Nathan Daniel "Nate" Robertson, (born September 3,
1977, in Wichita, Kansas) is a left-handed pitcher
who currently plays with the Detroit Tigers. He
attended Wichita State University and was drafted by
the Florida Marlins in the fifth round of the 1999
Major League Baseball Draft.
He made his Major League debut on September 7, 2002
for the Marlins, pitching 4 2/3 innings and allowing
four earned runs in a 4-1 loss to the Pittsburgh
Pirates at PNC Park. He was acquired by the Tigers
in a trade that sent LHP Mark Redman and minor
league pitcher Jerrod Fuell to Florida for
Robertson, RHP Gary Knotts, and minor league pitcher
Rob Henkel.
In 2005, he began wearing clear corrective lenses to
correct his lazy eye.
Robertson invented a new means of rallying the
Tigers during a June 2006 game with the New York
Yankees. While wearing a microphone for television,
Robertson began stuffing his mouth with Big League
Chew to encourage the Tigers to score, down 5-0.
Iván Rodríguez hit a home run on the subsequent
at-bat. Even though the Tigers actually lost the
game, the "Gum Time!" tradition has caught on among
Detroit players and fans.
In a rare coincidence, Robertson logged the exact
same number of innings pitched in back-to-back
seasons, with 196.2 in both 2004 and 2005.
Nate earned his first career postseason victory on
October 10, 2006 by pitching five hectic shutout
innings against the Oakland Athletics in game 1
which helped launch the Detroit Tigers into their
ALCS sweep of the A's and their first pennant since
1984.
