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Roberto Clemente's 'Toolbox' – The Club

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Clemente's Contemporaries Chime In

And now we get to that corner of the toolbox, i.e. 'hit for power', that denies so many otherwise eminently qualified candidates – including Clemente in the minds of many – entry into that exclusive five-tool fraternity. Sadly, David Maraniss, author of the acclaimed 2006 biography (and someone who, by his own estimation, actually saw Clemente in the flesh exactly twice [1]), succumbs to the conventional wisdom on this issue. Read the work of people who actually witnessed large samples of Clemente in action – i.e. freelance writer Arnold Hano or, better yet, Pittsburgh Press beat writer Les Biederman, who covered Clemente's first 14 seasons in Pittsburgh – and one gets a much different impression.

Contents

[edit]
_______ Witnesses _______

[edit]
__ Early teammates Joe Black, Dick Groat, Bob Skinner and Dick Stuart believe their eyes _

Likewise, players who played alongside Clemente for an extended period had the best perspective on the threat he presented in any given at-bat. Nonetheless, even Joe Black, a teammate from his pre-Pittsburgh career (1954 in Montreal), could see how strong Clemente was:

"The thing that amazed me is that sometimes one of his legs would be up in the air and he’d be hitting, and it’d still go out of the ballpark. He was just strong." [2]

For those of more recent vintage, a useful frame of reference regarding Black's perception is provided by former Florida Marlins manager John Boles, whose Chicago upbringing, circa late '50s / early '60s, afforded him ample opportunity to witness numerous Waveland Avenue lunar landings, courtesy of 'Cape' Clemente. Here, in a mid-May millennial encounter with division rival New York, the Marlins manager sees his team manhandled by the Mets' Mike Piazza, who touches Florida starter Brad Penny for an opposite-field grand slam.

"I saw him hit that darned thing with his back foot off the ground. He one-footed that thing. I thought I was watching Roberto Clemente in his heyday." [3]

Pirate shortstop Dick Groat (1955-1962), 1960's NL MVP, was on hand in the spring of 1956 to witness Clemente's career take shape under the influence of Pittsburgh's newly appointed batting instructor, HOFer George Sisler, who had thus far worked in the organization primarily as a scout:

"He could have adapted his hitting style if he wanted to be more of a home run hitter, but George Sisler wanted him to spray the ball around and be a high percentage hitter." [4]

Bob Skinner (1956-1963), Pittsburgh's other corner outfielder, could clearly see Sisler's influence at work from first pitch to last out, but before the game, his 'toolsy' teammate would put away the putter and put on a show:

"Clemente always chose average over power. He could have hit a ton of home runs. Playing around in batting practice, he’d hit one ball after another over the fence." [5]

Pirate slugger Dick Stuart (1958-1962), someone who certainly knew a little bit about hitting for distance, if not much else on a baseball field (hence the 'Dr. Strangeglove' moniker), speaks here in the year following Clemente’s death, recalling the teammate he had described 12 years earlier as “the best 169-pound slugger in baseball” [6]:

“Don’t let anybody kid you he couldn’t hit for distance. When he wanted to, he could power one as far as anybody in baseball. He was usually smart enough to go for line drives at Forbes Field.” [7]


[edit]
__ Late almost-teammate Art Howe believes his ears _

Though Howe would not crack the Bucs' big league roster until two years after Clemente's death, the Pittsburgh native was allowed to take BP with the Bucs at Three Rivers in '71 and '72 after his minor league seasons had concluded.

"He used such a big bat, I recall – a big, long, heavy bat. He was so strong with his hands; the ball just jumped off the bat. When him and Stargell hit – when they were in the cage – you actually didn’t even have to be around the cage to know that one of those two was in the cage hitting. The ball had a different sound coming off their bats. It was like a rifle shot. When the rest of us were in there hitting, it didn’t sound quite like that.” [8]


[edit]
__ 3,000th hit donor Jon Matlack receives uniquely up-close-and-personal advance scouting report on powerful Puerto Rican _

In Puerto Rico, almost a year prior to participating in Clemente's career-capping milestone moment, Matlack had a singularly eye-opening off-field interaction with 'The Great One' (Matlack's manager on the San Juan Senadores), recalled here some 30 years after the fact:

“He was a nice fellow. There were about eight Americans on the team and he invited us over to his house, which I thought was a very nice gesture – opening his house, making us feel comfortable, talking baseball… And he was very impressive. Not a huge guy, but well-proportioned and obviously very strong. He used a maximum-dimension bat – as big and heavy and long as the rules say a bat can be. Huge. The handle was almost as big as the barrel of the bat. It was around 54 inches in length* and weighed I don’t know how many ounces." [9]

* Either the maximum bat length allowed in Puerto Rico was significantly greater than that in the States (42 inches, as it had been ever since 1869), or Matlack’s perception and/or memory is at fault, or some combination of the above. Nonetheless, Roberto Clemente at the plate wielding a four-and-a-half-foot club would certainly be something to behold.

