Jerry Robertson (baseball)

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Jerry Lee Robertson (October 13, 1943 - March 24, 1996) was a Major League Baseball pitcher. Born in Winchester, Kansas, the right-hander was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 27th round of the 1965 amateur draft, and later drafted by the Montreal Expos from the Cardinals as the 38th pick in the 1968 expansion draft. He played for the Expos (1969) and Detroit Tigers (1970).

Robertson started 27 of the 49 games he appeared in during his short MLB career. He pitched in the very first game in Montreal Expos history, contributing 1.1 innings of scoreless relief to an 11-10 victory over the New York Mets. (April 8, 1969) He also had the best earned run average (3.96) of any of the Expos pitchers who started 15 or more games during that inaugural season.

The 25-year-old rookie actually pitched better than his poor 5-16 record would indicate. After being used in relief during the early part of the season, Robertson joined the starting rotation on May 23. He pitched six or more innings in 17 of his 27 starts, but didn't get much run support from his teammates. In his 16 losses, the Expos scored a total of just 20 runs, and were victims of a shutout in seven of those games. Montreal was shut out in 18 of their 162 games...almost half of them occurred when Robertson was the starting pitcher.)

Some of Jerry Robertson's best efforts in 1969:

10 innings, 1 earned run vs. San Diego -- LOST 1-0 (August 21)
9 innings, 1 earned run vs. Atlanta -- WON 7-1 (August 4)
7.2 innings, 0 earned runs vs. San Diego -- NO DECISION (June 12)
7 innings, 1 earned run vs. Los Angeles -- LOST 6-0 (August 26)
8 innings, 2 earned runs vs. Philadelphia -- LOST 2-0 (June 29)
7 innings, 2 earned runs vs. St. Louis -- LOST 2-1 (September 27)
6.2 innings, 2 earned runs vs. Cincinnati -- NO DECISION (May 23)
8 innings, 3 earned runs vs. Los Angeles -- WON 4-3 (June 8)

Robertson was traded by the Expos to the Detroit Tigers on December 3, 1969. In the 1970 season, he appeared in 11 games for the Tigers, all in relief, with an ERA of 3.68. He also spent time with the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens that year. On March 30, 1971, the Tigers traded him to the New York Mets, and he never again made it back to the big leagues.

Robertson died at the age of 52 in Burlington, Kansas.