Roberto Clemente

[Scav]

Everything I hear is that this guy was the nuts when it came to baseball, I know his stats and his accomplishments, but I wanted to hear what some of the people that actually saw him play had to say? If possible give me an idea whos game is closest to him that is playing now? I have heard Vlad?

[SCUDSBROTHER]

They really went diggin' for that.This guy has been dead for 34 years. Reminds of this bitch I've got.She digs up peanuts in the shell that somebody had growin' in the backyard like 20 years ago.This guy was before my time,but seems kind of like a Jeter type,but somebody with some years on me will chime in.

[stevepopyak]

I was only a few years old when he died, but living in the Pittsburgh area all of my life I've seen endless amounts of highlights. He had a complete cannon of an arm and could run like a deer ... some of his best highlights are his spinning throws from the deep right field corner at old Forbes field. He had 3000 hits on the nose with some decent power. Since the Pirates have been so bad for the past 14 years or so they continually promote the old days of Clemente, Stargell and Mazeroski with giveaways of bobbleheads, statuettes, jerseys, etc. with their names/numbers to try to draw fans. Hey, at least we have a nice ballpark.

[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.

[ArlJim78]

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.

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.

[onebadbeast]

Only One Of The Greatest To Ever Play The Game. I Watched Him Throw A Guy Out At Home Plate On A Line From Right Field Wall. I No Longer Care To Watch The Game As All The Best Have Left The Building!!

[SentToStud]

Originally Posted by onebadbeast

Only One Of The Greatest To Ever Play The Game. I Watched Him Throw A Guy Out At Home Plate On A Line From Right Field Wall. I No Longer Care To Watch The Game As All The Best Have Left The Building!!

No doubt one of the very best ever. True 5-tool player. Nobody played rightfield as well as Clemente though Kaline in his prime was close. And nobody ran the bases like Clemente. Mantle and Mays were close but the sight of Clemente on the basepath was extrordinary. With more Gold Gloves than any other outfielder ever, arguably the best ever to play any outfield position.

[ddthetide]

the last strike lost me as a fan. i check once a week to see how far out my once mighty pirates are. it's rare i even watch the highlights.

[Kasept]

Scav,

The closest thing you can see today that owns shades of Clemente is Vlad Guerrero... Saw Clemente many, many times at Shea as part of matchups like Steve Blass v. Tom Seaver and Dock Ellis v. Jerry Koosman... Clemente was utterly dominant on a team of GREAT players...