''One day, he was talking to us about hitting and was handling this bat. The size and shape of it sort of intrigued me; I should have been listening to what he was saying. Might have helped me later. Anyway, he set it down. I went over to pick it up. I couldn’t get it off the floor. Here he was holding it and moving it around like it was nothing and I could barely lift it. That was very impressive * to me.” [10]

* Just how impressive – and how indelible the impression – could be seen some 10 years later still, when, in a 6/11/2011 piece by the NY Times' Tyler Kepner, the 61-year-old Matlack would recreate the 'big bat' encounter in remarkably similar – if, understandably, slightly less detailed – terms.


[edit]
__ Opposite Field BOMBS:

[edit]
__ Bobby Bragan: "longest ever by a right-handed batter" _

Equally impressed, almost ten years before, was Bucs ex-skipper Bobby Bragan, witness to Robby's barely unsuccessful bid to become the only right-handed batter in Forbes Field's 62-year history to reach its right-field roof.

Aside from digging Houston a quick 3-run hole (an advantage which Pirate starter Vernon Law would not relinquish), Clemente's tremendous opposite-field moon shot nearly made Forbes Field history (even as it both echoed and foreshadowed respective RC "longest" wrong-field blasts of August 30, 1960 and July 23, 1969):

''Roberto Clemente almost made history Saturday - missing by a foot or so of being the first right-handed batter to hit a ball to the right field roof. Clemente's homer in the first inning landed against the facing of the right field roof, a tremendous blast as it was.” [11]

Fortunately for us, Roberto's talkative ex-manager Bobby Bragan just happened to be employed by Houston at this juncture and, in this capacity, is present in the visiting bullpen (located in foul territory down the right field line), well situated to witness Clemente's handiwork. Here's his account, as told to Les Biederman:

"The ball was within a foot or so of landing on top of the roof and perhaps two or three feet in fair territory. It probably was the longest ball ever hit to that field by a right-handed batter.” [12]

[edit]
__ Larry Dierker's 'Longest Opposite Field Shot' nominee _

As Clemente's career progressed, particularly after the manager-mandated mid-sixties power boost, players around the league began to take notice, pitchers in particular subject to a singularly rude awakening. Larry Dierker, a pitcher who actually had pretty good success against Clemente himself, nonetheless received some vicarious chills in July 1969:

“There were four home runs in the 1969 All-Star game – two by Willie McCovey, the [game’s] MVP, and one each by Frank Howard and Johnny Bench. With all of the long balls, the one I remember most was hit by Roberto Clemente. The Great One hit it all the way into the upper deck, but it was foul. I had seen balls hit farther, but I had never seen a ball hit that far to the opposite field!” [13]

On the other hand, there was nothing vicarious about the victimization of the following commentator, some obscure southpaw named Sandy Koufax, likewise undone by unspeakable opposite-field power.

[edit]
__ Sandy Koufax fields his own nominee, hit off him by RC _

“The longest ball I ever saw hit to the opposite field was hit off me by Clemente at the Los Angeles Coliseum in 1961 [sic*]. It was a fastball on the outside corner, and he drove it out of the park – not just over the fence, he knocked it way out. I didn’t think a right-handed batter could hit it out of the field just at that point but Clemente did." [14]

* Sandy's mistaken here; of the two home runs given up by Koufax to Clemente at the Coliseum, only the first – hit on 8/30/60 – went out to right field. The '61 shot was also hit well, but in the other direction – 35 rows beyond Wally Moon's favored target, the infamous left-field screen. [15]


[edit]
__ Koufax fastball CRUSHED: 440 ft. by 55 ft. plus & still climbing _

Clemente also hit what may have been the longest ball in any direction off Koufax on May 31, 1964. LA Times beat writer Frank Finch reports:

"Koufax also was bombed for one of the longest home runs in Forbes Field annals, which hark back to 1909. In the third inning, with a 1-and-2 count on him, Senor Clemente touched off a moon shot that struck high on a light tower in center field, some 450 ft. from the plate. Had it missed the tower, it certainly would have sailed at least 500 ft." [16]

Koufax's own impression was recorded in his 1966 autobiography:

"Roberto Clemente hit an outside fastball that was still rising when it hit against the light tower in left center field, 450 feet away from home plate. And on a 1-2 pitch at that." [17]

Later that same year (i.e. 1966), Clemente's own recollection would be recorded by Les Biederman:

"This one hit a transformer on the left field light tower [sic [18]] on the way up and it stopped. No telling how far it might have gone." [19]

Last but not least, watching from the stands, one Gregory M. Gyauch, his recollections recorded more than 40 years later, unambiguously echoes the Koufax-Clemente consensus:

"Roberto Clemente hit a home run off Sandy Koufax. The ball was still rising as it hit the light tower in left center field." [20]

BTW, in an interview conducted some 35 years after the fact (published in 2008 on pages 224-25 of Tim McCarver's Diamond Gems), Koufax would deepen the aforementioned consensus by independently – if inadvertently – confirming Clemente's 'transformer' recollection (which, BTW, would place the point of impact at somewhere between 55 and 65 feet above the ground), though, in a poignant illustration of the vagaries of human memory, he would mistakenly link the right destination with the wrong HR, i.e. another of RC's six career clouts off Koufax (7 including his spring training blast), namely his relatively modest 420-foot foray into Schenley Park, hit on 9/10/63 off Sandy's not-ready-for-prime-time slider.

