1968 â Roberto Clemente comes within a hairâs breadth of hitting inside-the-park home runs in consecutive innings. Ironically, his 4th-inning home run is basically a single plus the kind of bounce that typically plagues âin-â rather than âout-â fielders in Pittsburghâs Forbes Field. The Sporting Newsâ Les Biederman elaborates: âHe hit a âsingleâ to right-center off Lindy McDaniel but as Ty Cline set himself, the ball took a big bounce over his head and rolled to the wall. Clemente circled the bases standing up.â This fluke four-bagger provides a stark contrast to the previous inningâs bomb: âHis 3rd-inning triple landed on top of the batting cage at the 457-foot sign on the center field wall, a tremendous blast⊠Clemente said he didnât turn on the gas because he was the leadoff batter and figured if he could get as far as third base, it would be fine. âWith nobody out, I didnât want to take a chance,â he added. âWhen I turned second base and saw Alex Grammas give me the green light, I kept going. It had to be a perfect relay to get me.'â
1968 â Roberto Clemente comes within a hairâs breadth of hitting inside-the-park home runs in consecutive innings. Ironically, his 4th-inning home run is basically a single plus the kind of bounce that typically plagues âin-â rather than âout-â fielders in Pittsburghâs Forbes Field. The Sporting Newsâ Les Biederman elaborates: âHe hit a âsingleâ to right-center off Lindy McDaniel but as Ty Cline set himself, the ball took a big bounce over his head and rolled to the wall. Clemente circled the bases standing up.â This fluke four-bagger provides a stark contrast to the previous inningâs bomb: âHis 3rd-inning triple landed on top of the batting cage at the 457-foot sign on the center field wall, a tremendous blast⊠Clemente said he didnât turn on the gas because he was the leadoff batter and figured if he could get as far as third base, it would be fine. âWith nobody out, I didnât want to take a chance,â he added. âWhen I turned second base and saw Alex Grammas give me the green light, I kept going. It had to be a perfect relay to get me.'â