United States Marines

"If you pitch me inside, I'll hit the ball to McKeesport."

"Blass, if you pitch me inside, I will hit forty-three home runs a year, thirty-seven of them off you!"

"Writers used to say, "You don't drive in 100 runs," but they forget I played for the worst team in baseball from 1955 to 1960. I didn't drive in runs because there was no one to drive in."

"I feel better now than I did at any time last season; the shoulder really hurt me bad last year. The left shoulder still gives me some trouble. It makes me swing differently. I have to adjust. Sometimes I find I'm over-cutting the ball. That is not my natural style. I used to swing and I just knew I could hit the ball hard. I knew when I could hit to right field, when I could pull. Now it's different. I have to force myself more than I ever did. Maybe it's because I'm getting old. Maybe."

"These were great fans when I first play here, and they are still great. These fans never boo. They become frustrated because the Dodgers used to bring up some of the better minor-league players from here, but they never boo. Now, they are happy to have a big league team, and they are willing to wait five years, like the Mets' fans did, for the team to begin winning. But the thing that amazes me more than the players not being booed is the umpires. They never hear it from the fans, either, no matter if it does seem to be a bad call."

"I can't think of average. I have to go for the long ball. We have only Stargell to hit homers. You need more than one man. We have the best leadoff man in baseball in Matty Alou. He will get on base. We have to get the long hits."

"What I said was "Here, look at all these marks I got on my body from different injuries. Nobody ever writes anything about these, but they always write about Mickey Mantle’s injuries." I wasn’t saying anything against Mickey Mantle. I respect Mickey Mantle and I know what a great ballplayer he was."

"I give you bastards four minutes to get outside. They are honoring the greatest second baseman the game has ever known and anyone not out there in four minutes will have to fight me."

"I was not trying to be smart when I did that. I was trying to tell them that they could do whatever they want. The fans of Pittsburgh have cheered me a lot through the years. There’s always a first time for booing. But I don’t say to hell with the fans because of this. I am not swinging the bat the way I should. It is just one of those things. I am not the way I should be. I do not feel sure when I swing. I am trying to adjust so that I will swing well even though my shoulder still hurts. If a player doesn’t try hard, he deserves to be booed. I try hard. Maybe I was booed today because I have not played that bad before."

"The 100 grand right fielder revealed that Danny Murtaugh once fined him $650 when he did not run after hitting a ball to the shortstop. He never explained how Murtaugh reached the $650 figure. "I hit the ball and I slip at home plate and they fine me $650. First time up I hit a homer one-handed. I just limped around the bases.""

"The only people who criticize me are writers. You say, maybe I no team player. Did a player ever come to you and say I no team player? Who say that? The writers, right. I win four batting championships. Why I no team player? I kill myself in the outfield. You say, I no team player. You never see me loaf on the field. I break my back. Even Harry Walker tell me: "Roberto, why you want to break your back? Look at the other fellows. Take it easy." Super stars, my foot. They say Mickey Mantle is a super star. He's limping. They say poor Mickey. I play with four stitches in my foot and nobody knows about it. [...] The fans are good to me. Only the writers are bad.""

"I was so anxious for this season to start when I was at home last winter. I was thinking in terms of a big year for myself—moneywise. I had batted .357 last year and I thought that if I had another big year I might get paid more money than anybody ever did in baseball. Then I fell and then I wonder if I will be able to play at all."

"Listen, I shouldn't even be playing. I showed up at spring training and I told the ball club about my accident. I said my shoulder had been damaged and the ballclub said "Sh-h-h, don't talk so loud. Somebody might hear you; Now, don't tell anybody about this." They said, "I don't want to know about it." Well, I tell you, it hurts me to swing a bat and, when I know it is going to hurt, it bothers me mentally and I do not swing the same and I wince when I think of hitting the ball. I should be home, not here in the dugout, because [sic] I would rather play even if I am crippled than to sit and watch a game."

"Thank you. I guess a fellow like me has to die to get voted in by the writers."

"The best advice and most help he ever received came from Buster Clarkson, an American player, when he was in Puerto Rico."I played for his team and I was just a kid," Clemente recalled. "He insisted the other players allow me to take batting practice and he helped me. He put a bat behind my foot and made sure I didn't drag my foot. Willie Mays also helped me. He told me not to allow the pitchers to show me up. He suggested I get mean and if the pitchers knocked me down, get up and hit the ball. Show them.""