Now, notwithstanding my painstaking presentation of the consensus reached, re this ball's trajectory, by 3 different witnesses, from 3 different vantage points, I must acknowledge that many – notably Greg Rybarczyk at Hit Tracker Online and writer John Pastier – have pooh-poohed this sort of thing, the 'still rising' flourish in particular. Pastier personally dubbed said flourish the 'maraschino cherry' that enhances many an already prodigious poke. Still, is it typically the victimized pitcher who spearheads this PR campaign?


[edit]
__ Darrell Sutherland dredges up a 500-foot nightmare _

Maybe so. Certainly the following traumatic spring training encounter dredged up by Darrell Sutherland would indicate that Clemente's seemingly Svengali-like sway over opposing pitchers was not confined to his frequent victim Koufax:

“One time in spring training, I was pitching against Clemente and Wes Westrum came out and said, ‘He can’t hit the fastball inside off the plate.’ I threw a fastball about a foot inside and he hit it on a dead line. It was still going up as it went over the center field fence.” [21]

This mammoth Met-killer was "estimated at 500 feet" [22]. On top of his 450-foot game-winner 10 days earlier vs. St. Louis [23], this made for a resounding opening volley in RC's unprecedented 1966 aerial assault which, while ultimately leaving the Bucs three games shy of a National League pennant, did net Clemente that elusive NL MVP award.


[edit]
__ Opposite Field BOMBS (Pt. 2):

[edit]
__ Multiple Assaults on Forbes Field's 436-Ft mark, witnessed by Ron Swoboda, Dick Young, Les Biederman, Bill Christine and Charley Feeney _

On May 1st of that year, 21-year-old Ron Swoboda, who would go on the become one of the heroes of the 1969 World Series upset of the favored Baltimore Orioles by the upstart 'Miracle Mets', saw something he would not soon forget:

"I saw him hit line drives off the brick wall at Forbes Field. One of them was the hardest ball I ever saw hit. I saw Willie Stargell and Willie McCovey and Dick Allen hit some long balls against us, up and out, but Clemente's was different. I just never saw a ball hit so hard." [24]

This almost certainly refers to the shot – high off the wall above the 436-foot mark (as witnessed in profile by then left fielder Swoboda) – described by Dick Young on May 2, 1966 in the pages of the Daily News:

"The second Buc run, just before the burst of five, was set up by Roberto Clemente’s blast high off the [right] center wall, above the 436-foot marker. The ball got there so fast, and bounced back to Murphy so hard, that the speedy Roberto got only two bases." [25]

This was not the first time Clemente had come close to clearing this rarely violated right-center barrier (rarely violated by right-handers, that is); almost 5 years earlier, Roberto shot one over Duke Snider's head en route to approximately the same spot [26]. The next ball he hit this way would not only clear the heretofore formidable fortress wall but leave it far, far behind. Scarcely one month after creating Swoboda's indelible impression, 'Cape Clemente' launches the following moon shot:

“Stargell hit his first homer of the game in the second inning and Clemente followed it with a blast over the 436-foot sign.” [27]

Veteran Pirate – and Clemente – observer Les Biederman elaborates:

“Clemente hit one ball between the Barney Dreyfuss monument and the right-center light tower – a rarity for a right-handed slugger." [28]

Four days later it would become a little less rare:

"This happened against the Astros [June 5] with Dick Farrell pitching and five days later [sic - actually four], he did it again." [29]

Apparently Clemente had finally thrown in the towel vis-a-vis hitting the ball through the wall and opted, instead, for a path of lesser – if not least – resistance. Here Biederman fleshes out the June 5th blast:

"[It] traveled out of the park between the 436-foot sign on the right-center fence and the Barney Dreyfuss memorial to the left. It actually is center field, although the flagpole (457 feet) is regarded as dead center. The ball landed approximately 60 feet beyond the wall on a diamond where some youngsters were playing." [30]

Biederman is not as definitive re the second ball's destination, though the direction seems to have shifted towards straightaway center.

"This time the ball disappeared over the monument with Al Jackson of the Cardinals on the mound, and the fans gasped. Two titanic shots in less than one week." [31]

A little more than three years later, the unsung slugger would revisit the scene of the crime, as it were: propelling one last lunar expedition far beyond that once-seemingly-impregnable barrier.

