David Robertson, one of two active major leaguers to play at Shea Stadium and old Yankee Stadium, recalls the two bygone ballparks

ARLINGTON, Texas — Pretty much every big-leaguer remembers his major-league debut vividly.

David Robertson is no different.

But the Rangers reliever, taken by the Yankees in the 17th round of the 2006 draft, is different from his brethren in this regard: The 39-year-old is one of only two active major-leaguers (the other being 44-year-old Red Sox reliever Rich Hill) to have pitched in both New York team’s since-demolished ballparks — Shea Stadium, where a then-23-year-old Robertson made his debut in 2008 and, of course, old Yankee Stadium (2008 was the final year for both stadiums).

“I just remember when I looked up behind home plate when I got out there, when I stopped shaking, it felt like the stands just never stopped going up,” Robertson recalled with a laugh Tuesday afternoon of his debut June 29, 2008, at Shea. “It was like Harry Potter and the Quidditch stadium that just keeps going up. That’s how I visually remember it.”

Replacing Chad Moeller for the bottom of the sixth, Robertson faced . . . 

“Oliver Perez!” the righthander interrupted. “The pitcher. I almost hit him in the face.”

Robertson, who is also the last active player from the Yankees' last championship team (2009), struck out the veteran lefthander, and remembered giving up a hit to the next batter, Jose Reyes, and a single to Luis Castillo. After a wild pitch, David Wright hit a sacrifice fly. Robertson ended the inning by getting Carlos Beltran to fly to center. Robertson allowed one-out singles to Ryan Church and Endy Chavez in the seventh but got Brian Schneider to hit into a 4-6-3 double play.

“I had no idea what I was doing,” Robertson said, laughing again. “It was the second time I ever played catch with a big-league baseball. You didn’t play with a big-league ball in the minor leagues then, you had a minor-league ball, which was smaller and softer. I felt like everything I threw, I didn’t know where it was going. That took me months to figure it out.”

The righthander’s Yankee Stadium debut came two days later, on July 1, against the Rangers, with better results. Taking over for Dan Giese (who would later serve as the Yankees’ pro scouting director, preceding the current job holder, Matt Daley) for the top of the sixth. Robertson struck out two in a perfect inning. He walked two (one intentional) in the seventh but recorded a third strikeout and allowed no runs.

Robertson’s memories of that game aren’t quite as clear as for his debut, but his recollections of old Yankee Stadium are.

“The second tier of Yankee Stadium, how it seemed to come out and just kind of hover over the field, so it was just so loud,” Robertson said of the thunderdome effect many a player over the years have described regarding the previous home of the Yankees. “When you ran onto the field from the bullpen, it seemed like such a grand entrance in the stadium because it just seemed so big.”

Robertson posted a 5.34 ERA in 25 games in 2008 and, though he didn’t make the 2009 club out of spring training, he started gaining his footing in the majors with that championship team, posting a 3.30 ERA in 45 games.

“I remember, and I’ve told people this before, we met in spring training, we knew we were going to win the World Series. There was no doubt,” Robertson said. “The vibe in that clubhouse was ‘No one’s beating us.’ ”

Robertson posted a 2.81 ERA with the Yankees from 2008-14 before signing a four-year, $46 million free-agent deal with the White Sox in December 2014. The White Sox flipped him back to the Yankees in 2017 at the trade deadline (in a deal that also netted them Todd Frazier and Tommy Kahnle) and Robertson spent 2018 with the Yankees as well.

“I mean, he’s 39, and he’s still elite,” said Aaron Boone, who managed Robertson in ’18 when the reliever had a 3.23 ERA in 69 games. “He’s still as good as he was back then. I know the stuff [internal metrics] we look at suggests he’s every bit still that good. So am I surprised he’s still at the peak of his powers? Maybe a little bit. But I’m not surprised he’s still good.”

Robertson, who has a 3.00 ERA in 56 games this season, overall has a 2.90 ERA in his 16 years in the majors, a journey that began in Queens and lasted far longer than he thought it would.

“I didn’t expect it to be this long,” said Robertson, who had Tommy John surgery in August 2019. “My goal was to retire at 35, if I could make it that long . . . I feel like I still got it, that I could still throw at a high level, compete at a high level so I wanted to continue playing. I don’t know how many more years I want to play, but just trying to enjoy the time I have right now.”