04 pm

— DEXTER — Until the day he died, the great Ty Cobb believed that Dexter’s Charley Robertson cheated.
How else could the raw rookie pitcher, in just his second game, fire a perfect game against Cobb and his mighty Detroit Tiger teammates?
Cobb and teammate Harry Heilmann were destined for the Baseball Hall of Fame. So Robertson wasn’t facing a team that couldn’t hit.
Cobb ended up with a career batting average of .367. Heilmann and Ted Williams were the last two American League hitters to hit over .400 in one season. Heilman had a career batting average of .342.
Accoring to Dexter baseball historian Hal Dick, Cobb just knew that Robertson, a native of the once-bustling northeast Cooke County town, put something on the ball.
“Cobb always said that,” Dick said from his home in Dexter Friday, “when anyone asked about that game.”
The game took place April 30, 1922, at Navin Field, where the Tigers played at the time.
“All of the Tigers thought that,” Dick said, “They even took some of the baseballs from the game and sent several of the balls to American League President Bam Johnson. “They never found anything wrong with the balls.”
Dick said that one game was the highlight of Robertson’s career. “He pitched for six or seven years after that, but was only an average pitcher. He had a good career in the major leagues, but was never that good again.”
It was only his second career start, Dick said. “His was the fifth perfect game ever thrown,” he said. “However, it was the first one ever thrown by a visiting pitcher.”
Robertson’s career record of 49-80, verifies Dick’s assessment that Robertson was only an “average” pitcher.
Against the Tigers, Robertson had to be bailed out only once, Dick said. “The left fielder (Johnny Mostil) had to make a diving catch in the second inning, I think, to keep the Tigers from getting a hit.
Robertson was born in Dexter on Jan. 31, 1896, Dick said, and died when he was 88.
According to Baseball Almanac records, he died in Fort Worth and was buried in Palo Pinto Cemetery, in Palo Pinto.
Dick said Robertson grew up in Nocona and went to college at Austin College in Sherman.
Robertson was 23 when he threw his perfect game. According to game accounts, his best pitch was a slow curve ball that he could spot anywhere in the strike zone.
Dick said this made his fastball more effective.
Dick pointed out that it would be another 34 years (1956) before another visiting pitcher threw a perfect game. That game would be Don Larsen’s perfect game in the 1956 World Series.
Robertson beat the Tigers 7-0. Larsen beat the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1956 World Series.
Robertson also pitched for the St. Louis Browns and the Boston Braves, before retiring in 1928.
Dick said if you look at the history of amateur baseball on Cooke County, you can see how Robertson could have become so good.
“There was a lot of good ballplayers in this area in the 1920s and 1930s,” Dick said.
Dexter had a good team, as did Delaware Bend and Gainesville, he said.
“The old field (in Dexter) is all grown up with weeds now,” Dick said.
If you were to stand in Dick’s front yard and squint a certain way, you might just see what the field looked like.
“They would play every Sunday,” Dick said, “there would be 200 or 300 people there.”
Dick was too young to play, back then, but there are several memories that are still burned in his memory.
“I remember one game,” he said, “between Dexter and Delaware Bend and there was a really good pitcher for one team. I recall hearing that there was a lot of betting going on
“The fans started paying the pitcher $10 if he would not allow a hit in a certain inning.”
Dick said the fans would run and place money that there would be no hits in that inning.
“I don’t know if that pitcher was Charley (Robertson) or not,” Dick said. “Whoever it was he was good enough to keep the other team from getting a hit that inning.”
On the flip side, Dick said, the story goes that others were paying the pitcher to let someone hit in a certain inning. Sure enough,” Dick said, “that inning there would be hit.”
Dick said this story has been handed down from generation to generation. “It is true?” he asked. “I really don’t know. But people like my grandfather and dad would not repeat a story like that if there was not a grain of truth in it.”
Dick also recalled game in which the umpire was too drunk to finish the game.
He said he thought the game was between Dexter and Delaware Bend.
“Anyway,” he said, “the umpire showed up drunk. They played five innings and both teams got tired of the umpire’s bad calls. So they just quit playing.”
Dick said that the teams around Dexter stopped playing in the mid-1930s.
“I think the last game was in 1934,” he said.
However, one Dexter native had already made a name for himself by then.
Sports Editor Marvin Hogan may be contacted at mhogangdr@ntin.net