“Clemente’s third hit of the game will provide conversation for at least the rest of the week. It went over the gate in right-center field, just to the right of the light standard and the 436-foot mark.” [32]

As usual, Bill Christine is frustratingly vague with the tape measure, as would be the entire crop of post-Biederman Pittsburgh Press beat writers as a rule. Charley Feeney of the Post-Gazette, while he doesn't exactly get out the tape measure, does at least let us know that RC's ball cleared the wall with plenty to spare:

"Clemente's drive, off Bill 'No-Hit' Stoneman, carried well over the wall in centerfield. Few righthanded hitters have hit a ball out of the park in this sector, which is to the right of dead center between the exit gate and the light stanchion." [33]

[edit]
__ Miscellaneous 'wrong-field' bombs _


[edit]
__ Gaylord Perry plays with fire, with the predictable results _

Returning to the realm of victimized HOFers, spitball specialist Gaylord Perry might take issue with those who maintained that Clemente couldn't pull the ball:

“They said don’t pitch him inside. I didn’t pitch him inside for three or four years. When I did pitch him inside, he hit a home run... ” [34]

Writing on August 2nd, 1967, in the immediate aftermath of GP's never-to-be-forgotten gaffe, Sid Hoos of The Hayward Review wrote:

“Perry made only one serious mistake: the 9th-inning slider, intended for the outer edge of the plate, that instead floated inside to Roberto Clemente. The .356-hitting Clemente blinked in happy disbelief, then lashed the pitch over the left-field fence.” [35]

And not just over the fence, mind you, but "25 rows in" with "the wind blowing 30 miles per hour against him." This from the evidently still shell-shocked Perry almost 30 years after the fact. [36]


[edit]
__ Clemente's majestic May 6, 1960 blast into the teeth of Candlestick's crosswind, described by Arnold Hano _

Clemente's clout off Perry is hardly his first conquest of that infamous Candlestick crosswind. It is, in fact, at least the third of at least four such blasts, the first two coming in 1960, the first year of that bizarre windtunnel's existence. The very first came on Clemente's very first visit, ironically occurring on the birthday of his one-time mentor Willie Mays. In 1955, freelance writer – and big-time New York Giants fan – Arnold Hano, had preceded Mays and the Giants out to California, and was thus well-situated to witness the infamous 1960 birthday blast:

There was that game in San Francisco, in early 1960 [May 6]. Sam Jones on the mound, and the Giants in their patented early-season rush, the rest of the league panting in their wake. Jones, and a few of his pitching buddies, had been throwing Clemente high and tight – which is a euphemism for beanballs. Finally Jones came in with a blinding fastball, the way Sad Sam used to throw ’em, and Clemente unloaded.
“The wind was blowing in from left field that day, and blowing hard. This was 1960, remember, before the fences had been moved in, and nobody was hitting home runs at Candlestick. Not Mays, not Cepeda, not anybody."

Not to left, anyway. The wind at Candlestick used to blow in and across from left, often helping balls hit to right, while mercilessly knocking down fly balls to left. On the day in question, which happened to be Willie Mays’ birthday, not only did the birthday boy himself hit one out, but so did the Giants’ other Willies, McCovey and Kirkland, all to right or right-center. [37] Hano continues:

"Clemente’s bat hit the ball, and the result absolutely clubbed the crowd into awed silence for a long moment. Right into that wet whipping wind the ball carried. Right on through, hit 120 feet high in a long soaring majestic parabola that came down finally over 450 feet away. There is just no way of telling how far Clemente’s home run blast would have traveled had it not been for that wind. Suffice it to say partisan Giant fans suddenly broke their shell-shocked silence and let loose a gigantic roar. For two innings the stadium buzzed. For days the Giants talked about it. Even today if you slip up behind a Giant pitcher and suddenly whisper in his ear: ‘Remember the home run Clemente hit?’ he’s likely to jump as high as if he’d been caught putting spit on baseballs." [38]

While undoubtably the most scary one, this was not the first example of RC crashing his old friend's birthday party. That came five years earlier in the Polo Grounds, when the rookie rudely celebrated his new friend's birthday by tripling over Willie's head in the midst of a decisive Pirate rally. A couple of Giants beat writers fill us in:

“Two tallies followed on Roberto Clemente’s 430-foot triple to center and a two-out single by Felipe Montemayor." [39]
“Roberto Clemente tripled so far over Mays’ head that even Willie on his charger, shedding the cap, couldn’t catch it." [40]

In the birthday party-crashing portion of their ongoing rivalry, Willie was at a bit of a disadvantage, as they played opposite each other on Roberto's birthday only once, in 1956. Mays, however, made the most of the opportunity:

"'Leave it to Mays' could serve as a slogan for the New York outfield; the infield, too, sometimes. Willie went in, then out for the first two putouts in the second inning. It was difficult to pinpoint the more spectacular grab. Mays caught Walls’ sinking liner just off the shoetops. Then, following a long gallop, he took Clemente’s drive in front of the left-centerfield bleachers over the right shoulder." [41]


[edit]
_ RC's 1200th RBI_aka_Veterans Stadium Inaugural 'Liberty Bell' Ringer, recalled by Gene Collier_

