PHOENIX -- Waymon Roberts, father of Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, died on Friday at the age of 68.
The Dodgers will be managed in split-squad games on Friday night by bench coach Bob Geren and Triple-A manager Bill Haselman.
Waymon Roberts was a retired Marine. An African-American married to a Japanese woman, Eiko, Waymon was stationed in Okinawa when Dave Roberts was born 44 years ago. While in the military, Waymon Roberts also was stationed in California, North Carolina and Hawaii. He retired a master gunnery sergeant.
When Roberts was named the first African-American manager in the history of the Dodgers in 2015, Waymon Roberts discussed how his son was raised.
"We didn't talk race and we didn't talk racism, either," Waymon Roberts said, according to the San Diego Union Tribune. "We are who we are. … That was one of our philosophies as a family. We have no choice where we're going, but we have a choice about what we do when we get there."
That day at Dodger Stadium, Waymon, a native of Houston, was asked about the significance of his son's hiring.
"I asked him about that just before he was hired," he said. "It initially didn't register that it was such a big deal."