by Jon Weisman
Amid the flowers that have populated the Opening Day starting lineups of the Dodgers, you’ll find the perennials: the Garveys, the Karroses and of course, the Kershaws. Even in recent years, you’ll find bloomin’ blossoms in the darndest places. You know you’ve cycled through some seasons when you come to terms with the fact that last week in Tokyo, Max Muncy made his seventh consecutive Opening Day start, the longest streak by a Dodger infielder since Ron Cey’s nine from 1974–82.
You might note the unexpected sprouts, those whose Opening Day starts seemed to come out of nowhere. Perhaps most famously, Fernando Valenzuela’s Opening Day debut in 1981 arrived when injuries uprooted one veteran starting pitcher after another — before El Toro became a perennial himself.
We should also remember those who resembled hibiscus trionum, nature’s meteor, whose blossoming endures as briefly as a single day. Press the pedals of such Opening Day third basemen as German Rivera (1984), Chris Donnels (2001) and Blake DeWitt (2008) into your scrapbooks.
However, if you are searching for one of the most unexpected yet rewarding Opening Day starters for the Dodgers, you need not look farther than the man who now chooses the Opening Day starters for the Dodgers.
When the Dodgers acquired a 29-year-old outfielder named Dave Roberts on December 22, 2001, their plans for him were about as modest as the players they traded: Christian Bridenbaugh and Nial Hughes, neither of whom ever made it above Single-A in the minors.
True, Roberts had played three seasons for Cleveland, but his career totals of 182 plate appearances, 12 stolen bases and a .601 OPS didn’t scream “Start me!”
In fact, when the Dodgers arrived at Vero Beach for Spring Training in 2002, Roberts ranked no better than fourth on the depth chart in center field, behind Marquis Grissom, Tom Goodwin and McKay Christensen —the one-time №6 overall pick in the 1994 MLB June Amateur Draft who hit .327/.400/.429/.829 in a 28-game trial with the Dodgers the previous summer.
That spring, Roberts did what more than a few upstarts have done — he played his butt off in exhibition games. He batted .368 with a .478 on-base percentage, three doubles, eight walks (against four strikeouts) and six stolen bases in 18 Grapefruit League games. In doing so, he rocketed past Grissom, Goodwin and Christensen into the Dodger Opening Day lineup on April 2, 2002, as its leadoff hitter no less.
Then Roberts did what far fewer upstarts have done. He backed up his stunning arrival through summer, fall and back into spring.
As a Dodger from 2002–04, Roberts had a .342 on-base percentage while stealing 118 bases in 143 attempts. His success rate on steals of .825 is second in Dodger history (minimum 100 attempts) behind only Davey Lopes, and his 33-for-34, .971 showing in 2004 is a single-season Dodger record.
Roberts is more famous for what he did among the fall leaves in October with the Boston Red Sox (you know what we mean) than anything he did in March or April. Nevertheless, if you’re searching for the seeds that defined the future Dodger World Champion manager, you can probably find them in the soil of a 2002 Opening Day.
The Opening Day surprise: Dave Roberts was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.