Personal milestone aside, this pinch-hit, game-winning upper deck shot to center field at Philly's recently opened Veterans Stadium is pretty monumental in its own right. It's recalled 32 years later by Gene Collier on the eve of the Vet's retirement:

“In those earliest years, there was an enormous mock Liberty Bell mounted on the facing of the upper deck in dead center, maybe 40 feet above and behind the fence, which was and is 408 feet from the plate. Roberto Clemente lined a homer off that bell that afternoon, which was, pretty clearly, unforgettable." [42]

That would make Clemente not only the first player ever to reach the centerfield upper deck in the new ballpark, but also the first to 'ring' the bell, preceding by more than ten months the only officially recognized bell-ringer in the stadium's 30-plus-year history, Greg Luzinski's prodigious May 16, 1972 shot.

Paul Giordano's contemporary account in the Bucks County Courier Times is vivid if somewhat more vague:

"The breeze had nothing to do with Clemente’s center field shot. The only ballparks the ball wouldn’t have carried out of would have been the old Polo Grounds and the current Yankee Stadium." [43]

The Philadelphia Inquirer is even less forthcoming and the Pittsburgh writers, for their part, were not even on the premises, thanks to a newspaper strike nowhere near resolution. Clemente's clanger, thus, will forever lack contemporary confirmation. Nevertheless, whether or not Robby's ball actually 'rang' the 'Liberty Bell,' it certainly had the distance. That this blast reached at least the facing of the Vet's upper deck – the 'Liberty' Bell's location – is confirmed on page 24 of the 2003 Philadelphia Phillies Media Guide, which, in commemoration of the closing of Veterans Stadium after 32 years, lists every documented upper-deck home run.

Incidentally, aside from the Clemente hiccup, Phillie reliever Joe Hoerner had little trouble that inning, striking out the side, including Willie Stargell before and Gene Clines and Al Oliver after.


[edit]
_ Historic 500-plus-foot Wrigley scoreboard near miss, rated No. 1 by Ernie Banks, Rogers Hornsby and Jack Brickhouse _

Ernie Banks, one of baseball's most prolific sluggers between the years of 1955 and 1962, didn't find it hard to understand that Clemente's approach at the plate would be shaped by his surroundings.

“Clemente geared his style of hitting for Forbes Field, whose left field walls are too far away for consistent production for right-handed hitters. Roberto concentrated on hitting line drives into the spacious right [and left] center field section. Had he been a Cub, I’m sure he would have adopted a power-style of swinging. Some of you fans may remember the ball he knocked out of Wrigley a few seasons ago, just to the left field side of the scoreboard. That’s the longest one I’ve seen hit there and we all agreed it must have traveled more than 500 feet on its trip into Waveland Avenue." [44]

Rogers Hornsby, arguably the greatest right-handed hitter ever [and most decidedly not of the Punch-and-Judy variety], also happened to be present that day in Wrigley Field – in his capacity as Chicago Cubs' batting coach – and called Clemente's moonshot the longest he'd seen anywhere. His concise evaluation was captured by TSN:

"Rogers Hornsby, the Cubs' batting coach, said it was the longest he ever witnessed * and [Cubs' skipper] Bob Scheffing agreed it was No. 1 in his book." [45]

* For the record, Hornsby was on hand (as the opposing player-manager) at Sportsman's Park on October 6, 1926 to witness a pair of absolute bombs set off by Babe Ruth in Game Four of the '26 World Series. Ruth researcher Bill Jenkinson estimates these blasts, respectively, at 515 and 530 feet. (These were actually the last two of three Ruthian round-trippers in the game, the first being 'Ruthian' in name only, clocking in at a piddling 395 feet.) [46]

Additional historical perspective is provided by longtime Cubs' sportscaster Jack Brickhouse, who sees Dave Kingman's legendary 1976 shot as somewhat overblown [pun intended]:

"Retired Cub sportscaster Jack Brickhouse, who saw this home run, revealed that the ball was greatly helped by a strong wind of about 35 miles per hour. Brickhouse estimated Kingman's blast in reality went about 500 feet. In fact, Brickhouse stated Kingman's drive was not the longest ball he had ever seen. A 500-foot blast by the late Roberto Clemente remains the hardest hit ball Brickhouse has seen which was not aided by the wind." [47]

BTW, the only person who seems to have offered more than a guesstimate as to the actual distance of this blast was none other than its author. While, unfortunately for RC, there was no Pittsburgh Pirates publicist chasing down his moonshot with tape measure in hand, the timing of this bomb – last half-inning of the nightcap of a Sunday afternoon twin bill – afforded Clemente himself the opportunity to play the Red Patterson role. The results of that effort would be recorded in a Pittsburgh Courier interview the following June [48], in which Clemente estimated the distance at 565 feet. Six years later still, both the blast and the post-game pace-off were recalled by Clemente in a conversation with Pittsburgh Press sports editor Les Biederman:

"Clemente, himself, paced off the distance from the centerfield wall to the scoreboard right above, and when he was shown where the ball landed, he knew this was No. 1." [49]

It is sad to note that, in this latter interview, Clemente, evidently still not over the effects of the veteran sportswriter's aggressive behind-the-scenes efforts, some six years earlier, to undercut Clemente's MVP candidacy in favor of teammate Dick Groat's, would feel compelled to fudge the numbers for Biederman's benefit ("perhaps 600 feet").

