On June 11, 1969 Roberto Clemente’s grand slam caps a sixth-run 6th inning which turns a three-run Pittsburgh deficit into a like-sized surplus, an advantage the Bucs will not relinquish. “It was a frustrating contest for the Spacemen,” muses Houston Post writer Joe Heiling, “what with four errors, ineffective relief work, poor defense and some lapses in running the bases. That…
On June 11, 1968 Roberto Clemente makes his 4th and final conquest of the Candlestick crosswind, a line drive homer over the left-field fence into the teeth of a strong wind. Chronicler Bob Stevens calls it one of the longest ever hit in that spot. The Pittsburgh Pirates proceed to pound Ray Sadecki and reliever…
On April 14, 1968, Jim Bunning records the 1,000th strikeout of his National League career. The Pittsburgh Pirates’ right-hander becomes the first pitcher since Cy Young to record 1,000 K’s in both the National and American leagues.
Looking back on his career some 30 years later, Willie Mays will recall being gunned down going from first to third exactly once: “Roberto Clemente threw me out on a bang-bang play at third. I should have remembered what a tremendous arm he had.” If Willie’s memory is correct, this was the play, as witnessed by James K. McGee of the San Francisco Chronicle: “Willie Mays, leading off the 7th, lined a single into left for the Giants’ first hit. When Willie McCovey, the next hitter, bounced a single over Donn Clendenon’s outstretched glove into right field, it appeared the dam had been broken and runs would flow. Then came the key play of the game. Mays rounded second base and slowed down to draw a throw from right fielder Roberto Clemente. Mays, either overestimating his own speed or underestimating the power and accuracy of Clemente’s arm, was thrown out trying to reach third. Maury Wills tagged him as he slid by.”
1968 – Roberto Clemente’s opening day optical illusion goes for naught as Pittsburgh’s newly acquired answer to its pitching problem, Jim Bunning, fresh off his career year with Philadelphia, provides an unwelcome harbinger of what will be a very trying season and, in so doing, marks the beginning of the distinctly mediocre final phase of his Hall of Fame career. But it’s just another day at the office for Clemente, as he provides one of those signature moments when, as Frank Robinson recalls, “You’d watch him and find yourself saying to the guy next to you, ‘Did you see that?'” Unfortunately, Bunning, Juan Pizarro and Ron Kline combine to squander Pittsburgh’s 4 – 2 advantage in the final frame, thus leaving Clemente’s magical moment (and his 3rd-inning, tie-breaking homer) somewhat adrift: “Rookie Hal King couldn’t believe Roberto Clemente caught his long fly down the right field line for the third out in the 2nd inning,” writes Les Biederman in the Pittsburgh Press. “King had just turned second base when he heard the crowd groan and saw the Pirates running off the field. He stopped, gave a bewildered look and kept glancing down the right field line to see how it was possible.”
Roberto Clemente hits 2 home runs off Don Drysdale, accounting for all of Pittsburgh’s runs in a 4 – 1 victory over Los Angeles. Clemente’s first bomb travels 400 feet to tie the score at 1 – 1 in the fifth. Facing him again in the seventh with 2 on and 2 out, Drysdale makes two mistakes: first, he flattens him; then, to compound his gaffe, rather than walk Clemente outright, he tries to pitch around him. The celebrated free-swinger lays off balls two and three and fouls off ball four, before slugging another potential ball four 420 feet away. Speaking with the Pittsburgh Press after the game, Clemente confides: “I was hoping he wouldn’t walk me. I wanted one good swing and I got it. It was a thrill but the biggest thrill came when I went back to the field and the [Dodger] fans applauded me. This doesn’t happen very often.”
1967 – Roberto Clemente’s Major League Managerial Career: Here it is, ladies and gentlemen, all one day of it. Filling in for interim manager Danny Murtaugh, Clemente puts up stratospheric – if statistically insignificant – numbers as Pittsburgh’s player-manager. Joe Curcio of the Pittsburgh Press reports: “Baseball’s only undefeated ‘manager’, Roberto Clemente, climaxed his greatest season ever by smashing his 23rd homer, a triple and driving in three runs while managing the Bucs before 28,244 fans on Prize Day.”
On July 15, 1967, St. Louis Cardinals ace Bob Gibson suffers a broken leg when he is struck by a line drive hit by another future Hall of Famer, Roberto Clemente. Incredibly, Gibson pitches to two more batters before leaving the game. St. Louis Cardinals will lose the game to Pittsburgh 6 – 3. Gibson will…
Roberto’s Revenge: Old Testament Style – Donn Clendenon and Roberto Clemente combine to give Don Drysdale a taste of his own medicine (perhaps taking Orlando Cepeda’s adage – “the trick with Drysdale is to hit him before he hits you” – a tad literally). Dodger beat writer Frank Finch reports: “Before Drysdale retired, he took a physical pounding from the Pirates. Clemente’s third hit almost tore Don’s right hand off, and later in the same inning Donn Clendenon’s drive drilled Drysdale on the shins so hard that it bounced to first base, where Wes Parker made an easy put-out.”
1967 – Reliever Bill Short and right fielder Roberto Clemente preserve Pittsburgh’s come-from-behind, ulcer-inducing 5 – 4 victory over their cross-state rivals. Les Biederman of the Pittsburgh Press reports: “The Phils tried to get going after Pete Mikkelsen retired the first two batters in the 9th and what remained of the crowd of 4,979 stood in the aisles. Mikkelsen dared Richie Allen with a fastball and fanned him for the second out but Tony Gonzalez rammed a line drive into the right-center hole. Usually this is good for a double, maybe a triple if the ball gets through. But Clemente dived at the ball and came up throwing to second base as Gonzalez wisely stopped at first. Cookie Rojas followed with a single to left. Had Gonzalez’s ball gone through for a double, Rojas’ single would have scored him with the tying run. Bill Short came in to pitch to Johnny Callison and walked him on a 3-2 pitch to load the bases but then he got Jackie Brandt on a slow roller for the final out.” Pittsburgh pulls even in the game during Clemente’s two-out 7th-inning at-bat, but he is a mere spectator: a wild pitch from Larry Jackson and an errant throw from Bob Uecker account for the two equalizing runs.
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