"We play too many games with too much traveling. We should stay in one city longer and have a day off now and then. It would be beneficial for the teams, keep them in top physical shape more."

"Why you think I play this game? I play to win. Competition is the thing. I want to play on a winning team. I don't want to play for sixth place. I like to play for all the marbles, where every game means something. I like to play for real, not for fun."

"Everybody, they say Roberto just swings the bat and hits the ball. I work hard. No one works harder than I do. People think things come easy to me. They don't."

"It is my greatest year, but my biggest disappointment."

"I would have to say myself, but it would not look good for me to say it. I just have confidence I am the best because I believe in myself. If I had to pick another player, it would be Hank Aaron. He does everything so well."

"Once upon a time I never believed I could get tired of baseball. I played baseball from morning to night. But today it isn't as it once was. I just never seem to get enough rest. And if I can't play at my best all the time, why play?"

"If I had not won the MVP, I would not have been mad, because Sandy Koufax was a great pitcher and he deserved it. Besides, I know I would have been close and not snubbed like I was in 1960. And I tell you one thing. I didn't win the MVP alone. I couldn't win it without having a good team, without men getting on base an without us winning. I was sad because we didn't win the pennant. But I thought the MVP was something the ball club could be proud of because it gave our whole team recognition."

"“I do not read too much these days about Jerry May, but he is worthy of a story. He is the best defensive catcher I have seen in my 13 years with the Pirates. In fact, I have not seen many better defensive catchers anywhere in my time in baseball. A story now would do him good, make him feel appreciated. How you say, the time is appropriate?" Clemente always knew May could catch but May has opened his eyes in the formidable way he blocks the plate with a runner and the ball both bearing down on him. "He’s a take-charge catcher. He bosses the player throwing the ball – I tell you, that kid amazes me.""

"You saw him going all out on every day at 38 and it embarrassed you if you didn’t try as hard as he did. Whether you’d been playing 12 years or you were a rookie, a little bit of that rubbed off on you. And he was consistent; day in and day out he led us. You knew that if you didn’t pitch well or didn’t hit well, he would be great almost every day. In his last three years, we went to the ballpark every day expecting to win. His consistency was a big part of that."

"Robbie and I had become very close, so that I really leaned on him. We had fun in the clubhouse, but he meant more than that to me. He was the Pirates. Robbie had grown so much. He really kept up the spirit of the team—by the way he played, and by the way he helped everyone. Everything seemed out of order this season [1973]—Robbie was gone."

"He was different … he wasn’t like the rest the rest of us. He took professionalism to a higher degree. After a game, we all wanted to go out for a beer. He wouldn’t go. He was compelled by baseball."

"It passes into a phase where it’s just such a delight to watch him play, and a delight to have him in right field when you’re pitching. He had that gift – he was an exciting enough ballplayer that he could turn a 10-year veteran into a 10-year-old kid watching baseball. Most times in between innings, when I'd come off the field from pitching, I'd go into the clubhouse and wander around because I was always kind of high strung. But when Clemente was going to bat, I'd make sure I was out on the bench watching."

"I all but tackled him and at my age I'm glad I didn't. I knew we had the game tied and I was afraid Clemente would be thrown out at the plate. At that stage, I wanted to play it safe with the winning run on third and none out. But Clemente evidently didn't hear me or simply had his mind made up he could go all the way. Now I'm glad he did. What a finish that was."

"Bragan smiled about it yesterday afternoon. He was asked if Clemente had been thrown out at the plate and had the Pirates lost in extra innings, would he have fined Clemente? "How could you fine a player for driving in three runs we needed to tie?" That seemed like a rather good explanation."

"He's worth every penny of a half-million dollars to me. That's what the other clubs would have to give in cash or equivalent player material to get him."

"The best way to describe Roberto Clemente is to say that if he were playing in New York, they’d be comparing him to DiMaggio. I would say his greatness is limited only by the fact that he does not hit the long ball as consistently and by the fact that he is not playing in New York – or even in Chicago or Los Angeles."