That being said, considerable retrospective reinforcement for Clemente's initial, unembroidered claim can certainly be gleaned from the following eyewitness account, recorded almost half a century later by registered BBTF user 'Hack Wilson,' indicative both of a typical RC home run trajectory - i.e. a line drive - and of a baseball deposited well beyond Wrigley's outer reaches :

"I remember the ball Clemente hit at Wrigley, it was to the leftfield side of the scoreboard, the camera work on that ball was poor (one camera still?). It seemed to me that if it was hit 20 feet toward center it would have hit near the bottom of the scoreboard. References to the homer say it landed on Waveland, but based on its trajectory (no I'm not a marksman) I think it would have gone over Waveland and landed on Sheffield (okay I haven't seen a replay in almost 50 years)." [50]


[edit]
_ Batting practice anecdotes from Bob Robertson and Phil Musick _

From a later generation of sluggers, Bob Robertson, the one member of the early 70's Pirates – Willie Stargell included – whom scout/coach Howie Haak conceded might have a "little more power' than Clemente confirms what Bob Skinner had observed almost 15 years earlier:

"Clemente, the way he used to do some things at the batting cage... He used to tell us, 'Well, I'm gonna hit one to right-center now, I'm going to hit one to center field, I'm gonna drive one into left-center. Well, I'm gonna hit this one out.' And it was amazing how we would stand around the cage, and he would say things like this and back 'em up. That was such fun..." [51]

Phil Musick recalls one such presumably playful BP encounter between the two Robbies from July 1970 :

"Midsummer, 1970. Wrigley [Field]. Batting practice before a Cubs’ game. Noon or so. A day so hot that in the distance beyond the Chicago tenements, the heat seems to gather in columns, like germs in a test tube. One by one, young Bob Robertson drives batting practice fastballs over the left field fence. Four… five… six… Even the older players stop what they’re doing to watch. Seven...eight.
"How you do it, old man,” the brash Robertson snickers at a quiet Pirate next to the cage. Soft laughter rises from a nearby gaggle of players, writers and front-office types. Roberto Clemente replies with a stony look. Robertson hits a ninth consecutive BP home run, then skies the next pitch into a low-hanging cloud over the infield and gives way to the next hitter, his grin a challenge of sorts. Clemente replaces Robertson in the cage.
"Old Frank Oceak, the third-base coach, short-arms a 60 m.p.h. pitch tight on the hands. Clemente turns on it like a snake, catching it fatly and just so on the barrel of the thick-handled bat. It leaves Wrigley on a rising trajectory, as though it had come from the end of a .12 gauge. The ball clears the fence, the high brick wall behind it, and the width of Waveland Avenue, before striking sharply next to a tenement building window. Clemente flips the bat toward the mound, heel over barrel, purposely ignoring Robertson, and strides briskly off to the dugout. Excited babble trails in his wake. The young Robertson just shakes his head. In the tunnel leading from the dugout to the clubhouse, Clemente permits himself a small smile." [52]


[edit]
_ Batting practice bomb recalls both Koufax light tower crash and Wrigley scoreboard near miss _

Even in mid-September 1972, the day after the final regular season home run of his career, Clemente was still up to his old tricks and conjuring up memories of a couple of his longest shots in the process. Writer Bart Ripp remembers:

“[On Wednesday, September 13, 1972 at Wrigley Field], Clemente went three-for-three against Ferguson Jenkins, including a home run that won the game.
"The next day, the Pirates took batting practice and I saw something I shall always remember. Pittsburgh had a rookie just up from triple-A named McKee throwing batting practice. Let’s say shooting instead of throwing. This guy was about 6' 8" and he could bring it. Stargell had trouble connecting on him. Al Oliver couldn’t get a ball out of the infield. Richie Hebner was so disgusted he slammed his bat against the supports of the batting cage.
“Clemente stepped in, practicing left-handed swings. Some of the Cubs tossing a ball around stopped and came over to watch. The sportswriters stopped chatting among themselves and interviewing players and started to gather around the cage. Even Clemente’s teammates, who see him swing every day, wanted to see if Roberto could connect on the big rookie.
“Clemente dusted his hands, then took his usual righthanded stance deep in the box, as far from the plate as possible. Standing still, Clemente heard the first pitch go by, then primly stuck his bat out over the plate at the next three. Each time, the ball hit the club, then pirouetted to the grass, just fair, and there they stuck as if they had landed in wet cement. Roberto then took three swings, but did not move his legs or hips, just the arms and wrists – he was merely getting his eye in. The result was three line drives – to left, to center, to right. All base hits in any game.
“Clemente slowly hauled out his familiar swing: the front leg lifted and cocked to the catcher, his torso leaping at the ball, the swing ending with his back foot hanging in the air. He proceeded to undress the rookie, smacking severe line drives all over old Wrigley Field. Not paying any respect to a god, Hebner shouted taunting encouragement to Clemente, ‘Come on, take one more swing.’
“Clemente motioned to the pitcher, wiping the side of his hand across the letters of his uniform. McKee put it right there, right on the outside corner, and Clemente swung once more. The ball nearly tipped the button of McKee’s cap, then once past second began to rise on a straight line. It was still rising when it struck the bleachers just below the scoreboard, 450 feet away. The people around the cage surveyed the landing site for a few seconds, then closed their mouths and looked back into the cage. It was empty, as Clemente walked back to the dugout, rolling his head about to relieve a crick in his neck.” [53]


