“There are two prominent David Robertsons in American life today. One is music director of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, a gifted conductor who has performed all over the world and has frequently played Carnegie Hall. The other is the closer for the New York Yankees,” writes Howard Megdal at Thursday’s Sports on Earth website. “But the two have far more in common than you’d think, extending well beyond their names and into their career circumstances and approach. I spoke to each Robertson about the other, and came away with conformation of my theory: conducting a major symphony orchestra and closing out a baseball game are remarkably similar.” Conductor Robertson said told Megdal, “ ‘Growing up … I was always like, in the Peanuts cartoons? The kid way out in left field.… Whenever there was a fly ball out to left field, I would always see my manager’s face go in his hands, because it just meant a home run.’ The pitcher Robertson, too, claimed ignorance when it came to the maestro’s profession. ‘I don’t know anything about the music world,’ Robertson said.… Robertson, the pitcher, is being asked to take over for the greatest closer in baseball history [Mariano Rivera].”
Posted May 19, 2014
Pictured: Yankees pitcher David Robertson (left) and St. Louis Symphony Orchestra Music Director David Robertson. Photo by USA TODAY Sports / AP