"Dear Sirs: I feel compelled to write you concerning your article, "The World's Toughest Batting Orders—As Selected by Ten Star Major League Pitchers," which appeared in the March 31 Family Weekly. I think it is a shame that such unproven players such as Dave Concepcion are placed in a lineup of "toughest outs." I agree that Hank Aaron, Billy Williams, Rod Carew and Willie Stargell are among the greatest hitters the game has ever known, but it certainly did not take your panel long to forget Roberto Clemente."

"Clemente was just a kid then, his second year up. He was a real introvert – very quiet, morose almost. But he performed – man, did he perform! And he had tremendous pride. But I learned one thing about him early on – if he didn't feel like playing, you'd better let him sit. Wherever I managed, two hours before the game started, that lineup was posted on the board. I always wanted a man to know if he was starting. Now and then Clemente would come to me and say, ‘I don't feel like playing.’ If it had been somebody else, I would have asked him what the hell he was talking about. But not Clemente. When he didn’t want to play, he wouldn’t play – and that’s all there was to it. It didn’t happen very often, but it happened. It was usually a backache that he complained about. How serious it was, I don’t know – but I do know that he believed it was serious and that he was sincere about it. Remember – this was before he was a great star, so you had to believe he was sincere about his aches and pains and not trying to take advantage of his status."

"Roberto Clemente was the best right fielder I saw play in the majors. Not the best hitter, but the best right fielder!"

"The quality of his play was directly indicative of his values. He gave all he had every game. He was kind and helpful to all of us younger players. He had a desire to be appreciated and drove himself to higher levels of performance than others. He recognized the need to excel in all phases of the game, and he encouraged everyone to do the same. Some others could do what he could, but nobody matched his flair. I loved watching him play because he loved playing."

"We’d cut up all the time. We used to psyche him up for a game by kidding him about being a hypochondriac. "Hey," we’d say, "did you hear what so-and-so wrote about you?" "Who? Where’d he write it?" Sometimes, on buses to the airport, I’d use my impersonations to loosen up the club. Impromptu songs, with just the rankest of lyrics, the ranker they are the funnier it becomes. I’d do it sometimes when the club was uptight. Not too many people notice when you do things, but Roberto came up to me and said, "You do things when they’re needed.""

"Clemente’s death made a tremendous difference, because he carried a big load by producing consistently. Everything other guys used to do was gravy. They were the icing on the cake. Their runs didn’t count in a situation; they just put the game out of reach. This year, those guys could not be the icing. They mean the game. The pressure is on them to produce in key situations time after time after time. That is a far greater mental discipline than having to produce when it doesn’t count."

"Roberto used to say, "People pay to see me perform. If I go out there 75 percent, I’m not giving them the performance they paid to see." What Roberto didn’t understand was that his 75 percent was better than other guys’ 100 percent."

"Clemente can do so much for the Pirates. I don’t think there’s a more colorful player in the league and he’s probably the most popular player in Pittsburgh. He has as much ability as any player in the game, yet, great as he is, he could be greater. He could be our leader, the man we need to show us the way. I’m trying to get him to realize how good he is. You know, Clemente is very emotional and sometimes he’s controlled by the way the team is going. If we’re winning, he’s hitting and doing everything expected of him. But when we hit a slump, Clemente’s spirit gets down, too. If he can get the idea he’s the real leader, he can do the job for us. This [1963] isn't a good year for Clemente. He can be better, much better. With his ability, I feel any time he bats under .350, it isn’t a good season. He shouldn’t settle for anything less than that. When they talk of potential .400 hitters, they never mention Clemente, yet he has all the tools to reach that figure. He hits line drives, he hits to all fields and he has power. And he can run. There’s no question of his arm and his fielding. When you take all of this in consideration, you can see he hasn’t reached his potential."

"Clemente will not be one, two or three among the top hitters. He will be one. Period."

"The one player who impressed me the most was Roberto Clemente, both as a man and as an athlete. He was one of the nicest individuals and just tremendous as a ball player. I never saw a better player, although I always regarded Ted Williams as the best hitter. I called him the pure hitter."

