In advance of the Dodgers’ UCLA night on April 28, manager Dave Roberts spoke about his four years in Westwood. He chose to walk on to the UCLA baseball team instead of accepting a football scholarship to be an option quarterback at Air Force.

Before he even chose a sport, Roberts’ athletic career nearly ended as a sophomore in high school. He blew out his knee so badly that he needed a second opinion to find a doctor who told him he could ever play sports again. He went on to win a CIF championship as Rancho Buena Vista’s quarterback before choosing baseball in college.

READ: Dave Roberts proud to link UCLA to the Dodgers

Roberts didn’t just pass through UCLA. He spend four years there, the fourth being the most vital to launching a 10-year playing career in major league baseball. There were more than 1,300 players selected ahead of him, including nine UCLA teammates, in the 1993 MLB draft. He returned to UCLA, where he set a school record with 45 stolen bases, and achieved career highs in batting average (.353), on-base percentage (.445) and slugging percentage (.468). He was drafted 21 rounds earlier in 1994.

Roberts spent three seasons playing for the Dodgers, but his most notable feat came as a member of the Red Sox. Roberts famously stole second base and eventually scored the tying run in the ninth inning of Game 4 of the ALCS against the Yankees. The Red Sox won in extra innings and didn’t lose again on the way to snapping an 86-year drought and winning the 2004 World Series.