People From San Juan

"That was a Roberto Clemente play. He made a Roberto Clemente turn and throw. That throw could have ended up in a water cooler somewhere."

"When I was 15, he came to my hometown for a clinic. I remember everything, particularly the things he taught me about playing the outfield. It helped me my whole career. He showed me the way to throw the ball, and the way to catch it, and the best way to hit the cutoff man, and he taught me how to learn to anticipate where the ball would come. [... A few years later,] I was playing center field, right next to him in right field. It was a thrill. Everything he taught me helped me my whole career, and I try to teach the kids the same way."

"Clemente and I, we played together for about six years – from 1963 to 1968. In my opinion, Roberto Clemente was the best player I’ve ever seen playing this game."

"I played with Willie Mays and I played with Roberto Clemente, and what I see in Barry is the same ability I saw in Willie and Roberto. I see a guy who trusts himself at the plate and in the field. If I managed against Barry, I wouldn't let him beat me. I wouldn't give him the opportunity."

"I’d like to see Clemente’s hit on a clear day with no wind and see how far it really would go."

"Sure, Clemente runs through signs once in a while. But on our club, we encourage daring baserunning. It pays off. Sometimes Clemente doesn’t even see the coach’s signal. When he’s on base, he’s concentrating on only one thing – reaching home safely."

"Clemente’s quite a ballplayer, isn’t he? Now you know why he was picked on the All-Star team. He’s as good an outfielder in right field as your Willie Mays in center. There isn’t anything he can’t do."

"I'm surprised that you fellows didn't make a big fuss over the ball Clemente hit to the roof Saturday. I thought it hit the top and came down. That's probably the longest hit in that direction made by a right-handed hitter. Don't you think so?"

"I'm the lucky one. I have Clemente on my side. He can do it all. I have seen him do it all."

"At the moment, the two best hitters in this league—without question—are my guy (Roberto Clemente) and Willie Davis."

"If Clemente were a selfish player, he could hit 25 to 40 home runs a season. But he’s always been content to set up a lot of runs for the fourth and fifth place hitters. That’s why I always hit him third in the lineup. That has been my argument all along with the press. I’ve told the writers time and time again; nobody ever takes into consideration the amount of runs he sets up with singles and doubles. He takes great pride in hitting behind the runner and he does everything possible to help a ballclub. All the players look up to him. He helps a manager in so many ways, starting with spring training. When the young Latin players come into camp, he takes them under his wing and advises them as if he were their father."

"There was a language barrier at the start, ignorance on both sides. But time took care of that. He was such a truthful man it backfired on him sometimes. If you asked him if his shoulder hurt, he’d say "Yes, it does." Then he’d go out and throw a guy out at the plate. That’s how he got the hypochondriac label."

"Two catches Roberto made stand out in my mind. Each came at the risk of great personal injury and each had a vital part in the winning of a pennant although they were eleven years apart. We were in a scoreless tie with the New York [sic] Giants in Forbes Field late in the 1960 season when Willie Mays tagged one. Roberto turned his back on the ball and raced back, knowing he could not avoid crashing into an unpadded wall. He still made the catch, saved the game and wound up with a dozen stitches. Late in a tie game [actually the Pirates were ahead 1-0] with Houston during our pennant drive of 1971, Bob Watson hit one deep along the right field line. Two were out and the winning run was on its way home when Roberto tore across the field at full speed and made the catch as he crashed into the wall. He was knocked groggy, but still hit a game-winning home run in the next inning."

"Roberto really should not have played that second game. He was so tired from the previous night’s game and lack of sleep that he passed up batting practice. But he played all twenty-five innings within a twenty-hour period... Man, when I was playing, it would take me three or four weeks to get that many hits."

