PHILADELPHIA — As his team took batting practice at Busch Stadium on a Friday in early May, Dave Roberts strode across the field toward home plate, extended his hand to Oli Marmol and dapped him up like the two were old friends. Immediately, Roberts dove into an animated conversation. Seconds later, Marmol’s laughter rang out over the field.This has become a custom of sorts for the two major-league managers in vastly different stages of their careers. Roberts, the long-time manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, has led one of the best teams ever assembled to three World Series titles in five years and, in June, became the fastest manager in MLB history to record 1,000 wins. Marmol is in his fifth year of guiding the St. Louis Cardinals, though his tenure has been marred by a major front-office transition and one of the least competitive windows in franchise history.It is not uncommon for managers to develop friendly relationships, but Roberts and Marmol’s bond is different. It is one rooted in empathy and respect, sparked by an unexpected act of kindness at a time when both skippers were questioning their futures.“As a manager, it’s a lonely life,” Roberts said in a conversation with The Athletic last week. “You’re sort of on an island, and the majority of the managers, we really aren’t that close. But there are certain guys I feel like I want to develop a relationship with.”“(With Oli) it was reciprocated.”This week, the two will coach the All-Star Game in Philadelphia together. As a reward for winning the National League pennant, Roberts and his staff are back to lead the National League in the Midsummer Classic. Roberts was given two honorary coach selections. He first tabbed Don Mattingly, Roberts’ predecessor in Los Angeles and the current interim coach of the Phillies. The second, Roberts said, deserved to be Marmol.“He’s honored the game so well,” Roberts said. “I wanted him to experience the All-Star Game.”That’s what Roberts told Marmol on that Friday afternoon in St. Louis. It was an offer that Marmol said caught him “completely off guard.”“I didn’t have it on my radar even a little bit,” Marmol said by phone last week. “I was shocked.”Roberts assured Marmol that he didn’t need an answer right away. The Cardinals manager, who celebrated his 40th birthday earlier in the month, had planned to spend his rare three days off from baseball by taking his wife, Amber, and two young daughters, Riley and Kiley, on a vacation. Roberts, who has two grown children of his own, could relate. There was no pressure, he said. Family comes first.But when Marmol approached Amber that night, she was adamant that he go. “There’s no way you can say no,” she said. “So you better say yes.”Which teams fared well during MLB Draft Day 1?Keith LawSo Marmol will represent the fourth All-Star selection for a St. Louis team that has been one of the most pleasant surprises in the NL. The Cardinals, who were supposed to be in their first rebuild in over three decades under first-year president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom, finished the first half 50-45, one game out in the wild-card race. All three of their players in Philadelphia this week — Jordan Walker, Riley O’Brien and Iván Herrera — are first-time All-Stars.“It’s meaningful, especially after the last couple of years of what went on here in St. Louis,” Marmol said. “It couldn’t have felt any better to get that vote of confidence, that acknowledgment from (Roberts).”