{"id":1601,"date":"2020-11-16T08:00:20","date_gmt":"2020-11-16T16:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/?p=1601"},"modified":"2024-12-02T13:49:53","modified_gmt":"2024-12-02T21:49:53","slug":"daniel-robertson-liberal-studies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/daniel-robertson-liberal-studies\/","title":{"rendered":"Life in the big leagues and the online classroom"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Former

Daniel Robertson spent parts of four seasons in Major League Baseball, and he enrolled with Oregon State Ecampus during his professional peak in order to complete his liberal studies degree online. (Photo by Kelly Gavin<\/a>)<\/p><\/div>\n

With a major dream fulfilled, a passion for learning sparked Daniel Robertson\u2019s journey toward a liberal studies degree<\/h2>\n

The phone rang in Daniel Robertson\u2019s hotel room\u00a0on\u00a0the\u00a0night\u00a0of\u00a0April 22, 2014.\u00a0He was in Las Vegas, and he felt \u2014 no, he\u00a0knew<\/em>\u00a0\u2014\u00a0he was going nowhere in his seventh season of professional baseball\u00a0as a member of\u00a0the San Diego Padres organization.<\/p>\n

Robertson was good at baseball. He was good when he played in 2008 for an Oregon State University team that was fresh off back-to-back national championships, and he was an all-star in the minor leagues.<\/p>\n

But\u00a0as\u00a0he answered that phone call\u00a0in 2014, he\u00a0felt no closer to\u00a0achieving\u00a0his lifelong\u00a0goal\u00a0of playing\u00a0Major League Baseball.\u00a0That\u2019s why,\u00a0a few\u00a0weeks earlier, he had asked the Padres\u2019 director of player development, Randy Smith,\u00a0to\u00a0trade or\u00a0release him.<\/p>\n

When\u00a0Robertson picked up the phone, it was Smith on the line.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have good news and I have bad news,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n

Robertson didn\u2019t hesitate: \u201cGive me the bad news first.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe traded you to the\u00a0Texas\u00a0Rangers and their minor-league team in Round Rock,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf that\u2019s the bad news, what\u2019s the good news?\u201d Robertson\u00a0asked,\u00a0puzzled. His trade request had been\u00a0granted. He was being given a fresh start\u00a0in pro ball. What\u2019s better than that?<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, the good news is they\u2019re sending you straight to the majors,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n

Pure joy. Disbelief. Validation. Robertson\u00a0felt a little bit of everything\u00a0as he jumped\u00a0out of his hotel bed. Then he packed his bags. At 5 a.m. the next day, he was on a flight to the big leagues.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou work so hard and go through so much and never think the dream\u2019s gonna happen,\u201d he says\u00a0now. \u201cI called my girlfriend, who is my now wife. I was almost in tears. I called my dad. You share those moments with the people who know how hard you worked.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was the start of\u00a0a four-year run\u00a0in which he\u00a0played the game at the highest level, an opportunity so rare that roughly 90% of pro baseball players never experience it.<\/p>\n

And\u00a0while he lived out\u00a0one\u00a0dream, Robertson\u00a0began pursuing another.\u00a0To make it happen, he enrolled online with Oregon State Ecampus\u00a0in pursuit of his liberal studies bachelor\u2019s degree. For the first time,\u00a0he discovered his identity\u00a0outside of baseball.<\/p>\n

\u2018He\u2019s a little guy that nobody gave a chance\u2019<\/h3>\n

It\u2019s impossible to overstate how unlikely Daniel\u00a0Robertson\u2019s\u00a0rise to baseball prominence was. After\u00a0starring for three years at Concordia University, a small private school in southern California, he wanted to\u00a0play with and against the best teams in the nation. That led to a conversation with Oregon State head coach Pat Casey, who already had 11 outfielders on a team that\u00a0had\u00a0just won its second straight College World Series.<\/p>\n

\"Daniel

Robertson played for the Oregon State baseball team in 2008. He earned Pac-10 all-conference honors as an outfielder.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI said, \u2018Danny, I don\u2019t have a scholarship for you,\u2019 \u201d Casey\u00a0recalled\u00a0in a 2008 interview. \u201cHe said, \u2018I don\u2019t care. I want to try it.\u2019 He brings a lot of that don\u2019t-ever-quit, find-a-way-to-do-it attitude.\u00a0He plays hard. He\u2019s a little guy. He\u2019s a little guy that nobody gave a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Casey, however, gave him a chance, and Robertson\u00a0responded by earning a starting job in the outfield\u00a0for the Beavers. A\u00a0few months later, he\u00a0was drafted in the 33rd round of the\u00a0MLB\u00a0draft as the 1,005th player selected.<\/p>\n

Thus began a 12-season\u00a0journey of\u00a0swimming perpetually upstream in\u00a0professional baseball, and as it started, his\u00a0college\u00a0education came to an abrupt halt.<\/p>\n

That is common among pro ballplayers, the majority of whom sign contracts right out of high school or after their junior seasons in college.\u00a0The daily demands \u2014 training, playing, traveling, resting \u2014 are such that many players think there is simply no time to continue their studies.<\/p>\n

