Rob grew up the grandson of Walter Alston, manager of the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers for 23 years. He grew up in his grandfather's home in Darrtown, Ohio with his mom, dad, sister, and great grandmother. Across the street lived his grandfather's parents. I was Walt’s only grandson making me one of the luckiest kids in the world. He was my best friend!

Rob’s grandpa spent the offseason in Darrtown. When Walter was home, Rob would come home from school to find Walt had either saddled the horses for a ride or they would go hunting, or play golf. We were always doing something.

“I started traveling with the Dodgers when I was 9 years old. Walt thought I was old enough to start traveling with him. My mom drove me to the Cincinnati Airport, put me on a plane by myself.  I flew to Milwaukee where the Dodgers were playing the then Milwaukee Braves. I spent the next 4 days with the team. It was really cool to be able to be with my grandpa and sit in the Dodger dugout for the games.”

As time went on, Rob was traveling more and more with Walt and spent most of his summers in LA.  "I was very lucky, shagging balls, taking batting and infield practice and sitting in the dugout during the games. I got to know Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax to drop a few names and most all the players who played from the 60’s to the 70’s."

During Rob’s freshman year in high school, “Sports Illustrated wanted to do a special on me, for some reason. They had television show and they flew me to Vero Beach where the Dodgers held spring training. I got to spend a week at spring training. I was a better than average student, and all the teachers said 'you know, there's no better experience that you could get here that would compare to the experience of  going to spring training.' So that started a thing where every year I would take a week, and senior year I took 2 weeks going to spring training. I got to play in the inter-squad games. In my most memorable game, I hit 2 triples and made a diving catch."

Even though Rob was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds out of high school, it was important to Walter that his grandson get a college education. So Rob went to Miami Day Junior College, where he was then drafted by the Texas Rangers, the Dodgers and eventually signing  with the San Diego Padres. “I cut my Achilles tendon and that was the end of my not-so-illustrious career.  Good thing I had that college education.”

On top of all these cool experiences, Rob had his greatest honor when he was asked by Walt to  make his acceptance speech at the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown following a debilitating heart attack. 

"My grandfather really was my best friend. There was a bond between my grandpa and me that you just couldn't break. He was my best man at my first wedding, took a couple days off in the middle of the season for that….. My grandfather was the first person to see me  the day was born.  He gave me my first baseball with this written on it, ‘Here’s to Robin Dean Ogle: May he grow up to have the power of Ruth, the speed of Mantle, the finesse of Reese, and be as handsome as his Grandpa.’”