David Robertson’s road back to the Phillies included a stop in a Rhode Island men’s league

The rule book for the century-old Rhode Island amateur baseball league states that a player is not considered part of a team until he pays the league fee. The George Donnelly Sunset League runs every summer at a historic ballpark in Newport, R.I., providing a competitive atmosphere for college players and others hanging on to the game.

But last summer proved that those rules can bend if a major leaguer — especially one whom many of the players once watched win a World Series title — pulls into Cardines Field for a night.

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Seven months after he considered retiring when the Phillies released him following the 2020 season, David Robertson went to the men’s league last June to face hitters before pitching in the Olympics with Team USA.

The reliever — who rejoined the Phillies last month in a trade with the Cubs and picked up three key outs in the eighth inning of Monday’s 4-3 win over the Reds — pitched four months later in the American League playoffs after building himself back from Tommy John surgery. First, he suited up for Westcott Properties.

“I’m sure he did not pay a league fee,” Sunset League commissioner Chris La Rose said with a laugh.

Robertson was not only one of baseball’s most effective relievers from 2008-18 but also one of the healthiest. He paired his 2.88 ERA over those 11 seasons with just six weeks missed to injury, none of which involved an arm ailment. And then he signed with the Phillies.

Robertson pitched seven games with the Phillies in 2019 before being shut down by elbow soreness in April that required Tommy John surgery in August. He tried to rush his recovery and return for 2020′s 60-game season but fell short. The Phillies let him go after the season, leaving Robertson to ponder his future.

“I pushed my body too hard,” Robertson said. “That was when I had the thoughts of, ‘This is probably it for me.’”

But Robertson, now 37, didn’t want a career defined by durability to end with an injury. So he continued his recovery in Rhode Island, where he lives with his family. He worked out in a local gym, threw bullpen sessions to a college catcher at a public park, and played catch with his buddy in grass that grew past his ankles.

“I would call my friend Brian Hughes, he’s a contractor and he would break off from work,” Robertson said. “He’s in Carhartts and clothes with holes in them and looks like he had been at work all day because he was. He was the only guy I didn’t feel bad hitting with the ball because he’s a tough guy, old hockey player.”

In June 2021, Robertson helped Team USA qualify for the Summer Olympics and then returned to Rhode Island while waiting to go to Tokyo. And that’s when he ended up at Cardines Field. Alex Martinez, a college catcher with whom Robertson threw in the park, told him about the summer league he played in. So Robertson asked if he could tag along.

“He said, ‘Yeah, I’ll ask my coach.’ I was like, ‘Seriously?,’“ Robertson said. “He asked and they said, ‘Sure, you can throw a couple innings.’”

Alex Vescera played in the Sunset League long enough to hear many rumors about major leaguers like Robertson showing up at Cardines Field.

Hall of Famers Bob Feller, Phil Rizzuto, Larry Doby, and Yogi Berra played in the league in the 1940s while they were stationed at Newport’s Naval base, and other legends such as Jimmie Foxx,and Satchel Paige also passed through Cardines Field.

But those sounded like tall tales as the rumors Vescera often heard never came true, leaving him and his R&R Construction teammates unsure what to think when they heard that Robertson — a pitcher for their beloved 2009 Yankees World Series team — was coming to face them.

“It’s an amateur league, so everyone was all upset because the guy played professional baseball,” Vescera said. “But then all of us were like, ‘This is pretty cool.’”

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The ballpark opened in 1908, features quirky outfield dimensions that change direction six times at sharp angles, and has both dugouts on the first-base line. And once again, there was a big-leaguer on the mound.

“We get there and, lo and behold, this guy is there warming up and doing his thing,” Vescera said. “It was David Robertson. It was him. He had the high socks. He had the whole thing going.”

Robertson was told that his recovery from Tommy John surgery would take 16 to 18 months, and “they mean every bit of 18 months,” he said. For a player who was rarely injured, the recovery process was taxing but also enlightening. He wandered through Newport with his family for dinner, often ending the night watching baseball at Cardines.

Robertson spent nearly every summer night for the previous 12 years in a big-league ballpark. And now he was off the horse.

“It kind of makes you not want to come back, to be honest with you,” Robertson said. “I was enjoying it. I wasn’t sure if what I was doing was good enough to come back and then over time my body strengthened up and I realized that the ball was coming back.”

He knew for sure last July after pitching for Team USA in an Olympic tune-up game that his arm was ready again for the majors. Robertson pitched in the Olympics as the U.S. won the silver medal and signed two weeks later with Tampa Bay. He joined the Cubs before this season on a one-year deal, posted a 2.23 ERA over 36 appearances, and was one of the best available relievers at the trade deadline when the Phillies acquired him.

“It’s definitely been a long road to get here and I’m glad I stuck it out and went for it again,” Robertson said. “I felt like I had something left to give to the game and I didn’t want to go out the way I did. I couldn’t go out with the injury I had. I still felt like I had it. Mentally, I’m not ready to quit and thankfully my wife is nice enough to keep letting me play.”

Robertson did not pay a league fee, but he did have a Westcott Properties uniform waiting for him at Cardines.

“They were like, ‘We have pants for you,’” Robertson said. “I was like, ‘Nah, I have some pants.’”

He pitched two innings, threw about 45 pitches, and got the work he needed. It was better than pitching in a public park. Robertson had a World Series ring, but that didn’t mean Vescera and his buddies were bowing to him.

“I don’t want to say we were anything near the competition he was used to facing, but we were able to step in there and give him an at-bat,” Vescera said. “We were fired up. How many times are you able to say you faced not even a former major leaguer but a major leaguer?”

Vescera fouled one of Robertson’s pitches straight back, giving him confidence that he could hold his own. But then Robertson fired a slider — “It was just filthy,” Vescera said — into the dirt with two strikes. Vescera tried to check his swing but the umpire said he was out. Vescera, who played at Franklin & Marshall, was livid.

“I swore that I didn’t go. I’ll tell you to this day that I didn’t go,” Vescera said. “I’m running down the first base line to the dugout and I’m [ticked]. I felt like I had the at-bat stolen from me. I got to the dugout and I saw him laughing and looking in my direction. I looked at him and said, ‘You know I didn’t go.’ He smiled. He wasn’t being a hard-o about it or anything. He had a good time.

“He was the man. The nicest guy. He wasn’t there acting like he was better than all of us, even though he was better than all of us. He was a really, really nice guy.”

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The Westcott team told Robertson after the game that he could keep his jersey. But the pitcher declined, not wanting to keep the team’s equipment after pitching just one game. A return to the big leagues felt closer and that’s all Robertson needed to take away from his night in the men’s league at Cardines Field.

“It definitely wasn’t like a big-league mound, but it was good for me to get out there and pitch in a game,” he said.

“If you walked into the stadium not knowing anything about anything, you would not have known he was a major leaguer,” La Rose said. “He was very gracious to everyone. He was the epitome of what you want in a professional athlete.”