Baptists From The United States

"When you come down to it, all depends on the final score whether you're a hero or a bum. Roberto Clemente, the toast of the town, disobeyed his manager's frantic signals Wednesday night to stop at third base. Instead, he kept on rock and rolling homeward for an inside-the-park grand-slam home run to beat the Chicago Cubs. Had he been cut down at the plate, the Puerto Rican flash would have been the roast of the town. Unquestionably, Bobby Bragan would have slapped him with one of his patented $25 fines. But Roberto got away with it. He scored the winning run in the face of an obvious skull. Fine him? Heck, no! You don't reprimand or fine a man who wins a ball game for you. No, sir. That's what Bragan said after the victory. We wonder what will happen to the next fellow who pulls the same stunt and costs the Pirates a ball game. Fine him? Heck, yes!"

"Roberto Clemente boomed a 500-foot home run high over the 30-foot green fence at Terry Park today and it took a shot like that to knock over the improved New York Mets by a score of 7 to 5. Clemente's tremendous blow came in the eighth inning off Darrell Sutherland on the first pitch and broke up a 5-5 tie. [...] Sutherland was so shook up by Clemente's drive that he gave up a triple to Donn Clendenon and walked three men in a row to force in a superfluous run as far as the game was concerned. It was only the third time in the [12-year] history of Terry Park that any hitter cleared the high green fence. [...] Clemente's home run, which almost hit the flag some 10 feet above the fence, was just too much—even for the Grapefruit League-leading Mets to take."

"If Roberto Clemente isn't heading in the direction of the National League's Most Valuable Player Award this year, then no other man has been on the right track before. The colorful Pirate outfielder daily gets new support from baseball writers who do the voting for this high honor. Without naming or quoting them, I have talked with several visiting press box authors from Houston, Los Angeles, Chicago and Atlanta during this Prates' home stand who said Clemente deserved to get their vote. If this is considered plumping for ballots, so be it. In this, his greatest season since joining the Pittsburgh club in 1955, Roberto is playing like a man obsessed with the idea that baseball's holy grail, the pennant, belongs to the Pirates and no other team. There's no use going into the statistical side of his achievements. They are present every day for all to see. It is his driving inspirational leadership which has built a fire among his teammates to go all out for victory."

"Roberto Clemente told a couple of writers who want to "ghost" the book he has in mind to write that he will talk into a tape recorder to make sure everything printed "will be the way I say it.""

"Frank Scott, former Pittsburgh boy who made good in New York as an agent for athletes, has two more good ones going for him: Roberto Clemente and . Scott recently got together with Frank Eck, Associated Press scribe, on a proposed book about Clemente.."

"Roberto Clemente's book, which will be co-authored by Frank Eck of the New York Associated Press office, is expected to net $50,000 from the publisher. I have heard some of the tapes and read a couple of the chapters. The book will offer excellent reading when it comes out in six months."

"We were in Cooperstown (NY) a few years ago. Baseball's Hall of Fame Museum was full of visitors on a sunny morning. Among them were Pirates and Tigers players in baseball uniforms, sans spikes. They were to meet in an exhibition game an hour later. Roberto Clemente had a small camera whirring every few minutes. He was taking pictures of the enshrined plaques and other mementos of yesteryear's super stars ... Honus Wagner, Ty Cobb, Christy Mathewson, Tris Speaker, Grover Alexander ... to name a few. A Pittsburgher said to Roberto, "This is where you belong. Some day they will be taking pictures of your shrine here." "Thank you," he replied. "I guess a fellow like me has to die to get voted in by the writers.""

"Speaking of books, one news wire service will soon come out with four of them on Roberto Clemente.... Frank Eck, New York Associated Press sports writer, says he has the only real book on Clemente ... composed of taped interviews."

"A few will wonder out loud, or in print, why Roberto Clemente wasn't included. The late Pirate super star belongs but he is of such recent vintage, I decided to keep to the old timers list players who haven't been around for at least 20 years [specifically, George Sisler, Rogers Hornsby, Pie Traynor, Honus Wagner, Ty Cobb, Joe DiMaggio, Babe Ruth, Mickey Cochrane, Lefty Grove and Walter Johnson ]. As a matter of fact, it was Clemente who triggered off the above column. I asked a Pirate official, who will go nameless, what he thought the Great One would be worth salary-wise compared with the 10 named above, now playing [i.e. Dick Allen, Joe Morgan, Brooks Robinson, Luis Aparicio, Carl Yastrzemski, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Johnny Bench, Steve Carlton and Bob Gibson ]. His answer: "He was worth in all-around ability more than any one of them. He belongs with your old-timers.""

