Baptists From The United States

"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.’”"

"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."

"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.""

"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."

"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."

"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 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."

"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."

"Ironically, the Pirates’ only run was driven in by Clemente when Marichal tried to quick-pitch him with the bases loaded in the fifth. With the count three and two, Clemente was standing in the box, but not looking at Marichal, who threw swiftly. “I was trying to smooth out the dirt around the plate,” Clemente said, “not looking, when I hear someone on the bench yell at me. I look up and see the ball, and I try to just punch at it with one hand.” He got just enough of it to drive it into the ground in front of the plate and bounce it so high that Orlando Cepeda had to wait helplessly for it to come down as the run scored and Clemente fled across the base. Clemente laughed in reminiscence. “I don’t remember anybody try to quick-pitch me since do it with Brooklyn. I punch it for double.""

"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."

"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."

"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."

"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.""

"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."

"How many people just shit on him because he was so nice? He couldn’t refuse anybody. He used to rub down some of the players. At first he thought I’d mind, but I’d say, "No, you know more about it than I do!" Which he did. He studied about the spine, the muscles in the back. He was gonna open a clinic, and he told me, "I want you to come down and work for me in the winter time." I’d say, "Bobby, please be careful. There's a lot of people who’ll come to you; you’ll work on ‘em and they’ll claim that you hurt ‘em. There’s a lot of bad people in the world." He would never believe that! He couldn’t believe that anyone would try to deliberately hurt him. He’d kid me, "Aw, don’t worry – you dagos, you’re always suspicious.""

"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."

"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."

"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.""

"He reacted more to rookies than to guys who had been around for awhile, maybe because he would’ve liked someone to have helped him when he was a rookie. Clemente had known the same problems – the new language, getting acclimated to the big league atmosphere, how to deal with the media, where to eat on the road, how to dress. Sangy got picked off twice in one game. Robby came into the clubhouse, got a big piece of cardboard and put two sticks through it. He told Sangy to pretend it was a machine that he would use to take control of Sangy when he got on base. We laughed for 20 minutes, but it made Sangy realize he didn’t have to stick his head in his locker if he made a costly mistake in a game, that we were all in this thing together. That’s a valuable lesson and it could’ve saved Sangy a couple of years anxiety because he learned right away that no teammate holds a player completely responsible for losing a game."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"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.."

"In later years, there would be people who would say that Roberto was a hypochondriac. They could have been right, but if they were, it made the things he did even more remarkable. Because I can testify that I saw him throw his body into outfield fences, teeth first, to make remarkable plays. If he thought he was hurt at the time, then the act was even more courageous."

"Roberto Clemente, the outfielder, is one of the Royal’s bonus babies. According to baseball regulations he must be carried by the club throughout the campaign. That, perhaps, is the only reason Clemente has remained on the payroll. Not yet 20 years old, Roberto normally would have been sent out for seasoning. But lately he has been proving that he can play in Triple-A company. Last night in Toronto, for instance, he helped plenty when the Royals shaded the cousinly Maple Leafs 8-7. Clemente tripled and singled. When the Leafs threatened to send the contest into a knot, Clemente threw Connie Johnson out at the plate from right field."

"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.""

"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."

"Max says Chico is a faster runner than Roberto Clemente, the Royals' youthful outfielder, though he doesn't look it, maybe because he's a smoother runner. But what about Clemente? He has enough power to hit the ball out of most parks, though he still chases the curve. He has come up with a number of circus catches and he has a rifle arm, though it isn't always accurate. There isn't any doubt about his ability to run."

"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."

"Roberto Clemente has switched from pop-off-pills to pep up pills. The Pittsburgh Pirates have switched, too. They've abandoned the National League's Battle of the Bottom and instead have declared war on the rest of the league. The Pirates, with Clemente at the front of the attack, extended their winning streak to 10 games Sunday by clobbering the New York Mets, 9-1 and 12-0. [...] Manager Harry Walker attributes the change to several factors, Clemente among them. It was only earlier this month that the league's defending batting champion was quoted as saying: "I want to be traded from this club, and I don't want to play for this manager any more." Clemente thought differently soon afterward and now is doing a lot of playing for Walker. He's also taking a lot of pep pills to combat the weakness that remains from the malaria attack he suffered during the winter. The illness kept him away from most of spring training and still has him at less-than-playing weight. The pills apparently are working. During the winning streak, the 30-year-old right fielder is hitting .458 and has raised his season's average to .308. In the New York series he rapped 11 hits in 19 trips to the plate."

