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Originally Posted by ddthetide
the GREAT #21 !!
i was 8 years old during the 1971 world series. i rooted for baltimore because that was my dad's team but the o's were playing the pirates and they had this rightfielder name clemente and a left fielder name stargell. i knew them from my baseball cards but that was all. clemente, the all-star rf, was ALL over the papers and tv.
if i remember correctly the o's had the buc's down 3 games to 1 in the series and clemente had just played ok and had taken the blame for being behind in the series. he sat in front on his locker after the 4th game and told the world that the bucs would win ! if he had win it himself!
the next 3 games were the CLEMETE SHOW!! and he got some help from his mates too. game 5 he went something like 3-4 ,drove in all the runs, stole bases and even had 2 put-outs from rf !!..... i was a Pirate fan but most of all a CLEMETE fan from that point on!( embarressed to say i'm still a bucs fan) bucs won the WS and Clemete was MVP.
maybe the best RF every to play. no one today to compare him too. clemete had power when needed, always hit for average, stole base when needed, even bunted. played GREAT defense and a howitzer for an arm! (OH GEEZZ what an arm!!) he did whatever the bucs needed him to do at that time in any game.
if you were a kid during the 71 WS , you ran out to practice what you saw clemete do. if you were righthanded chasing a ball to your left. when you caught the ball you planted your right foot, pivoted with your back to the infield and tried to throw the runner out at second or third or hit the cut-off man.
he had class! won and lost with grace!
sorry for the rant but you asked about one of my childhood heros.
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Oh man did you bring back the memories dd,
I was 12 at the time and was really starting to pay attention. I had a pretty good arm myself so I know exactly what you mean about imitating a great Clemente catch, pivot, and throw. No telling how many times i practiced that.
But I also loved the Orioles. they had four twenty game winners!! can you imagine that today? hah. McNally, Cuellar, Palmer, Dobson. I also used to imitate McNally's delivery because I liked the way he held the mitt up in front of his face. Other favorites Boog Powell, Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, davey Johnson, Mark belanger. Oh man those were the days. I loved the game back then.