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________ Notes ________

  1. ↑ Revealed during the Q&A portion his April 2006 book signing at the Lincoln Center Barnes & Noble in NYC. Moreover, how much he would have seen of RC even on the tube is questionable, seeing as how the 16-year-old Maraniss, a Milwaukee native, didn't even have an NL team in his town from 1966 on, just in time to miss all but a handful of NBC 'Games of the Week' during each of Clemente's two career years.
  2. ↑ Markusen, Roberto Clemente, p. 18
  3. ↑ Tyler Kepner: "Mets’ Hampton Has the Angles Covered," The New York Times (May 15, 2000) p. 18
  4. ↑ O’Brien, Remember Roberto, p. 223
  5. ↑ Bruce Jenkins, "The Gamers -- Driven by Competitive Fires - Bonds seems aloof, but it's all a big lie," San Francisco Chronicle (Tuesday, April 25, 1995), p. C-11
  6. ↑ Les Biederman, "Clemente’s Clouting Keeps Corsairs Hot on Trail of Treasure," TSN (May 31, 1961), p. 10
  7. ↑ Bill Christine, Roberto, p. 103
  8. ↑ Bruce Markusen, Roberto Clemente: The Great One (Champaign, Sports Publishing, Inc. 1998), p. 220
  9. ↑ Victor Debs, Jr., That Was Part of Baseball Then: Interviews With 24 Former Major League Baseball Players, Coaches & Managers, p. 130
  10. ↑ Victor Debs, Jr.: That Was Part of Baseball Then: Interviews With 24 Former Major League Baseball Players, Coaches & Managers (Jefferson, NC; McFarland & Company, Inc. Publishers; 2002), p. 130
  11. ↑ Les Biederman: "The Scoreboard: Law's Arm Better; Clemente, Skinner Clouts Whoppers," The Pittsburgh Press (Monday, June 4, 1962), p. 28
  12. ↑ Biederman: "The Scoreboard: Law's Arm Better; Clemente, Skinner Clouts Whoppers,", p. 28
  13. ↑ Larry Dierker, "ALL Star Monday / Commentary / ON BASEBALL / Hanging with stars in summer of '69," The Houston Chronicle (Monday, July 12, 2004), p. 6
  14. ↑ Koufax: “My Toughest Batters,” Sport (May 1965), p.19
  15. ↑ See "Dodgers Regain NL Lead," The Long Beach Independent (June 8, 1961), p. 4 and Home Run Log.]
  16. ↑ Frank Finch, "Are Dodgers Waking Up? That’s 3 Wins in a Row!; Perranoski Staves Off Pirates, 6-4 PERRANOSKI SAVES 6-4 DODGER WIN," Los Angeles Times (Monday, June 1, 1964), Part III – pp. 1, 3. Also see "Dodgers Bop Bucs Third In Row, 6-4," Simpson's Leader-Times (Monday, June 1, 1964),p.12.
  17. ↑ Koufax with Ed Linn, Koufax (New York, The Viking Press, 1966), p. 220.
  18. ↑ That would be the left-center light tower; Clemente's clearly either misspeaking or misquoted here.
  19. ↑ Photos and caption: "Jim Wynn watches spot where Roberto Clemente's homer cleared wall (arrow), hit backstop (right)," The Pittsburgh Press (Monday, June 6, 1966), p. 36. These photos accompany the following article:
  20. ↑ David Cicotello and Angelo Louisa, Forbes Field: essays and memories of the Pirates' historic ballpark, 1909-1971 (Jefferson, N.C.; McFarland & Co.; 2007)
  21. ↑ William Ryczek, The Amazin' Mets 1962-1969, p. 201
  22. ↑ (UPI): “Bucs Host Washington Today; Tape Measure Job,” The Jeannette News-Dispatch (Friday, March 25, 1966), p. 12
  23. ↑ (AP) "Cards Lose Again; Bucs Win Fourth," The St. Petersburg Times (Tuesday, March 15, 1966), p. 1-C
  24. ↑ O'Brien: Remember Roberto, p. 270
  25. ↑ Dick Young: “Veale Chokes Met Streak, 8-0,” The Daily News (Monday, May 2, 1966), p. 59
  26. ↑ See Frank Finch, "Homer Binge by Dodgers Beats Bucs; Howard, Larker, Neal Connect in 4-2 L.A. Triumph DODGERS," The LA Times (Monday, May 8, 1961), p. C3
  27. ↑ (UPI): "Bucs Bomb Astros, 10-5,"] The Kokomo Morning Times (Monday, June 6, 1966), p. 9