"Wrigley used to be Roberto Clemente's favorite hitting ball yard. I saw Clemente have many a big day here. He hit a lot of homers over those vines. You see that scoreboard? Well, he hit a ball one day slightly to the left of the top of it. I thought it was going to hit the board but it veered to the left. That blast had to be 500 feet or more. Maybe there have been longer homers. That one compared with the best of them"

"There’s one thing I can’t understand. I’ve read many articles about who is the most valuable player on the Pirates. But I never see Roberto’s name mentioned. I don’t know how he can be overlooked when you talk about players on the club. Actually, there is no one player that can be classed as the most valuable, in my opinion. There are about five fellows on the team we couldn’t get along without. I mean individually, there’s Dick Groat and Don Hoak and the Deacon and Elroy and Clemente. But he doesn’t get a call. He’s been consistently around .320 all season. He has hit more home runs than ever. He just might be the only player here to drive in over 100 runs. And certainly he is the best right fielder in the league. Sure, those others are valuable to the team, but no more valuable than Clemente. He’s won more games for us with his bat, with his arm, with his speed on the bases. What more can you ask a player to do to be recognized? If Roberto beefs about not being mentioned, I wouldn’t blame him. He’s done as much as any other player on this team to keep us in first place."

"Max Macon, the manager, told me one day on the bench late in the season, "That kid will be starting at Pittsburgh next season." I said, "What do you mean?" He told me about the draft rule for anybody signing a bonus of more than $4,000 and said the Pirates would have the first draft choice and would be sure to take Clemente. He said they'd been scouting him. You could tell he had talent. And he was such a nice kid."

"The outstanding boo-boo was our loss of Clemente whom we had signed to a bonus contract with our Montreal club. A combination error between our front office and the Commissioner's office resulted in a technicality by which we lost his services. With Clemente on the Dodgers, we would have won four more pennants than we did. I am hazy about Mays and Aaron."

"I'll tell you one way they are going to miss him. When he was not playing and sitting on the bench, the other team not only knew he was there, they saw Roberto waving to the right fielder to show him where to stand. Nobody knew better how to play the batters."

"During the Series, after arriving in Baltimore, Roberto practiced for hours studying how the ball caromed off the right field fence at different angles and locations. His determination was of such a magnitude that one could be excused for believing he’d gone crazy. Crazy like a fox is more like it, as the World Series would ultimately demonstrate; time after time, Roberto, having left nothing to chance, would appear in precisely the right spot to field each carom. For me, Roberto Clemente has to be the greatest right fielder of all time."

"When I first signed with the Pirates, I signed on as a catcher. I had a technique of throwing the ball, but it was a catcher’s throw, not an outfielder’s throw. Robby first made me aware of the difference. "You can get a lot more on that throw if you stretch your arm out." He showed me how to throw the ball from the outfield. Robby also showed me how to properly grip the ball before throwing it, and how you grab the ball out of your glove with that same grip each time. By gripping the ball a certain way with your fingers across the strings, you could keep it from slicing. It had to be a routine. When you’re getting this advice from a guy as great as Clemente, it sinks in immediately. To me, the guy was God."

"A lot of people praise Clemente now. What I saw as a young adult, though, was that he didn’t get what he deserved. The true praise for Clemente came after his death. To me, he was every bit as good as Mantle and Mays, but they got more recognition on a national basis. Clemente was every bit as good as either of them, or anyone else. To me, he stuck out like a sore thumb. You knew he was a great baseball player."

"Clemente and Ted Williams are the only two batters I ever saw who get good wood on the ball almost every time up. Every ball he hits seems shot out of a cannon."

"Amazing. The only other batter I ever saw who gets good wood on the ball as consistently as Clemente was Ted Williams."

"Clemente simply is a natural hitter. He’s hard to fool and ready at all times."

"Johnny Pesky calls Clemente the best hitter since Ted Williams. "And Williams would be proud to have anybody say that," the Pirate coach added."

"[On Clemente's wasted 3-HR-7-RBI performance of May 15, 1967] He hit one to right field and then to right-center. Then he homered over the left field fence. It was fantastic – absolutely sensational. [On the following day's 5-HRs-on-6-pitches batting practice clinic] It’s the first time I’ve seen that since Ted Williams’ days with the Red Sox."

