"After a month or two, he and I became good friends. He was my buddy. I could talk to him. I could kid him. I could counsel him. He liked that. One day we were changing clothes, getting into our uniforms at Forbes Field, and I moved close to him and tugged at the lapel of his uniform shirt. I said to him, "Roberto, are you aware that if you play every day this year, we’re gonna win the pennant?" He said, "Smitty, are you kidding?" And I said, "I’m serious. You’re that great. You’re great!" He smiled at me, and he said, "Smitty, I’ll play every day." And he did, or just about, anyhow. I had talked to Murtaugh about him before I said that. I said, "What’s the deal with Clemente?" I heard he had aches and pains and he pulled himself from the lineup now and then. Murtaugh told me, "He did that to me last year. This year I just put his name down on the lineup card, and I hide from him the rest of the time before the game starts. I don’t talk to him the rest of the day. I don’t give him a chance to tell me about his aches and pains." Clemente was young. He was different from the rest of us. Maybe he wasn’t always comfortable in the clubhouse or the dugout, in the beginning. But he needed a pat on the back, that’s all. When he found out the team needed him, he really responded. He learned a lot that year, probably more than in any other year in his major league career. He learned a lot about himself, and about his teammates."