Robertson was of that mindset for several years. But just as his playing career reached its apex in the majors, he realized how much Oregon State\u2019s academic expertise could benefit his approach on the baseball diamond.<\/p>\n

A return to Oregon State \u2014 online<\/h3>\n

In 2015, Robertson was playing for the Los Angeles Angels and making an impact all over the field.<\/p>\n

Sacrificing his body to make\u00a0highlight reel catches<\/a>\u00a0in center field.<\/p>\n

Hitting for power<\/a> and showing off his trademark hustle.<\/p>\n

Throwing runners out<\/a>\u00a0at home plate.<\/p>\n

That same year, he reinvented himself as a 30-year-old college student and\u00a0began taking classes exclusively online through Oregon State Ecampus. He picked up where he left off seven years earlier in OSU\u2019s liberal studies bachelor\u2019s degree program<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This time, though, he had a newfound desire to learn.<\/p>\n

\"Daniel

While establishing himself in the major leagues, Robertson began taking classes online with Ecampus. (Photo by Kelly Gavin<\/a>)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cOnce I started taking Ecampus classes on a serious level in 2015, I started seeing the end of the tunnel,\u201d he says. \u201cI took my first online class and got an A in it. I didn\u2019t get very many A\u2019s when I was in college on campus. But now I had a taste for it. I became addicted to it.<\/p>\n

\u201cEcampus taught me how to be more accountable to myself. I took it upon myself to find what I\u2019m capable of and see who I am other than being a professional baseball player.\u201d<\/p>\n

In many ways, Robertson was like any other working adult who pursues an Oregon State degree online for professional advancement and personal enrichment. The big difference was that he performed his job duties in front of thousands of spectators and a live TV audience before switching into student mode.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d come home after spring training games and do three or four hours of homework. It was a relief. Baseball is a beautiful game, but the mental stress that comes with playing against the best in the world every day is rough,\u201d he says. \u201cSometimes I just wanted to come home and read about Plato for my philosophy classes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finding success beyond the bat<\/h3>\n

Oregon State\u2019s College of Liberal Arts<\/a> doesn\u2019t list \u201chelps professional athletes improve their mental approach\u201d among its course learning outcomes, but Robertson will tell you that they can.<\/p>\n

He raves about the classes elevating his maturity and \u201cfine-tuning\u201d his growth mindset.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt gave me a sense of pride that I\u2019m working on other areas of my life while I\u2019m trying to be really good at baseball,\u201d he says. \u201cI felt like I was in full-fledged learning mode every game. Whatever I was struggling with, I could overcome it.<\/p>\n

\"Daniel

With his playing days behind him, Robertson began his coaching career in earnest in 2021. He was named manager of the Maverick Independent League’s Campesinos de Salem-Keizer in Oregon. They won the league championship in Robertson’s debut season.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cSchool gave me a different sense of fulfillment. \u2026 It made me feel like I can do so much more in this world if I take the time to learn.\u201d<\/p>\n

Possessing that contentment and confidence helped Robertson make big life transitions once his playing days ended after the 2019 season. He took on a larger course load with Ecampus and returned to the Oregon State baseball team as a coach \u2014 a profession that is his new passion.<\/p>\n

And when he completed his Oregon State liberal studies degree online, he celebrated his graduation pandemic-style at home<\/a> with his wife, Simone Del Rosario.<\/p>\n

There was no life-changing phone call. No jumping around in a hotel room. No plane to take to his next career destination. The work was complete, and Robertson knew he was just beginning to reap a lifetime of rewards.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never thought I could be a college graduate until Oregon State and Ecampus provided me with the opportunity,\u201d he says. \u201cGoing back to school made me see the world in a different light. It was an amazing experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Discover more about the Oregon State Ecampus online learning experience and the programs and courses we deliver online.<\/em><\/p>\n

Request information<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

<\/span> 6<\/span> minute read<\/span><\/span>The phone rang in Daniel Robertson\u2019s hotel room\u00a0on\u00a0the\u00a0night\u00a0of\u00a0April 22, 2014.\u00a0He was in Las Vegas, and he felt \u2014 no, he\u00a0knew\u00a0\u2014\u00a0he was going nowhere in his seventh season of professional baseball\u00a0as a member of\u00a0the San Diego Padres organization.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1602,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,6,3,677,8],"tags":[75,77],"class_list":["post-1601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all","category-ecampus","category-features","category-students-and-alumni","category-students","tag-college-of-liberal-arts","tag-liberal-studies"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/assets\/daniel-robertson-oregon-state-ecampus.jpg?fit=744%2C496&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7BNSE-pP","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2137,"url":"https:\/\/ecampus.oregonstate.edu\/news\/language-liberal-arts-degree-rebecca-sabine\/","url_meta":{"origin":1601,"position":0},"title":"Violinist melds music, mindfulness with an Oregon State language and liberal arts degree online","author":"Erin J. 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