People From San Juan

"I’ve been asked if I ever saw anyone better than Willie Mays. The answer is, yes. Roberto Clemente was much better than Willie Mays. It wasn’t just his arm. He could do everything better."

"One of my favorite memories of Roberto is that year when Santurce, with Clemente and Mays, went to Caracas, Venezuela, to play in the Caribbean Series – representing Puerto Rico against Cuba, Panama, and the host country. There were many major leaguers on the rosters. In the deciding game, Clemente was on first in the final inning and Mays hits one to right, where the outfielder bobbled the ball for just a second. Clemente took off like a shot the moment that Mays connected and flew around third, although the coach tried to stop him. Gus Triandos was the catcher for the other team. The ball arrived at the same time as Clemente slid, spikes in the air, and we won the game. That exhibition of Clemente’s great speed and spirit was one of the most emotional moments in my life. He made many fine plays in the United States, but to win a game for Puerto Rico for our club in the Caribbean Series was a great moment. In fact, not long ago in Pittsburgh someone asked Clemente if he had ever played on a team with the slugging power of the 1971 Pirates. He said yes – the Santurce Crabbers, when they won the Caribbean Series!"

"He used to do things there that I thought no outfielder could possibly do. I am, you see, no baby. I know this game and I know the people who play it and I have seen them all ... all of them. But I tell you as I look there where once he wore our Santurce uniform, I tell you that when they hit that line drive ... you know that Roberto would of course have to be playing over toward center for a right-handed batter. And when the right-handed hitter put the ball toward the foul line, then Roberto would have to turn his back and sprint in the wrong direction. This is, you see, a most difficult play, but all the good ones make it, so you cannot build a memory upon the fact that he could turn and run and catch the ball. But what followed, ah, my friend, what followed. Ah, what followed was that as soon as you heard the sound of that baseball sticking in the pocket of the glove, you knew that Roberto would make this incredible pivot and sometimes without even looking he would throw the ball and heaven help the man on third base who thought he could then tag up and run home after such a play. Heaven help him, my friend, because his legs couldn’t. Roberto would throw him out by three feet. I am no child. I get older. I have seen them all. Yes, DiMaggio could make this play and maybe one or two others. That’s all. Upon a sight like this one can build a memory that almost measures up to the greatness that was Clemente."

"Aaron whistled when he talked of the two shots Roberto Clemente drilled. One struck the left field wall and bounced back on the field for a double. The other traveled over Mack Jones’ head in dead center (450 feet?) and he got a triple."

"Tired of hearing that Pittsburgh's Roberto Clemente was baseball's best, Aaron went on the rampage against the Pirates Sunday and fired the Braves to a 7-2 victory with a pair of two-run homers and two singles in a perfect day at the plate. "When you're second best, you have to try harder," Aaron quipped after his hitting outburst. [...] "I'm not mad. People can say whatever they want about who is the best player." [...] Aaron had been needled by Walker's public praise of Clemente, who the Pirate manager said was a better player than Aaron. The Atlanta right fielder hit the roof when Atlanta announcer Milo Hamilton introduced Clemente at a luncheon as the man who beat out Aaron for the right field job in the All-Star game. "I got more votes than Clemente," Aaron said. "I played center field because Walter Alston asked me to." Aaron and Hamilton ironed out their differences at a clubhouse meeting, but the 33-year-old slugger was determined to prove his point. He was particularly elated about throwing out Clemente when the Pittsburgh standout tried to take third on a long hit to right field. "Sure, that made me feel good. But I feel good when I throw anyone out." Aaron just laughed when a teammate said that, from now on, he's going to say before every game, "Clemente's better than Aaron.""

"Clemente has the misfortune of playing in a big park. If he played in a smaller one, there’s no telling how many home runs he’d hit."

"We talked about pitchers a lot. He’d want to know what I did against a certain pitcher. He had his own ideas, of course, and liked to use reverse psychology. He would take about five bats to the on-deck circle and sometimes changed bats. He would make the pitcher think he was going to use a heavier bat to punch the ball to the opposite field or something. Then he’d take a big cut."

"He had a batting stance that was a little peculiar. He had a little crouch in his stance, and when he swung at the ball, his rear popped out and he looked like he was almost jumping at the ball. He always got a lot of the fat part of the bat on the ball, though, and he hit more and more long balls at the end of his career."

"There was a cat who could gig. He played the right field wall in Forbes Field like Oscar Peterson working the piano. As a kid, I made a study of Roberto. I noticed [that] when a hitter took a wide turn around first base, he would sometimes gun the ball back to first behind the runner instead of throwing it into second. He used to catch a lot of guys that way. Now it’s years later and I’m up against the Pirates. I hit the ball to right field – Clemente Country. I round the bag real wide, but instead of stopping, I stutter-step and keep on running. When Clemente throws the ball to first to try to catch me, I’m already on second base, standing up."

"You take liberties with other guys you never take with him. He’s already thrown out five or six of our guys at home plate."

"He’s the only wild swinger who hits .300 every year."

"Johnny Roseboro looks like a .320 hitter up there at the plate and Roberto Clemente looks like a .230 hitter. How come Clemente outhits Roseboro by a hundred points?"

"He’s really something. He hits some other people pretty good too. He used to be able to hit Sandy."

"The big thing about Clemente is there is no one pitch that he can not hit. He may strike out on a ball low and away and the next time at bat hit the same pitch out of the park."

"I know Stargell is currently hitting almost twice as much as Clemente, but over the years Clemente has been twice as good a hitter as Stargell, especially against southpaws. O’Brien had handled Stargell the first time he faced him and you just can’t ask a youngster to pitch carefully to Clemente. He can hit it no matter where it’s pitched."

"Clemente can do everything on a ball field that any man can do. He has one big thing going for him. He can do most things better than anybody else"

"A 37-year-old with a body like that. It's not fair to other people. For one day he may be the best player in baseball."

"Walking away… Roberto Clemente is my premier outfielder – period. I saw more of Clemente than I wanted to when I managed against him. He could hit for power when he had to. When he wanted to slap it to right, he shot the ball like a bullet. Plus, he could fly. When he hit a ground ball to the infield, he was flying to first. That fielder better not be napping. Clemente was a remarkable man because at the ages of thirty-four and thirty-five, he played like he was twenty-one. I never saw anything like it. I remember once when the Pirates came to Cincinnati for a five-game series in four days. Clemente didn’t play in any of the games. Believe me, it didn’t bother me to have him out of there. But I was curious, so I queried Danny Murtaugh, the Pirates’ manager. “He’s been very tired," said Murtaugh. "He’s been resting. But watch what happens next week and the rest of the season." I checked the box scores every day. There was Clemente – three hits, two hits, three hits, four hits, two hits, day after day. Clemente came back and led the Pirates to the pennant. The man got tired just like everyone else. But once he was rested, he was like a kid again. That’s how I’ll always remember him – as a man who played with youthful energy."

"Bobby could do more things than any player I've ever seen. I used to coach third base for Preston Gomez in San Diego. Once he told me, "Now, I want you to know about Clemente cause he’ll play a game with you. If we have a man on first and there’s a base hit to right field, he’ll pretend to be loafing in on it. The moment you start to wave for that runner to come to third – look out, there’s gonna be an explosion." Well, sure enough, I don’t know what inning it was, but the situation came up, he put me in his trap and I did it. And let me tell you, my runner was about two-thirds of the way to third when the ball arrived. I came into the dugout and Preston was laughing. He said, ‘What did I tell you?’ But that was Roberto. There wasn’t anything he couldn’t do."

"The best player I personally ever saw — and I never saw Mays in his prime, so I can't argue that — but the best I have ever seen to this day is Roberto Clemente. Bobby was unreal. He was better the last couple years before he got killed than he was in his younger days. He had the body of a kid in his mid-20s. People didn't realize how fast he was. He only stole bases if it meant something. In the outfield, nobody could play that position like him."

"He's a great outfielder. I'd put him close to Clemente, and I never saw one better than Clemente."

"I'd put him in the top five I've ever seen. Mays, Aaron, Clemente. That's pretty good company. He was a disciplined hitter, not just a wild swinger. He could hit a lot of pitches. I remember one time at Forbes Field, a pitcher dusted him with an inside fastball. Clemente got up and hit the next pitch over the wall. That's 440 feet at Forbes Field."

"Some of you fans may remember the ball he knocked out of Wrigley a few seasons ago, just to the left field side of the scoreboard. That’s the longest one I’ve seen hit there and we all agreed it must have traveled more than 500 feet on its trip into Waveland Avenue."

"To say the least, Sergio’s got an unorthodox setup – swing too, maybe, and so did Clemente. A pitcher could throw a ball over his head and he’d hit a line drive to right field. Man, could he hit! Sergio can really knock it out there, with power. He’s flashy, charismatic. Clemente was like that. He’d make an underhanded catch or run out from beneath his cap. Sergio’s got the looks, Clemente had the looks. Natural stuff, you can’t just invent – that’s these guys."

"I saw Roberto when I was trying to get into the big leagues. I was impressed that he gave 100 percent in winter ball, just as he did in Pittsburgh. Some people used to say he was a crybaby – that he wouldn’t play if he had an injury. But I saw him play hurt and he was better then than most players when they’re healthy. He was all business on the playing field. I was pretty quick then. I was on second base and tried to score on a hit up the right center alley. Roberto scooped up the ball and got it to the plate so fast I didn’t have a chance."

"Clemente was an awesome talent. He was a right-handed batter, but he would hit the ball to me at second as hard as any power-hitting left-hander. He used a very heavy bat and had an inside-out swing. He was very difficult to defense. He would hit shots at you, and the balls would come out of his uniform. The second baseman and the first baseman really had to be on their toes when he was hitting."

"Clemente was like me. He liked balls up and away. Sanguillen swung sort of like me."

"Mota's drive jarred me and so did Clemente, hitting my high change. Nobody ever hit my change-up farther than Clemente did."

"You’d have to go with each club. Everybody has a couple of fellows who can really hurt a pitcher. If I had to name one guy on each club, I’d say Williams on the Cubs, Rose or Vada Pinson on the Reds; with the Dodgers last year it was Gilliam, with Pittsburgh it’s Clemente."

"I used to kick myself whenever a guy got a single that fell just in front of me and Willie would say, “That’s all right, you held the guy to a single.” It stared making a lot of sense. It took a while to learn but I’ve finally got it. Take a team like Pittsburgh. Willie Stargell is the guy who hits all the homers, but I’ll play Roberto Clemente deeper than I’ll play Stargell. If Stargell hits it out, it doesn’t matter where you play. All you can do is lean on the fence and watch it go out. But Clemente hits a lot of line drives, so I play back and hope to keep him to a single, not a double or triple."

"I talked with Clemente a lot last season. I asked him his philosophy on hitting and playing. I learned some things. Roberto told me if you can’t give your best every time you hit a ball, why play? Then I asked myself, "When did Roberto ever loaf?" The last time I saw Clemente, he said he’d talk with me more this year. Now he’s gone. But Roberto opened my eyes – a player should always give 100 percent or not play."

"He is one of the worst-looking great hitters I’ve seen. Everything is a line drive. There isn’t one phase of baseball in which he doesn’t excel."

"If we changed places and Ken played in New York, he'd be in the Hall of Fame today. It's like Roberto Clemente. He was by far the greatest defensive right fielder who ever lived, but because he played in Pittsburgh, he didn't get the credit he deserved. I played with Roger Maris and against Al Kaline, and they were both great right fielders. But they weren't in Clemente's class."

"You can't defense him. He can hit down any line, hit up the middle and he can hit the long ball. In some ways, he's a better ball player than Aaron."

"The best player in the game today. I’d have to take him over Aaron and all the rest... I've only been in the league a little over a year and a half, but I don't think I've ever seen him make an easy out."

"Clemente is the best player I’ve ever seen. I said so when I first came into the league and I still say so."

"I'm looking at the best hitter in baseball."

"Willie Mays was the greatest player I ever saw. Clemente was second and Hank Aaron was the greatest slugger. But pound for pound, play-for-play, Willie Mays could do it all well. You can name four or five in what I call that elite category,” he said, adding the name of Mickey Mantle to his list of greats. “But after that, you catch hell putting anybody up there."

"I do not remember too many of the players. I seem to be more conscious of the players from when I played in Cuba. I had Orlando Cepeda launch a few on me when I was with Ponce. Oh, there was Roberto Clemente. I played against him, and he was awesome. The way he ran. The dirt flying up from his spikes. And he could hit the ball all over the place. He was terrific."

"Roberto Clemente, bats right. High fast-ball hitter, fair on breaking stuff. Power on inside strikes, hits straightaway. Often takes first pitch. Pushes bunt occasionally. Dislikes knockdown by close pitch. Runs well, takes risk on bases. Excellent defensive rightfielder. Frequently bluffs fumble of ground balls to dare opposing runners to try for extra base. (Jam him good. Keep change and slider away, preferably down.) Clemente features a Latin-American variety of showboating. ""Look at numero uno," he seems to be saying. Once afflicted with periodic back pains, he apparently was cured during a hitch with the Marines at Parris Island. His hard-headed reputation stems from a fabled episode that took place at second base several years ago. Cincinnati's Johnny Temple, upset by Clemente on a double play two innings previously, pivoted over the bag after a force play on Clemente and threw toward first base from down under. The ball caught Roberto smartly between the eyes. He didn't even blink. He once ran right over his manager, who was coaching third base, to complete an inside-the-park home run hit off my best hanging slider. It excited the fans, startled the manager, shocked me and disgusted my club."

"Furillo's arm is not what it used to be. Mays has the best arm without a doubt. I'd say Wally Post of Cincinnati is next. Furillo is probably third with Duke Snider of Brooklyn and Clemente not far behind."

"I wasn't throwing at him. I was trying to get a fastball on the inside corner for a strike. But it was high and about three inches from the plate. He stands so far from the plate that the ball was at least two and a half to three feet from him. That guy goes down every time a pitch gets within hailing distance of him. He's a scaredy-cat and complains all the time."

"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."

"The fact that Clemente has been so consistent is the most impressive thing about him. He is hitting over .300 when there are fewer and fewer .300 hitters. Yastrzemski had a great season, but Clemente has had many, many great seasons, and that’s why I picked him. Our scouting reports on him are the best – the best they can be. We rate him at the top in every category. You can’t say more than that."

"Harry told me I might be a Clemente some day. So I told him, "That might be hard to do. I know Clemente. I might be something like him, but, ha, not like him. There is just one Clemente.""

"Roberto is one of the toughest hitters in the league – the kind you can’t pitch to any certain way. You may get him out on one pitch, but throw him the same pitch again and he’ll hit it for a bullet."

"Pat Corrales, now managing the Cleveland Indians, admitted the other day that he has a favorite player. He's Gary Matthews of the Cubs, who played for Corrales in Philadelphia. "He does everything he can to win," Corrales said. "I've never seen him stop driving. And if he sees a teammate who isn't hustling, he'll tell him about it and embarrass him in front of the whole club." According to Corrales, only a few other players are in this same category: Roberto Clemente, Pete Rose and Baltimore's Cal Ripken."

"Clemente has convinced me he’s the best hitter in this league. I always thought Hank Aaron was, but Clemente has shown me something. He hits nothing but line drives, and a pitcher never knows where to throw the ball to him. And he’s just about as good a ballplayer as you’ll find anywhere. He can do everything."

"There were four home runs in the game – two by Willie McCovey, the MVP, and one each by Frank Howard and Johnny Bench. With all of the long balls, the one I remember most was hit by Roberto Clemente. The Great One hit it all the way into the upper deck, but it was foul. I had seen balls hit farther, but I had never seen a ball hit that far to the opposite field!"

"I didn’t have much trouble with Roberto. I threw him a few fastballs inside to keep him from leaning in. One of those fastballs broke his wrist in my rookie season. I saw him that night at a banquet in our hotel, the Pittsburgh Hilton, and tried to apologize, but he waved my words away. "Don’t worry about it," he said. "It’s part of the game." It was also a part of the game that I continued to throw fastballs inside the inside corner to him as a reminder and got him out mostly with outside sliders."