David Robertson retires after 17 seasonsWhen David Robertson first came onto the scene as a Yankees rookie in 2008, the baby-faced kid from Alabama didn’t quite have the look of someone who was ready for the pressure cooker of a late-inning relief role.
In Robertson's Major League debut -- June 29, 2008, against the Mets at Shea Stadium -- it was obvious how nervous he was pitching in front of 56,277 fans. It was barely two years after the Yankees took him in the 17th round of the 2006 MLB Draft.
His outing wasn’t terrible -- he allowed one run on four hits in two innings while striking out one. But his nerves were abundantly clear for all to see, as he uncorked a wild pitch to the backstop and fumbled his way through the postgame interviews with a deer-in-the-headlights look. It would have been easy for anyone watching to think that Robertson didn’t have enough heart for the job.
Almost two decades later, it’s plain to see that they would have been wrong, because he would show time and time again what he had on the inside.
Robertson, 40, announced his retirement Friday after pitching parts of 17 years for eight teams. He pitched in the postseason in 10 of those seasons while also helping Team USA win the 2017 World Baseball Classic, and he was part of the silver-medal team in the Summer Olympic Games in 2021.
