On July 21, 1971 — 1971 – Is this Roberto Clemente’s long lost 241st home run? Some spotty official scoring and Dave Giusti’s pyromaniacal 9th-inning relief outing conspire to obscure Clemente’s contributions to the Pirates’ performance. Giusti’s silver platter features an RBI single, a walk to load the bases, a game-tying bases-loaded walk to Willie Mays, and a game-winning grand slam served to the Giants’ Willie McCovey, turning Pittsburgh’s come-from-behind 4 – 2 victory into an ignominious 8 – 4 defeat. This debacle, plus an almost equally dispiriting 10-inning, 8 – 7 defeat tomorrow, will turn out to be a preview of theNational League Championship Series, which will have a very different result. Before Giusti’s meltdown, Clemente’s rope to home plate prevents Dick Dietz from even trying to score from second base on a single. Back in the 7th, with the Giants up by one, Clemente leads off with a vicious line drive back through the box that gets to centerfield in an instant and past Mays before he can get a glove on it, affording Roberto a quick tour of the bases before crossing home plate standing. Scored an error, it’s the subject of some choice post-game Mays commentary, as relayed by Giants beat writer Bob Stevens: “It should have been a home run. The error makes no difference to me and I don’t really care if the ruling’s changed. But I was playing Roberto in right centerfield and I had no chance to catch up to it, it was hit so hard. I guess they gave me an error because they thought I touched it. But it was at least a foot away from my glove when it bounced past me.”

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Sources:
Baseball Reference July 21
National Pastime July 21
Retro Sheet
Hall of Fame
SABR Games Project
Replay The Game