"Club: SANTURCE; League: PORTO RICAN Pos. OF; Age 18 Hgt 5'11; Wgt. 175 Bats R; Throws R Name: CLEMENTE ROBERT Arm: A+ GOOD CARRY; Accuracy: A+ Fielding: A GOOD AT THIS STAGE; Reactions: A Hitting: A TURNS HEAD BUT IMPROVING; Power: A+ Running speed: +; Base Running: A Definite Prospect? YES; Has Chance? ____; Fill-In? ____; Follow ____ Physical Condition (Build, Size, Agility, etc.): WELL BUILT—FAIR SIZE—GOOD AGILITY Remarks: WILL MATURE INTO BIG MAN. ATTENDING HIGH SCHOOL BUT PLAYS WITH SANTURCE. HAS ALL THE TOOLS AND LIKES TO PLAY. A REAL GOOD LOOKING PROSPECT! HE HAS WRITTEN THE COMMISSIONER REQUESTING PERMISSION TO PLAY ORGANIZED BALL."

"I like this kid about as much as any young prospect I've seen in years. He can do everything for you. And he wants to learn. I'm just praying no one will notice him at Montreal. He got a small bonus, but it's enough to make him unrestricted in the draft."

"I wanted the big club to put him on the roster. I told Buzzie Bavasi he would be drafted if put at Montreal, that he was a big leaguer right from the start. I can’t divulge the reason he was left off the big club."

"There were 72 tryouts in camp that day, remembers Alex Campanis. One caught his eye just one out ol 72. "How could I miss him?" says Campanis. "He was the greatest natural athlete I have ever seen as a free agent." The tryout was being conducted jointly by the Dodgers of Brooklyn and the Santurce ballclub of San Juan, in the Sixto Escobar Stadium, a structure named after 118 pounds of Puerto Rican dynamite, the bantamweight champ of the world in the mid-thirties. "The first thing we do at the tryout," recalls Campanis, "is ask the kids to throw from the outfield. This one throws a bullet from center, on the fly. I couldn't believe my eyes. 'Uno mas,' I shout and he does it again. I waved my hand, that's enough. Then we have them run 60 yards. The first time I clock him in 6.4. I couldn't believe It. That's in full uniform. 'UNO MAS'," said Campanis again, and again the kid did it in 6.4. They sent the 71 others home. "The only one I asked to hit was this boy, who told me his name was Roberto Clemente," said Campanis. "I'm saying to myself, we gotta sign this sonofagun If he can just hold the bat in his hands. He starts hitting line drives all over the place. I notice the way he's standing in the box, and I figure there's no way he can reach the outside of the plate, so I tell the pitcher to pitch him outside, and the kid swings , with both feet off the ground and hits line drives to right and sharp ground balls up the middle.""

"From the things he did on the field, I figured he was 6’4” and more than 200 pounds. I was really surprised. He looked so small compared to the way I pictured him. I had heard all about his great arm and I began to think that he didn’t have a good arm. You know how Roberto is in spring training – he doesn’t throw hard until maybe a week or two before the season opens. He used to just flip the ball and I used to say to myself, ‘What kind of arm is that?’ Then one day Roberto made one of his throws… you know the kind. Boom – it goes from right field to home plate like a bullet. I became a believer after one throw."

"We'll miss him. Any team would ... this type of super player. If Bobby were here, he'd tell us to do the thing we've always been doing ... go on to win."

"The best player I’ve ever played with was Roberto Clemente—without a doubt. He could do it all. He could hit with power, he could run, he could throw. And at any time, he was a great clutch hitter."

"Along with Stan Musial, Roberto Clemente was the best player I ever played with. He could do it all. He had a great year at bat [in 1960], but what really amazed me was his arm. He was in a different class than Mays, Colavito, all of them. I saw him make throws like no one I have ever seen, and he was accurate. Dick Groat and Bill Mazeroski were bruised all over their arms, legs and chest from his throws into second. He threw so hard that he’d throw a ball that one-hopped from near first base to home and still handcuffed the catcher."

"Clemente was the kind of man that I’d like to have on my team. We were playing one time in St. Thomas, an exhibition game. This was for nothing and here’s a guy making over 100,000 bucks a year. Somebody hit a short fly ball into right field. Here’s Clemente – he took off for the ball, there was a whole pile of rocks there, and the guy makes a helluva diving catch. How many guys are gonna do that, making the kind of money he was making? When he put a baseball uniform on, there was only thing [sic] that Clemente thought: "Give my best and give my all." When he played with the Pirates, that’s all he did."