  28. ↑ Les Biederman, "Veale Volunteers -- Then Learns Relief Isn't His Dish," TSN (June 25, 1966), p. 8
  29. ↑ Biederman, "Veale Volunteers -- Then Learns Relief Isn't His Dish," TSN (June 25, 1966), p. 8. Also see "Cards Use Homers To Down Pirates," The Jeannette News-Dispatch (Friday, June 10, 1966), p. 10.
  30. ↑ Biederman: "Clemente Uses Bat to Send ‘All Well’ Message to Family," TSN (June 18, 1966), p. 15
  31. ↑ Biederman: "Veale Volunteers...," TSN (June 25, 1966), p. 8
  32. ↑ Bill Christine: "Blass' 3-Hitter Ends Pirates' Skid; Long, Long Blast," The Pittsburgh Press (Wednesday, July 9, 1969), p. 57
  33. ↑ Charley Feeney: "Blass Rights Pirates With 3-Hitter, 8-1; Expos Bow, Slide Ends At 7; Clemente Drills Long Homer," The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Wednesday, July 9, 1969), p. 18
  34. ↑ Heuck and Fitzpatrick, "Pittsburgh's Claim to Fame: Hall-of-Famers Tell of Times In Our City," The Pittsburgh Quarterly (Winter 2006).
  35. ↑ Sid Hoos: "Clubhouse," The Hayward Daily Review (Thursday, August 3, 1967), p. 30
  36. ↑ Heuck and Fitzpatrick, "Pittsburgh's Claim to Fame: Hall-of-Famers Tell of Times In Our City," The Pittsburgh Quarterly (Winter 2006).
  37. ↑ "Home Runs and Jones Beat Bucs," The Victoria Advocate (Saturday, May 7, 1960), p. 12
  38. ↑ Hano, “Roberto Clemente: ‘Arriba,’” from Baseball Stars of 1962, Ray Robinson, editor (New York, Pyramid Publications, Inc., 1962)
  39. ↑ Joseph M.Sheehan, "PIRATES' 3 IN 7TH UPSET GIANTS, 3-2; Pittsburgh Wins Sixth in a Row by Routing Antonelli in Night Contest Here," The New York Times (Wednesday, May 7, 1955), p. 11
  40. ↑ Jesse Abramson, “Bucs Nip Giants for 6 in Row, 3-2,” The New York Herald Tribune (Saturday, May 7, 1955), p.13
  41. ↑ Louis Effrat, "GOMEZ IS DOWNED BY PIRATES, 9 TO 1," The New York Times (Sunday, August 19, 1956), p. 172
  42. ↑ Gene Collier, "Of veterans: One spit on, the other knocked down," The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Friday, September 26, 2003)
  43. ↑ Paul Giordano, “Clemente Super,” The Bucks County Courier Times (Monday, June 28, 1971), p. 17
  44. ↑ Ernie Banks, "The Wonderful World of Ernie Banks: Clemente Toughest in Banks’ Opinion," The Chicago Tribune (July 6, 1969), p. B1
  45. ↑ Les Biederman, "Tape Measure Homer Belted by Clemente at Wrigley Field," TSN (May 27, 1959), p. 10
  46. ↑ Bill Jenkinson, The Year Babe Ruth Hit 104 Home Runs, New York, Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2007, pp. 338, 339
  47. ↑ Paul E. Sussman: "Mantle: All-Time King of Tape-Measure Homers!" Baseball Digest (June 1982), p. 47
  48. ↑ David Maraniss: Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball’s Last Hero, p. 98
  49. ↑ Lester J. Biederman: "The Scoreboard: Big Day For Two Pirates; Stargell Started Streak Against Roberts; Clemente's Friend Retrieves Ball; Longest Drive In Wrigley Field" (These links take you to page one of the 6/6/66 issue. To get to the article, clear the contents of the page box, type in '19' and hit 'enter' on your keyboard.)
  50. ↑ "BBTF's Newsblog Discussion:: Kallas Remarks: YES, CLEMENTE REALLY DID HAVE EXCELLENT POWER!!!" Comment #12, posted: December 30, 2008 at 10:58 AM
  51. ↑ Bruce Markusen, Roberto Clemente: The Great One, pp. 220-221
  52. ↑ Musick, Reflections on Roberto , p. 10
  53. ↑ Bart Ripp (The Daily Iowan): “A Fan Remembers Roberto Clemente,” Sport (April 1973), p. 64: "Roberto Clemente: He was a gifted player and an extraordinary man," Baseball Digest (March, 1973), pp. 18-20


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