It certainly comes as no shock, when reading the box score of tonight’s 5 – 4 defeat of the league-leading Braves, to find an assist credited to Pittsburgh’s rifle-armed right fielder, Roberto Clemente, the 13th of 17 outfield assists to be recorded by Clemente this season. That being said, without witnessing it one would be hard pressed to envision the exact nature of this exciting but atypical and inadvertent ‘assist.’ Both a highlight and turning point in Pittsburgh’s come-from-behind win, the freak play prevents the Braves from breaking this game open in the sixth. “Production might have continued indefinitely,” notes the Milwaukee Journal’s Cleon Walfoort, “but for a fantastic two-man catch of a long drive by Spahn. The Journal’s Bob Wolf elaborates: “Clemente and Bill Virdon robbed Spahn of an extra-base hit and the Braves of one or more runs. Clemente got his glove on the ball against the fence and Virdon grabbed it as it squirted out.” As Walfoort notes: “It was just after this remarkable catch that the Pirates came to life.”

On August 28, 1956 — It certainly comes as no shock, when reading the box score of tonight’s 5 – 4 defeat of the league-leading Braves, to find an assist credited to Pittsburgh’s rifle-armed right fielder, Roberto Clemente, the 13th of 17 outfield assists to be recorded by Clemente this season. That being said, without witnessing it one would be hard pressed to envision the exact nature of this exciting but atypical and inadvertent ‘assist.’ Both a highlight and turning point in Pittsburgh’s come-from-behind win, the freak play prevents the Braves from breaking this game open in the sixth. “Production might have continued indefinitely,” notes the Milwaukee Journal’s Cleon Walfoort, “but for a fantastic two-man catch of a long drive by Spahn. The Journal’s Bob Wolf elaborates: “Clemente and Bill Virdon robbed Spahn of an extra-base hit and the Braves of one or more runs. Clemente got his glove on the ball against the fence and Virdon grabbed it as it squirted out.” As Walfoort notes: “It was just after this remarkable catch that the Pirates came to life.”

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Sources:
Baseball Reference August 28
National Pastime August 28
Retro Sheet
Hall of Fame
SABR Games Project
Replay The Game