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"At least, I got robbed by one of the best in the business. It’s like if you were a trainman in the old days and Jesse James held you up. You know you’ve been robbed by the best highwayman in the business."
Roberto ClementeThis boy may not possess the color of Jackie Robinson or Willie Mays, — Roberto Clemente
"This boy may not possess the color of Jackie Robinson or Willie Mays, but he has enough natural ability to be spoken of along with any of those fellows. I suppose I have a peculiar attachment to Robert [sic]. Thats because we got him for a "steal," you might say. I was with the Dodgers when we acquired Clemente after scouting him in Puerto Rico. So I was thoroughly acquainted with the boy when the major league draft came up in the winter of 1954, after I had come to Pittsburgh from Brooklyn. The Dodgers were apparently bent on "hiding" Robert when they transferred him to the Pacific Coast League.★ But since I knew what he could do, and that he was somewhere in their farm system, I withheld the Pirates draft selection until I found the boy. We got him for the relatively small draft price—perhaps the biggest steal in baseball."
Roberto Clemente
Roberto Clemente
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Roberto Enrique Clemente Walker was a Puerto Rican professional baseball player who played 18 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Pittsburgh Pirates, primarily as a right fielder. On December 31, 1972, Clemente was killed when his Douglas DC-7 airplane, which he had chartered for a flight to take and deliver emergency relief goods for the survivors of a massive earthquake in Nicaragua,
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"Before I threw the ball I prayed a little bit to God: "Please let this pitch be in a good spot for him not to hit it too hard." I think I was lucky enough to throw the ball in a good spot. It was a ground ball out. I remember one time in Pittsburgh – I struck him out three times. I think that was the greatest day in my life."
Roberto ClementeQuote
"When he was throwing to third, his throw was low enough to hit the cutoff and still get to third in the air. Coming home sometimes, he’d miss the cutoff man and try to get it all the way to the plate. Didn’t hurt him because he got it there quicker than most people. Roberto was one of the very few right fielders who could field the ball with the runner rounding first and throw behind that runner, without him taking second. He threw out quite a few guys that way."
Roberto ClementeQuote
"What I did was mild compared to what Durocher did to Conlan. I dont see how what I did can be called more serious than the Durocher incident. I had good reason to lose my head. That was the second time they call me out on a play I thought I had beat. Thats enough to make anybody mad."
Roberto ClementeQuote
"I am having a plaque put on the front of my house. It will say, "To God, Mother, Father and Baseball."
Roberto ClementeQuote
"Clemente and Ted Williams are the only two batters I ever saw who get good wood on the ball almost every time up. Every ball he hits seems shot out of a cannon."
Roberto Clemente