"He has to be one of the greatest who ever lived, in a class with Williams, DiMaggio, Aaron and Mays."

"When I took the job, Joe Brown, who bossed the team, said to me, "I want you to keep Clemente happy if you can," and that was easy. I used to tell Roberto that he was as good as Ted Williams. And that was something from me. Williams was a god to me and I was putting Roberto in the same class with him. [...] I never in my life thought the man could play the way he did for the Pirates. I saw Roberto Clemente make plays that were just about impossible, and I was forever praising him and he loved every second of it."

"Roberto was not exceptionally big physically, but he had a solid body and was very, very strong."

"Great kid, wonderful player. Probably as good a player as ever played the game. He could run, hit, throw, hit home runs. I had Stargell out a couple of times for extra hitting, but Clemente didn’t need it. He was just so good. When you talk about Clemente, you’re talking about Mays. He was a hell of a player."

"He was the best right-handed hitter I ever saw. He could run, throw — he was a hell of a player."

"One day last spring, I was walking toward the clubhouse and I saw Clemente standing by himself at home plate with a bat in his hands. The workout was over and everyone else had left. Roberto would take four or five strides with his front foot, keeping his bat still. Then he’d swing it and run hard to first base. He did it again and I finally walked over and asked what he was doing."Well," he said, "I'm in good shape physically, but I’m pretending it’s opening day. We play the Mets and I know Seaver will pitch. I know how he pitches me and I’m pretending that’s what he’s doing. I’m getting myself ready mentally.”"

"Low and away from what I have seen. High and away—forget it—it'll be a shot over the wall!"

"I guess the best words I could use, when he first come up: great ability, played hard, but he was somewhat of a hot dog. Maybe he didn't run out a ball. He was known for that when he first come up. And, uhh... then, as he matured, he became the leader of the club, and [pause] the hot dog was gone. He just matured and became... became the guy that he was... that he was destined to be."

"Clemente was No. 1 on the lists of four or five major league teams. We've had several men scout him. Clyde Sukeforth did a thorough job on him. We know he can field, run and throw. He has power for sure. He didn't hit for average in Montreal, but we're hoping he'll do it for us."

"I had a good line on this boy. Three different members of the scouting staff observed his play. On the reports I would have paid more than the $4,000 it cost the club. I would have paid $10,000 or even gone high as $30,000 for him. But for $30,000, I would have gone out myself and checked on him."

"We can't go overboard on what we've heard. It might be hard on the boy if he gets a lot of rave notices. The people might expect too much of him. I've had so many good reports on this boy, I'm anxious to get a look at him myself."

"I have been told very often from sources about his running speed. His running form is bad, definitely bad, and based upon what I saw tonight, he has only a bit above average major league running speed. He has a beautiful throwing arm. He throws the ball down and it really goes places. However he runs with the ball every time he makes a throw and that’s bad. He has no adventure whatsoever on the bases, takes a comparatively small lead, and doesn’t have in mind, apparently, getting a break. I can imagine that he has never stolen a base in his life with his skill or cleverness. I can guess that if it was done, it was because he was pushed off. His form at the plate is perfect. The bat is out and in good position to give him power. There is not the slightest hitch or movement in his hands or arms and the big end of the bat is completely quiet when the ball leaves the pitcher’s hand. His sweep is level, very level. His stride is short and his stance is good to start with and he finishes good with his body. I know of no reason why he should not become a very fine hitter. I would not class him, however, as even a prospective home run hitter. I do not believe he can possibly do a major league club any good in 1955. It is just too bad that he could not have his first year in a Class B or C league and then this year he might have profited greatly with a second year as a regular say in Class A. In 1956 he can be sent out on option by Pittsburgh only by first obtaining waivers, and waivers likely cannot be secured. So we are stuck with him, stuck indeed, until such a time as he can really help a major league club."