"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!"

"Clemente's game winner yesterday puts the upper deck in center field within reach for sluggers in the league who hit the ball for more distance than the great Pirate Veteran. Clemente' shot off rattled off the backdrop just below Philadelphia Phil."

"Yogi, and all the Yankees, for that matter. But I saw Clemente when I was coaching for the Mets. I believe he was the best I saw."

"It was against the Pirates in Houston. I pitched five innings and I remember Roberto Clemente. I don’t remember Willie Stargell. The one to remember, though, was Roberto Clemente. Bob Lillis was playing shortstop and Clemente hit a rocket, a one-hopper, that almost took Lillis from shortstop and put him in the left-field stands. Lillis wound up throwing him out, but he hit a rocket off me."

"One fact about big league life came hard in my first game. The ball just seems to come at you faster on the infield, and especially on a steel-hard surface like they had at old Forbes Field. Roberto Clemente lashed a wicked hop-and-skip grounder to me that I played all right, but I stopped it with my shin. Man! Did that thing ever sting! It's a wonder I even made the play."

"8 : "Clemente Slam—Ouch!; Pirates Clip SF by 6–4," San Francisco Examiner (Saturday, July 15, 1961), p. 35"

"I remember I was playing shortstop in that game and I almost got killed by a line drive by Clemente. We had the infield in, and Clemente hit one that ricocheted off my glove, off the top of my hat and went into center field for a triple. My thought was, "Get the married men off the infield, quick!""

"There aren’t many guys like him anymore: five-tool guys who use all their tools. I don’t know if there’s anybody quite in his class. He’s a Roberto Clemente-type player – no batting gloves and I’m going to stand up here and you throw it and I’m going to hit it like hell and after I hit it, I’m going to run like hell until somebody tags me out."

"My first major league game was at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, and Roberto Clemente almost killed me! Not many people know this, but I came up as a shortstop. Clemente hit a screaming line drive, and I got my glove up just as the ball hit the left field wall. I was one heck of a high school shortstop, but the majors were another story. After that, I told the coaches and manager to get me out of the infield."

"If they ever want to rate the 10 greatest catches of all time, Roberto Clemente’s fantastic catch of ’s line drive in Houston’s on June 15 will have to be among them. Houston manager called it the greatest catch he has ever seen. Pirates’ second baseman rates it equal to any catch Clemente ever has made. "It was a lot like the one Clemente made in 1960 against Willie Mays," said Maz. In the 1960 catch, Clemente crashed into the right field wall at Forbes Field and suffered a gash on his chin which required seven stitches. Clemente isn’t sure which catch is his best. Most of the 16,307 fans in the Astrodome felt it was the best catch they had ever seen. They gave Clemente a standing ovation for his feat, which deprived Watson of a home run which would have put the Astros ahead, 2-1. Instead, held a 1-0 lead and the Bucs, after Clemente’s eighth-inning catch, scored twice in the ninth for a 3-0 win. Here was the setting for Clemente’s heroics: Joe Morgan was on first base with two out. The second out had been recorded when Clemente made a sliding grab of ’s hump-back liner in short right. Watson, a right-handed hitter, followed with a vicious liner toward the right field corner. Clemente, going full speed, raced toward the wall and, in one sudden move, made a twisting leap for a one-handed grab, back to the plate, just before the ball would have hit above the yellow line on the wall, which is home run territory. When Clemente came down, his body hit the wall. He suffered a bruised left ankle and his left elbow also was swollen. Blood spilled from a gash on the left knee. Clemente slumped on both knees, back to the infield. The Houston fans stood up and cheered. After Blass hurled a scoreless ninth for his fourth shutout, he said: "This shutout belongs to Clemente.""

"At first, I didn't think it had a chance of going out. I even thought I could catch it. But it kept jumping, and when it did leave the park at that spot, I just couldn't believe it."

"One day at the Polo Grounds a pitch got away from me and I yelled, ‘Look out, Robert [sic].’ It was a high fastball. Clemente just put up his bat and fouled off the pitch. He was an amazing hitter."

"I'm coming up on 50 years in baseball. It's really tough to pick the one game I'd call the game of my life. Let's see, there was the first game I ever played up here. I hit a line drive to right field and Roberto Clemente came in and slid and made a great catch. I guess I realized I was playing in the major leagues at that point."

"Koufax also was bombed for one of the longest home runs in Forbes Field annals, which hark back to 1909. In the third inning, with a 1-and-2 count on him, Señor Clemente touched off a moon shot that struck high on a light tower in center field, some 450 ft. from the plate. Had it missed the tower, it certainly would have sailed at least 500 ft."