"Allen got up one time to get a soft drink. He flexed his powerful arms and shoulders, the muscles rippling. If anybody had a better body in the present era of baseball it was the late Roberto Clemente. Allen is a heavier man, going about 190."

"Roberto Clemente, the Pittsburgh right fielder, has convinced everyone by now that he has a fine arm. Clemente uncorked two great throws to home plate today which never touched the ground."

"Roberto Clemente, the Pittsburgh right fielder, must have taken a course in the Willie Mays school of outfielding. Clemente looks a lot like Mays catching a fly ball. In the Mays-Clemente method, you catch the front part of the ball backward, which means your head points to the South while your feet are running North. It's not recommended for fellows with stiff necks or starched collars."

"The House of Representatives of Puerto Rico took official note of the selection of one of its citizens, Roberto Clemente, as the National League's Most Valuable Player. The Puerto Rican House got together three pages of "whereases" and "wherefores" to congratulate both Clemente and the Baseball Writers' Association of America."

"Ballplayers are notoriously reluctant to talk about their injuries or the infirmities of "old age." Roberto Clemente was out for weeks with a bad back and it was apparent in this series that he was swinging with effort. And yet, every time he was asked how he felt, he always said "great.""

"The durable right fielder, a physical phenomenon at 38, shows no outward signs of relinquishing his claim as the best all-around player in the game today. But a closer look at Clemente's Achilles heel, medically and figuratively, reveals an interesting development. One medical report has it that Clemente has rheumatism in both ankles as well as his right knee and right elbow. Still, he continues to give a fabulous performance."

"I was trying to waste a pitch,” he said of Roberto Clemente’s home run. “I wanted to have him swing on a bad pitch. I didn’t care if I walked him. I wouldn’t even care if I hit him. I had two bases open.” Clemente is the kind of fellow who drives pitchers crazy. Stallard fired a fastball near Clemente’s ear. Roberto swung and missed. The crowd cheered. They like that kind of extravagance. Then came the next pitch. This was up near Clemente’s eyes and a foot outside. He flicked his bat, lined a ball upstairs. Foul, motioned umpire Ed Sudol. This confused the crowd. Some cheered. Others booed. They were obeying orders. One of the signal-men held up a bedsheet. It said: BOO. “I knew the two bases were open; I figured maybe I could get him to swing again at a pitch around his head,” said Stallard. Stallard, a marvelous Met in his own right, just couldn’t let the drama build any longer. He threw a real pitch to Clemente, the kind any human being hitter would duck away from and scream for the umpire. Naturally, Clemente hit it upstairs [i.e. right field upper deck]. “He never gets a strike to swing at,” said Danny Murtaugh. “He likes those kind.""

"And then, too, there was the shared experience, already permanently fixed in memory, of Roberto Clemente playing a kind of baseball that none of us had ever seen before—throwing and running and hitting at something close to the level of absolute perfection, playing to win but also playing the game almost as if it were a form of punishment for everyone else on the field."

"It was ‘shot night’ at Candlestick last night, and the popular theory that the Giants’ new park is a home run cemetery was thoroughly shaken up – if only for one game. Four hitters, three of them Giants, slugged baseballs over the distant fences, and every one of them was smashed with velocity comparable to the winds which whipped through the park all night. Easily the most satisfying homer was hit by the ‘birthday boy,’ Willie Mays, who reached the age of 29 with an off-field shot in the sixth inning off shell-shocked Pirate pitching ace, Vernon Law. The line drive just eluded the acrobatic leap of Roberto Clemente, hit the top of the right field barrier and bounced high over the fence. “That was the first (censored) hit I ever got on my birthday. But that second one I hit (which Clemente caught) was the hardest one I hit. I’m a better hitter when I go to right, but I haven’t hit a good one to left center, where my real power is, since I played in this park.” The lost balls were belted, in order, by Willie McCovey (a 410-foot liner to right center), Willie Kirkland (a 430-foot job that bounced into the right field parking lot), Mays’ birthday hit, and then the biggest shot of them all, and that one belonged to Roberto Clemente. Roberto’s blow traveled 410 feet, but it was hit into the treacherous cross-wind in left center. Pittsburgh manager Danny Murtaugh said afterward that he’d ‘like to see Clemente’s hit on a clear day with no wind and see how far it really would go.’”"

