Try to think of anyone that has taken off more than a year because of concussion-related symptoms and returned to professional sports action. The examples are few and far between.

When Brian Roberts steps on the field for tonight's series opener against the Pirates at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, he will re-start his journey with the Birds, a truly remarkable feat most people never thought would happen. Roberts had so many bad days, away from the public spotlight, that most will never understand what he went through.

Many people called Roberts soft, and you can't blame them, because what the former All-Star went through was pretty unprecedented. Roberts isn't the first person to have concussion-related symptoms. Football players play through the pain all the time. It's stupid, risky and, as we've seen with older players, life-changing.

Roberts, with medical professionals, has worked his way back to something close to normalcy. All of those sessions, outside the occasional interview, don't make much sense to the outsider. How does any of that work? The reality is, whatever was done, it's working, and Roberts is going to step on a Major League Baseball field again tonight.

Roberts -- still one of the highest-paid Orioles -- is a wild-card addition to the Orioles now. He's played well in the minors, but no one knows what he is going to bring at the big leagues.

But, once he steps on that field, it's going to provide a jolt of enthusiasm to the fans and the team. He could have quietly gone off into the sunset and given up baseball dreams. The fact that he's going to put on the uniform again is nothing short of remarkable.

Posted June 12, 2012