"I saw Clemente several years ago in Puerto Rico and made up my mind at the time to get him somehow. When the Dodgers gave Clemente a bonus and left him on the Montreal roster, I jumped. I knew this was it. The only person I told about Clemente was Clyde Sukeforth and I sent him on a trip to check on Roberto.★ He came back raving. Clemente was good last year, but he’ll be better this year, and in about three years you’ll really see something."

"This boy may not possess the color of Jackie Robinson or Willie Mays, but he has enough natural ability to be spoken of along with any of those fellows. I suppose I have a peculiar attachment to Robert [sic]. That's because we got him for a "steal," you might say. I was with the Dodgers when we acquired Clemente after scouting him in Puerto Rico. So I was thoroughly acquainted with the boy when the major league draft came up in the winter of 1954, after I had come to Pittsburgh from Brooklyn. The Dodgers were apparently bent on "hiding" Robert when they transferred him to the Pacific Coast League.★ But since I knew what he could do, and that he was somewhere in their farm system, I withheld the Pirates' draft selection until I found the boy. We got him for the relatively small draft price—perhaps the biggest steal in baseball."

"Here he was, thirty-seven years old, and they said he had to have a great World Series or else people would not know how great he was. He was so ashamed. He’d tell me, "Oh, when I was younger, I was so much better.""

"In the finals against Mayaguez, I had a one-run lead with two outs in the ninth. Boog Powell was at the plate. I threw him a fastball. It was some 420 feet to dead center in Mayaguez and quite dark. The lights weren’t too bright in that part of the stadium. Powell got hold of it, but Clemente was playing in center. He turned around, slid into the fence. It must have been dead quiet for five minutes, when I realized he caught the ball with his back facing the infield. The game was over."

"While Radatz, Face and Schwall leaned to Howard for distance, all thought Jackson a power man of note. " and Roberto Clemente can hit 'em downtown with the best of them," Schwall interjected. Face nodded in agreement."

"I never saw a guy so dedicated to playing ball. He’d have a clubhouse meeting and it’d sorta be funny… he’d talk for an hour, and not get tired of talking! He was speaking in halting English, but he meant every word. And you’d see him hit a tap to the pitcher, and he’d run just as hard as he did on a hit. He always said it might be that one time that something would happen, that you’d put pressure on a guy and make him make a mistake. Maybe we aren’t blessed with his talent, but there’s no reason we can’t hustle like he did."

"There was a lot of pressure on Roberto to activate himself," Singleton recalls. "He was a hero down there, and he could still play better than anybody. But he refused to take somebody’s place in the lineup. He said he would go with the guys who got him that far. A team is a team, he said. I never forgot that." Neither did Singleton forget how those playoffs ended in 1970. Clemente came up in the ninth inning, bases loaded, his team trailing by a run, with two outs. The count went to 3 and 2. The crowd was screaming, and Clemente seized the moment. "Line-drive double," says Singleton, smiling. "Two runs, we win the game. He contributed to the cause, but he didn't forget everybody else who contributed."

"Today he said that he would wager "up to a dollar" that Roberto Clemente would hit 30 points higher this season. "He was moving his head around. It was up in the air most of the time when he swung. That’s why he was troubled so much by curves. Now after one bit of instruction, he is holding his head steady.""

"A thinking hitter, the kind I like. I don’t like ‘guess’ hitters."

"I think Clemente will hit 35 points higher this season."

"This is a young team and one of the advantages of working with youngsters is they’re eager to learn and they’re good students. They’re willing to accept advice. We don’t have too many power hitters on the Pirates and naturally it isn’t my aim to develop the singles hitters into home run hitters. I feel if they’ll just meet the ball solidly, they’ll fill the bill. I think the averages have declined in recent years because most players are looking for the home run every time at bat. But we’ll be satisfied with a good, consistent performance. Virdon and Clemente hit only 17 home runs between them but they ran two-three in the National League batting race."