"He was one of the most dignified human beings I ever met, but he also could be very funny. Last year, we went to have breakfast in San Francisco. There was an elderly black woman in the restaurant who keeps looking at Clemente. Finally she comes over and says, "Mr. Blue, can I have your autograph?" "I’m sorry," he says, "but I’m not ." "Oh!" she says and walks away. Roberto looks at me, shrugs his shoulders and says with a smile, "See? That’s fame and fortune for you." The time I’ll never forget is when we went to a Chinese restaurant in Philadelphia. There were three of us – Roberto Clemente from Puerto Rico, Eddie Acosta of Panama, and me, a Hungarian. A real old Chinese waiter comes over. Roberto says to him, ‘We want sweet and sour pork, duck almond, fried rice, wonton soup – but we don’t want individual servings. We want it all in big dishes so we can serve ourselves." The old Chinese waiter looks at me, a real puzzled look on his face. So there we are – a Panamanian, a Hungaraian, a Puerto Rican, and a Chinaman. Roberto is laughing. He stands up and says real loud: "For Heaven’s sake, doesn’t anyone speak English in this joint?""

"The Dodgers, who came to town Monday in first place, dropped back down to the ‘show’ spot in the National League race Wednesday night when a former Brooklyn farmhand, Roberto Clemente, beat them with one swish of his bat. Of course, Roberto had lots of help from , who struck out 11 in posting a 3-1 triumph, but it was Clemente’s two-run homer off in Round 1 which decided the contest before 21,952 spectators. Clemente, who is battling teammate for the league batting crown, which he has already won three times, including the last two in a row, lost ground to Alou. While Clemente was 1-for-4 to drop a point to .331, Alou went 3-for-4 to jump five notches to .342. However, Clemente is enjoying another big year against the Dodgers. For 12 games, he is hitting at a .360 clip as compared to his .347 mauling of the L.A. staff last season. Clemente’s 17th homer came with one out after Alou got one of his typical hits - an infield bouncer which he easily legged out. Although a right-hand hitter, Clemente more often than not gets his hits in the opposite field, and his latest blockbuster was no exception. It landed high in the right field second deck. “I try to go to right field most of the time because the pitchers pitch me outside,” said Roberto. “Sutton throws me a fastball low and outside, so I go after it, although I didn’t know it was going to go that far. But I can go the other way if I get my pitch. Maybe you remember the ball I hit into the left field light tower here against the Dodgers a few years ago. It went out pretty good.” We remembered very well that it went out just like he said it did."

"Clemente had a tremendous arm. He took great delight in fielding a base hit in right field with a man on first base and pausing. He’d just stand there – sometimes in deep right – and hold the ball saying, ‘Go ahead to third.’ Runners wouldn’t dare go because Clemente nailed them every time. The crowd at Forbes Field would cheer, and Clemente would lob the ball back in to second. I didn’t go from first to third against Clemente either – except one time. I’ll never forget the day. It was a Sunday afternoon in Forbes Field. [...] Somebody hit a shot to right field right at Clemente. He picked the ball up to dare me, and I rounded second. As I rounded the base, I looked back at him over my shoulder as if I were going to honor his arm. And when I looked, I just shifted into high gear. He saw that and came up firing. He made a clothesline throw, all the way to third in the air. It wasn’t even on one hop. I slid a la Rickey Henderson and Pete Rose – headfirst. I don’t mean I put one hand down to break my fall. I mean I was stretched out parallel to the ground with both hands out as if I’m diving into a swimming pool. “SAFE!" In Forbes Field, the dugouts were like pillboxes. Standing in the dugout, your shoulders were at field level. When I beat the throw, all my teammates were at the top of the dugout applauding. We hated Clemente’s guts because he was so good. He had a style about him of arrogance, cockiness and defiance."

"Roberto Clemente, a Puerto Rican, drafted from the Brooklyn chain, is only 20, but he can run, throw and smack for distance."

"Oh sure, we had a defense for him; but a lot of good it did. He can hit the ball any place on the field and with power. There are few like him. And his arm demands respect. Baserunners don't go from first to third often on Clemente's arm."

"I’m more convinced than ever that there aren’t as many good hitters in the game, guys who can whack the ball around when it’s over the plate, like an Aaron or a Clemente. There are plenty of guys who can hit the ball a long way, but I see so many who lack finesse, who should hit for average but don’t."