The Daily Standard
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Grand Lake Mariners manager Mike Roberts speaks to fans during the Meet the Mariners Night at Montgomery Field. Grand Lake opens the season tonight at Hamilton with the home opener on Saturday.
After a career in baseball that included success on the college level and working in professional baseball, Mike Roberts found something familiar about Celina.
Roberts officially begins his duties as manager of the Grand Lake Mariners tonight when they travel to Foundation Field in Hamilton to play the Joes.
"Well, I grew up in a small town in western North Carolina and east Tennessee. Coached in a small town in Chapel Hill (North Carolina) for years and small town in Cape Cod," said Roberts during a break in practice. "I still have interest in helping young people, and I was looking for a small town with wonderful people, strong Christian values and that love the sport of baseball. Honestly, I went searching."
Roberts, who played collegiate baseball at the University of North Carolina, coached the Tar Heels for 21 seasons, winning 780 games, five Atlantic Coast Conference championships and taking the team to two College World Series. He also coached a season at North Carolina-Asheville and went 26-32. During the summer, Roberts coached in the Cape Cod League, the most famous and prestigious of college summer leagues. Roberts coached the Coutuit Kettleers to three Cape Cod League titles. Roberts also worked for several Major League Baseball teams in consultancy roles.
Roberts' son, Brian, played 14 seasons in the majors, 13 with the Baltimore Orioles, where he went to two All-Star Games and led the American League in stolen bases while batting .276 lifetime.
Roberts is not looking to reinvent the baseball wheel in taking over the Mariners. His philosophy is familiar to many local fans.
"To this game, I bring a backyard whiffleball philosophy," said Roberts. "Everything is so structured during the year. I mean, the last 14 years I've also been in pro baseball and everything is so structured. Now that sometimes we forget kind of how this game started, and it was kind of wiffleball in the backyard. Yeah, and so you know what? What I like to try to do is let the guys relax. Let's do what I call a self-motivation. Summer it is their first pro baseball summer."
The schedule of the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League reflects Minor League Baseball, which takes most Mondays off.
"Minor league plays Tuesday through Sunday. This league (plays) Tuesday through Sunday," said Roberts. "So we get a minor league schedule and then really to let the kids relax and kind of learn the game the old-fashioned way as if they just stepped out in their backyard."
Putting together the team was a simple process.
"I wanted coaches to tell me that these guys really like to play kind of old-fashioned dirtbags," said Roberts, a reference to players not afraid to get the uniforms dirty. "Yeah, because my philosophy's backyard baseball and to play backyard baseball. You gotta have dirtbags, and you gotta have guys willing to dive all over the field."
Roberts' love of the game came from the trips he and his father made from North Carolina to Cincinnati to old Crosley Field to watch the Reds.
"He would drive me two weekends (each) summer, starting in 1954, and I would watch Frank Robinson Vada Pinson and Ted Kluszewski way back and all the way through the 50s and up till when I went to college in 1968 is that I came to Crosley Field twice a year, so I used to love to watch back then.
"Then when I was a college coach for years I went to Team One workouts at Blue Ash at Crosley Field 2 (a replica of the old stadium) as well. So I recruited a lot for the universe. … So this county takes me back a little bit to some of my times in Ohio."
Schedule:
Tue-Sat home games 6:35 p.m.
Sunday home games 4:05 p.m.
June
5 at Hamilton (7:05 p.m.)
6 Hamilton
7 at Hamilton (7:05 p.m.)
9 Xenia
10 at Xenia (7:05 p.m.)
11 Xenia
12 at Muskegon (6:35 p.m.)
13 at Muskegon (6:35 p.m.)
14 at Muskegon (5:05 p.m.)
16 at Lima (7:05 p.m.)
17 Lima
18 at Lima (7:05 p.m.)
19 Flag City
20 Flag City
21 at Flag City (1:05 p.m.)
23 Michigan
24 Michigan
25 at Michigan (7:05 p.m.)
26 Southern Ohio
27 at Southern Ohio (7:05 p.m.)
28 Southern Ohio-*
30 at Xenia (7:05 p.m.)
July
1 Xenia
2 at Xenia (7:05 p.m.)
3 Muskegon
4 Muskegon
5 Muskegon-*
7 at Michigan (7:05 p.m.)
8 Michigan
9 at Michigan (7:05 p.m.)
10 at Flag City (6:05 p.m.)
11 at Flag City (6:05 p.m.)
12 Flag City-*
14 Lima
15 at Lima (7:05 p.m.)
16 Lima
17 at Southern Ohio (7:05 p.m.)
18 Southern Ohio
19 at Southern Ohio (5:05 p.m.)
23 Hamilton
24 at Hamilton (7:05 p.m.)
25 Hamilton