"Roberto Clemente's triple in the big seventh inning of the opener yesterday went far over Bell's head in dead center, landed on the warning track and hit the ball on one hop. Must have traveled 450 feet in the air and would have been a homer in any National League park except Forbes Field and the Polo Grounds."

"If there's one player who appears to be capturing the fancy of the fans, it must be Clemente. They cheer him when he comes to bat and scream when he responds with a hit. In the field, they watch every move he makes. When he turns in a good catch or makes a fine throw, they hold the major share of their applause until Clemente returns to the bench. They really like the kid and like his actions."

"There aren't many bright spots on the last-place Pirates, but one of the brightest is Roberto Clemente, the 20-year-old Puerto Rican whom the Bucs drafted from the Dodger farm at Montreal. Although he has only a working knowledge of English and speaks with some difficulty, Clemente has no trouble at all playing the National Game. Until he ran into a recent slump, during which he went through eight games with only one hit, Clemente was the leading Buc hitter. But even in his slump, he hit the ball hard, although right at some fielder. The Pittsburgh fans have fallen in love with his spectacular fielding and his deadly right arm. In the first 50 games Clemente played, he turned in ten assists, in addition to some sparkling catches in the outfield. The Forbes Field customers have singled him out as their favorite and he always draws cheers when he steps into the batters box. Although still hitting the ball hard, Clemente claims he won't be at his best until he plays in mid-summer weather. "I no play so gut yet," he tried to explain recently. "Me like hot weather, veree hot. I no run fast cold weather. No get warm in cold. No get warm, no play gut. You see." Clemente likes Forbes Field because of the spacious playing area in right field but has developed a strong dislike for Ebbets Field and the Polo Grounds since he can't fathom the way the balls ricochet off the walls there."

"Clyde Sukeforth actually was the first man connected with the Pirates who saw Roberto Clemente when the Puerto Rican was playing for Montreal last summer. Sukeforth, a Bucco coach, was sent to Richmond, Va., last June to get a look at pitcher Joe Black of Montreal. The Pirates and Dodgers were talking about a Sid Gordon trade at the time and the Bucs asked for Black in the deal but wanted a first hand report on how he looked. But Sukey practically forgot all about Black when he caught his first glimpse of Clemente. "I arrived at the Richmond ball park where Montreal was playing just in time to see the pre-game workout," Sukey relates. "I saw Clemente throwing from the outfield and I couldn't take my eyes off him. Later in the game he was used as a pinch-hitter and I liked his swing. He impressed me a great deal. I started asking questions and learned he was a bonus player and would be eligible for the draft. I knew then he'd be our first draft choice. In fact, I told Montreal manager Max Macon to take good care of 'our boy' and see that he didn't get hurt.""

"Clemente couldn't properly celebrate his 21st birthday yesterday because there was no game but he did it tonight, two singles and a 450-foot homer. Viva Puerto Rico!"

"There was one more or less historic moment in yesterday's second game when Hershell Freeman walked Roberto Clemente on a 3-1 count in the eighth inning. It happened to be Clemente's first base on balls since June 7, covering a period of 50 games during which he went to bat 192 times. If this isn't a record, it should be."

"Although the pair by the Phils did the most damage, the inside-the-park job by Roberto Clemente in the first inning was the most thrilling. [...] Clemente greeted Haddix with a line drive that gathered momentum as it approached Ashburn and took off over his head and ricocheted off the wall toward the batting cage. By the time Ashburn picked up the ball, Clemente was at third base and he made it to the plate without trouble. The hit provoked an argument between the Phillies and the umpires because the ball rolled under the batting cage but the Phils were told there was no ground rule to cover the situation."

