Happy Birthday, Roberto Clemente. the best right fielder I personally saw play.

[halfulglas]

The hero of my late teens and early adulthood. Posting this in General Discussion instead of sports because he was so much more than a baseball player.

I say personally saw because there are others who will pick other right fielders of other eras, but the way Clemente played the right field wall in Forbes Field was amazing and his rifle throw from right field stopped many runners from even attempting to score.

[H2O Man]

1. Recommended.

[Wuddles440]

2. Agree 100%!

One of the best ever IMHO!

[FSogol]

3. K&R n/t

[Tommy Carcetti]

4. I remember reading a biography of Clemente when I was a kid.

It was right after I saw my first baseball game. Helped me become a true fan of the sport.

[Elwood P Dowd]

5. Clemente, Hank Aaron, and Willie Mays all became superstars in the 1950s.

Imagine having those three as your starting outfield. I had the good fortune to see each of them play in person many times going to Braves' games during the 1960s and 1970s.

[John1956PA]

6. He is the only player I know of who fiegned playing a ball off the wall, . . .

. . . then turned around to catch it, and then rifled the ball to the infield to try to catch a runner off base.

I watched him do that on a Saturday afternoon telecast from Cincinatti.

[Carlitos Brigante]

7. He died the year before I was born. I do remember my mom telling him how the entire

island mourned him like he was family. Gone way too soon, while trying to help people in need.

[halfulglas]

9. I was living in Connecticut when that happened and I cried for 3 days.

[Carlitos Brigante]

10. It's amazing he was able to touch so many who never had the pleasure of meeting him. I know people

tend to romanticize historical figures. But from every first, second, third hand account I ever heard about the man, he was the real thing. A good person through and through.

[halfulglas]

8. We used to buy general admission tickets at Forbes Field because we couldn't afford reserved seats.

Gosh, those wooden stands were more rickety than most high school stadium seats now. But that right field wall with the screen was hard to play but nobody played it like Clemente.

The broadcasters like Bob Prince loved Clemente because he was so good but the Pittsburgh print writers didn't give him much respect many years because he played hurt during much of his career and they thought he was making excuses. It was so ironic that he was in such good condition that last year of his life. Before free agency many players had to play winter ball in the Caribbean with consequent chance of injury.

But the 1960 seventh game of the World Series, yes Mazeroski hit the winning home run but the Pirates would never have gotten there if Clemente had not gotten a hit and scored in the 8th inning cutting the run deficit. If he hadn't made it on base, Maz would never have come to bat in the bottom of the 8th.

Noticing that it's his birthday, I just want to celebrate him.

[moonshinegnomie]

11. i will never forget watching a special on him on april 9th 1973 on tv

the only reason ill never forget is that was the day my dad died when i was 11

[ProfessorGAC]

12. Was My Dad's Favorite Non-Cub

Followed closely by Aaron, Brock & Gibson.
When I was a kid, one of the 2 or 3 games we went to Wrigley to see was always the Pirates.
His favorite player was Ernie Banks, but that was Cubs fan bias.
Until Ichiro, I never saw an arm that powerful & accurate. Even Evans & Parker were a step below.