MOUNT SAVAGE — Former Pittsburgh Pirates first baseman and World Series champion Bob Robertson will sign autographs on Saturday at the Iron Rail Days Festival and 5K run in Mount Savage.

Robertson will be available beginning at about 8:30 a.m., the start of the 5K (3.1-mile) run. He’s expected to assist with the runners’ awards ceremony, which is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. on the field by the half-unearthed iron furnace near the post office.

Incidentally, it’s a field with which the 64-year-old LaVale resident is very familiar. Robertson spent much of his youth on Old Row Road in what is now used as the Mount Savage Museum.

Robertson said he’s happy to assist in the run, which benefits the Mount Savage Historical Society. It’s opportunities like this, he said, which he wishes he could do more often.

“I think it’s a wonderful thing to be asked to do something for your hometown,” Robertson said. “It means a lot to me. You never forget your hometown. I remember living near the old spring where we used to wash the car and carry our drinking water from. I remember throwing rocks up in the air and hittin’ ’em with the bat.”

Those rocks would typically go a long way. Robertson, whose 11-year Major League Baseball career with the Pirates, Seattle Mariners and Toronto Blue Jays, was known as the “Mount Savage Strongboy” and compiled 115 home runs and drove in 368 runs in a career riddled with injuries.

In the 1840s, the town produced America’s first iron rail and was a key manufacturing center of iron, brick and, to a lesser extent, coal. The town now has a population of about 2,500 people but 160 years ago boasted twice that number of residents.

Robertson said the town has a certain “mystique” to it, one he returns to for a quiet drive in the country anytime he needs to clear his head.

“I just think that it’s neat, for the town of Mount Savage, and all the things they have done in that town,” Robertson said. “They just need to be applauded.”

Kevin Spradlin, race director, said he was pleased to have someone of Robertson’s caliber on hand to help celebrate the town’s heritage.

“I’m grateful that Mr. Robertson was so open to the idea,” Spradlin said. “We’re lucky to have someone like him living close by and willing to be a part of what we’re doing. I’m hopeful that today’s kids get a chance to meet him and motivate them to excel in whatever they choose to pursue, like he did by getting to the majors.”

Robertson enjoyed several years in the majors, the most memorable of which might be the 1971 season.

During the regular season, Robertson hit 26 home runs and drove in 72 runs while helping to lead the Pirates into the post season for only the second time since 1960.

In the National League Championship Series against the San Francisco Giants, Robertson hit four home runs, including three in one game, as the Pirates advanced to the World Series and beat the Baltimore Orioles in seven games.

Registration for the Iron Rail Days 5K begins at 7:30 a.m. on Foundry Row at the historic Union Mining Company building. The 5K run and 1-mile run/walk begins at 8:30 a.m.

For more information on the run or walk, visit www.mountainMDmarathon.org or call (240) 522-0276.

For details on the Iron Rail Days festival, log on to www.mountsavagehistoricalsociety.org.