"Although Roman Mejias is the outfielder the Pirates are trying to make look attractive in a deal with the Braves, Mejias isn't the outfielder the Braves want. The outfielder the World Champions want is Roberto Clemente and they make no secret of it. [...] The Bucs tried to substitute Mejias for Clemente but the Braves wouldn't use the same trading bait. They feel they may have the same kind of outfielders on their bench as Mejias but they know what Clemente can do. It is reported the Braves are willing to offer two pitchers and a choice of one other player for Clemente, on the assumption the Bucs are desperate for pitching strength. One of the pitchers in believed to be Bob Buhl, an 18-game winner the past two seasons. The other would be a relief pitcher and the infielder-outfielder would be one of the reserves now riding the Milwaukee bench. However, the Pirates naturally don't feel this is strong enough trading material for a player with all the skills of Clemente. [...] No matter what the Braves may offer in the way of trading material, it's doubtful if the Pirates would part with Clemente. He's on the doorstep of greatness now and there's no telling how high he can go. The Pirates need players of Clemente's ability more than other teams and it would be foolish to let him get away."

"Roberto Clemente's second-game homer that cleared the left center bleachers touched off some excitement . . . Players and fans said they never before had seen a ball go over that section and it was close to a 500 -foot sock . . . Clemente, grinning all the way from here to Puerto Rico, said he never hit a longer one."

"Dick Stuart, who hit an estimated 500-foot homer over the left field scoreboard in Pittsburgh, has a rival in Roberto Clemente. The Puerto Rican outfielder of the Pirates made the Cubs sit up and take notice when he drilled a homer off southpaw Bill Henry in Chicago in the May 17 nightcap that left Wrigley Field via the left-center corner of the bleachers. Wrigley Field observers rated it at probably 500 feet. Rogers Hornsby, the Cubs batting coach, said it was the longest he ever witnessed and [manager] Bob Scheffing agreed it was No. 1 in his book."

"Clemente offers an object lesson in self-discipline to hitters who swish for the seats. The 25-year-old, 173-pound right-handed hitter who finally has won the unqualified praise of George Sisler as an expert batsman, has learned how to subdue the home run urge. "I do not care about home runs," says Clemente, who can hit for distance with the best. "The pitch is always away from me and it is foolish to try to pull this pitch for a home run. The pitcher does not wish it so, and I don't try. I am not foolish. Only in Philadelphia I think maybe I will try for the home run, but I do not think so even in L.A. I make the hits which the pitcher cannot stop, and that is better than striking out and will drive out the pitcher, too.""

"Clemente started a home-run binge against the Dodgers in Los Angeles, August 30th, by hitting a liner over the 375-foot mark in right field,1 and in one stretch owned four homers in five games. He hit one against the Giants over the right field fence in Candlestick Park and the next day drilled one over the left-center fence that Garry Schumacher, Giant publicist, declared was the hardest hit ball there all year. Clemente powered a 420-foot shot into the center field portion of the stands [sic]2 at Forbes Field against Jim Owens and the Phils on September 4th for his fourteenth of the season."

"Dick Stuart took a look at Roberto Clemente slashing line drives one day and made a pertinent observation. “There must be the best 169-pound slugger in baseball,” Stuart said of the Pirate right fielder. Clemente lost some weight during the winter in his native Puerto Rico and never has been able to regain it. But he hasn’t lost his fierce swing… He was leading the Pirates not only in batting but also in RBIs with 23, and of his three homers, two went to right field, indicating his power to all fields. Clemente slammed a homer into the right field stands in Pittsburgh [on May 9th] and also performed the novel feat of drilling one over the right field wall in Philadelphia [on May 19th]."

"Clemente is in love with Wrigley Field, where he's batting .693 so far [this season] on nine hits, three homers and nine RBIs. "This is my ball park," Clemente said after his day's work. "Every game is played in daylight and I can see the ball good. And I can reach the stands in any direction. I hope I'm never traded but if I am, I wish it would be to the Cubs. I know I do well there in 77 games." Two years ago, Clemente hit a home run out of the park in center, close to the scoreboard, and natives in Chicago say they never saw it done before."

"Roberto Clemente almost made history Saturday - missing by a foot or so of being the first right-handed batter to hit a ball to the right field roof [at Forbes Field]. Clemente's homer in the first inning landed against the facing of the right field roof, a tremendous blast as it was. The Houston bullpen reported Saturday the ball struck the right field foul screen but Bobby Bragan, who was in the bullpen, corrected the version. "The ball was within a foot or so of landing on top of the roof and perhaps two or three feet in fair territory," Bragan said. "It probably was the longest ball ever hit to that field by a right-handed batter.""

