Lemon, Roberts enter Hall of Fame together

Written by: Craig Muder

They defined consistency on the mound in the 1950s, one helping resurrect a franchise and the other anchoring one of the most dominant pitching staffs ever assembled.

Fittingly, Robin Roberts and Bob Lemon headed for Cooperstown together.

On Jan. 22, 1976, the Baseball Writers’ Association of America elected Roberts and Lemon to the Hall of Fame. Between the two of them, they totaled 13 20-win seasons from 1948-56 – averaging nearly 20 complete games a season each.

In 1952 alone, Roberts and Lemon combined for a staggering 58 complete games.

Lemon established himself as a big league star just before Roberts, going 15-10 over two years as a spot starter for the Indians from 1946-47 before winning 20 games with an American League-leading 10 shutouts in 1948. Cleveland won the World Series title that season, with Lemon – a converted infielder who found his niche on the mound after three years in the military in World War II – picking up the win in the decisive Game 6.

From 1948-56, Lemon won 20 or more games in every season but two – and in one of the years he didn’t (1955) Lemon led the AL in wins with 18. From 1948-54, Lemon was named to seven straight All-Star Games and finished in the Top 5 of the AL MVP voting three times. From 1948-56, the Indians finished either first or second in the American League seven times, winning pennants in 1948 and 1954.

Lemon retired following the 1958 season with a 207-128 career record, good for a .618 winning percentage.

He completed 53.7 percent of the 350 games he started in his career.

“When I was a rookie I was a very brash, cocky…boy who’d come to camp to take third base away from Lem’s best friend, Ken Keltner,” said Lemon’s former Indians teammate Al Rosen. “And I said so. I’d go into the batting cage and none of the pitchers would give me a single good ball to hit – nobody but Lem. He made it OK for me to be on that team, and he could have said, ‘Forget it.’ It never mattered to him whether you were rookie or veteran, black or white. He treated everybody the same.”

Roberts came to the big leagues in 1948 after pitching collegiately for Michigan State.

By 1950, the 23-year-old Roberts was the ace of the Phillies’ staff and led Philadelphia to its first NL pennant in 35 seasons. Roberts led the NL in innings pitched each season from 1951-55, topping the 300-inning mark each season. He paced the NL in wins each year from 1952-55, including a remarkable 28-7 record in 1952 when he finished second in the NL MVP vote – falling just 15 points short of the Cubs’ Hank Sauer in the voting.

“Probably the best fastball I ever saw was Robin Roberts,” said Hall of Famer Ralph Kiner. “Robin didn’t throw as hard as Rex Barney, but his ball would rise around six or eight inches, and with plenty on it. And he had great control, which made him very difficult to hit.”

Roberts finished his career with a record of 286-245 to go with a 3.41 earned-run average. He was named to six All-Star Games (1950-56) and totaled 305 complete games, the top total of any pitcher who started his career after World War II.

The Phillies, who had suffered through 16 straight losing seasons from 1933-48, posted winning seasons in four of five seasons from 1949-53 at Roberts’ peak – including the 1950 Whiz Kids’ year where Philadelphia won the NL pennant.

Lemon and Roberts were inducted into the Hall of Fame on Aug. 9, 1976 along with Veterans Committee electees Roger Connor, Cal Hubbard and Fred Lindstrom and Negro Leagues electee Oscar Charleston.

Craig Muder is the director of communications for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum