“My first major league game was at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, and Roberto Clemente almost killed me!” The “Toy Cannon” meets a real cannon with near disastrous results. Speaking with Baseball Digest some 40 years after the fact, Jimmy Wynn dredges up this traumatic close encounter: “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.” In fact, this hair-raising encounter took place during Wynn’s second game in the majors. Wynn will have to soldier on in the infield for another 10 tension-filled days, but will be firmly ensconced in centerfield after that.

ByBaseball

“My first major league game was at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, and Roberto Clemente almost killed me!” The “Toy Cannon” meets a real cannon with near disastrous results. Speaking with Baseball Digest some 40 years after the fact, Jimmy Wynn dredges up this traumatic close encounter: “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.” In fact, this hair-raising encounter took place during Wynn’s second game in the majors. Wynn will have to soldier on in the infield for another 10 tension-filled days, but will be firmly ensconced in centerfield after that.