"If the Dodgers had kept Clemente with them at —as they did with Sandy Koufax—the course of baseball might have been drastically changed. This intrigued me and I did some research on the subject. For years, the Dodgers kept looking for a left fielder to pair up with in center and in right. This might have been an all-time outfield: Clemente-Snider-Furillo. Imagine Clemente taking dead aim at the comfortable home-run area in Ebbets Field for four years and the short left field fence in the Coliseum for the next three years. The Dodgers won the pennant in 1955 and again in 1956. They won after a playoff in 1959 and copped it again in 1963. But wouldn't it be safe to assume they could have won in 1957, 1958, 1960, 1961 and 1962 with a Clemente in their lineup?"

"In a period covering the last four years, Clemente owns the highest batting average of any player. His .324 mark is nine points better than Hank Aaron's .315. He seldom hits high fly balls. He specializes in fierce ground balls and line drives between the outfielders."

"Roberto Clemente was charged with ten errors in right field, but as one who saw Clemente in every inning, this correspondent believes Bobby is many times the victim of a scoring rule. Possibly half of Clemente’s ten errors came when his lightning throws from the outfield hit a runner as he slid into a base. Clemente, who often led the league in assists had only 13 in 1964. The runners simply don’t take the chances on his fine arm any more."

"Clemente made an almost unheard-of assist in this game. With runners on first and second and Pirates charging for the plate, pushed a bunt into the vacated shortstop position for one run. tried to go from first to third but Clemente, sizing up the situation quickly, came in from right field to short and threw out Bond at third."

"Just how do you catalogue Roberto Clemente? He is about to win his second straight National League batting title and his third in five years, yet he’s never driven in 100 runs. But you take him out of the Pirate lineup and you’ve never seen such a change in a team. It’s difficult to visualize what a difference Clemente makes to the Bucs. His mere presence in the field is insurance against extra bases, an outfielder who can rob you time after time. At bat, he swings viciously. He may knock you down with a line drive or beat out a slow roller or a high bounce. He worries a pitcher as much as any hitter in the league. When Clemente is out of the lineup, the Pirates just don’t seem the same. The other players know it, particularly the pitchers, and so does the opposition."

"Clemente's first hit [of the game] was one to remember. It started on a line toward the right-center fence and came within inches of clearing the wall at the 436-foot sign. The ball bounced off the wall right back into Bob Murphy's [sic] hands and he was able to hold Clemente to a double. But the blast caused a rumble through the stands and no doubt unnerved Jack Fisher."

"was just one strike away from pocketing a 5-4 Cub decision over the Pirates when he found himself in a head-to-head battle with Roberto Clemente. This was the ninth inning in Chicago and there were two outs, none on. Abernathy had Clemente no balls and two strikes, but apparently the Pirate slugger worried the Cub reliever and he grew too careful. He threw three balls and then Clemente put on a dazzling display of bat control. Abernathy threw eight straight strikes and Clemente fouled off every pitch, seven to right field. Then he drew a walk and , who always hits Abernathy, hit him again. Abernathy worked the count to 3-and-1 and Stargell fouled two pitches, then rammed a long, line-drive double high off the center field wall to score Clemente from first with the tying run. The Bucs won it with four runs in the eleventh, but it was Clemente who saved it with his remarkable performance."

"Roberto Clemente gave the fans something exciting to talk about last night at Forbes Field although the Cardinals decked the Pirates for the second straight time, 4-2. Clemente hit his second tape measure home run over the Barney Dreyfuss Memorial in centerfield in the eighth inning and this brought down the house. It also impressed the Cardinals, you can be sure. No righthanded batter in the 57-year history of Forbes Field ever has performed this feat twice. Clemente did it Sunday. [...] Was this one a better shot than the one on Sunday? "Sunday was the longer ball," Clemente said. had the identical reaction of of the Astros. "I thought at first I might catch it," Flood related. "Then I thought it would hit the wall and I'd get the bounce. I just didn't think any righthander could hit a ball that far.""

"Clemente has been arguing for years that the Dreyfuss Monument is in dead center at Forbes Field and a surveyor could draw a line from home plate through second base and touch the monument. The 457-foot mark—where the left field wall and the right field wall converge and where the batting cage is stored—actually is a bit to the left of dead center."

"In his third game, Clemente hit his first home run, an inside the park job off the left field bullpen at the against lefthander . It was also his first RBI."

"The night Clemente put on his show, only 5,222 fans showed up in Cincinnati. The next night, the attendance jumped to 13,389 and Clemente put on a display during batting practice. He lofted five of six balls out of the park in all directions and when he left the batting cage, the fans applauded. “It’s the first time I’ve seen that since Ted Williams’ days with the Red Sox,” coach remarked. Clemente left Cincinnati, trailed by admiring remarks from the Reds."

"The Bucs almost had Belinsky out of there in the first inning. Alley had the first of three hits and rode home when Staub tried in vain to make a pick-up of Clemente's pop single. The ball eluded Staub and Morgan had to chase it so Coach gave Clemente the green light. Chuck Harrison relayed to John Bateman but Clemente hit him hard, knocked the ball loose and touched home plate with the second run, on a triple and an error by Harrison. Clemente beat out a high hopper with one gone in the sixth, took third on Mazeroski’s single and showed the fans how to run the bases after Manny Mota bounced to Harrison. Bateman had the ball to tag Clemente but Clemente waited until Bateman made his move, then jumped over him and touched home plate with his hand."

"In July 1971, just before his thirty-eighth birthday, he made what may have been the most spectacular catch in the history of right field. In the eighth inning, with the Pirates ahead 1-0 in a crucial game, two out and a man on base [i.e. , shortly before being traded to the Reds], Houston’s , a right-handed hitter, sliced a vicious shot into the corner. Clemente ate up a great stretch of turf with his back to the ball, leapt with a half-twist in full flight, made a one-hand catch above the Astrodome’s yellow home-run line, and in a fully extended, leaping-stab posture hit the wall wide open. He didn’t feel for the wall, he ignored the wall, and WHAM. When he got up, the left or glove side of his body was swelling, bleeding, and bruised at, respectively, the elbow, knee, and ankle; and the game was saved. That's one reason Clemente was always hurting: he was always so brave in the field. Men in their late thirties just don't make sliding-on-the- stomach catches, skidding-on-one-hip catches, on a regular basis."

"In the 9-5 clincher, Clemente won the game four different times. In addition to delivering two two-run singles that ultimately represented Pittsburgh’s margin of victory, Roberto made two of the key plays in the game, one in the field and one on the bases. With San Franciscans on first and second in the top of the first inning, and one Giant runner already home, lined a single to right. Clemente charged fast and threw hard and low to the plate. , not a slow man, stopped at third. He never scored. In the bottom of the inning, Roberto’s first two-run single gave the Pirates a short-lived lead. In the sixth, again with two out, Clemente sent the Pirates ahead with a base hit. He promptly proceeded to wrap up the contest when he advanced to second on a short passed ball by Dietz, the kind most players wouldn’t have dared run on. This maneuver made it necessary for the Giants to intentionally walk , whereupon the next batter, , delivered a three-run homer. Clemente later revealed why he risked going on the pitch that had gotten away from Dietz. “An intentional walk to Willie was the best thing that could have happened to us,” he said. “He wasn’t hitting and Oliver has been our hottest hitter."

"Retired Cub broadcaster Jack Brickhouse, who saw this home run [hit by Dave Kingman on May 17, 1979], revealed that the ball was greatly helped by a strong wind of 35 miles per hour. Brickhouse estimated Kingman's blast in reality went about 500 feet. In fact, Brickhouse stated Kingman's drive was not the longest ball he had ever seen. A 500-foot blast by the late Roberto Clemente remains the hardest hit ball Brickhouse has seen which was unaided by the wind."

"Clemente's was the longest I ever saw at Wrigley; longer than Kingman's. That's the one I'll always remember."

"Mays celebrated his 29th birthday last night with his first Candlestick home run and there was a banner crowd of 36,592 on hand to cheer him on. Willie long ago realized there was no percentage in hitting to left against the prevailing winds. He has consistently aimed for the opposite field and last night he made it, just barely because the ball bounced off the top rung of the fence but it was a solidly hit ball that traveled about 370 feet. He smashed an even longer one to right center earlier but Roberto Clemente got under that one. The only reason Clemente couldn't snare the homer was that he couldn't scale the fence. He tried, though. [...] Jones, in rare form, had a three hitter. It was a shutout when Clemente powered a home run against the wind over the 397-foot mark in left field. The Puerto Rican fly chaser seems to have found a new set of muscles. Already he has six home runs, only one less than his previous high for a full season. He also is tied with McCovey in runs batted in with 23."