Roberto Clemente: Doing (page 2)

“This is my ball park. Every game is played in daylight and I can see the ball good. And I can reach the stands in any direction. I hope I'm never traded but if I am, I wish it would be to the Cubs. I know I do well there in 77 games.”

Roberto Clemente

Discussing Wrigley Field (where he was currently hitting .693 for the season, with 9 hits in 13 AB, with 3 home runs and 9 RBI); as quoted in "Feast Then Famine For Pirates: Split Means Lost Ground In Race" https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=o2scAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Fk8EAAAAIBAJ&pg=4554%2C1706304 by Lester J. Biederman, in The Pittsburgh Press (Friday, July 7, 1961), p. 26. To access article, drag image from right to left, bringing relevant headline immediately into view, displayed on its side; continue dragging until you reach the fifth paragraph from the end.
Baseball-related, <big><big>1960s</big></big>, <big>1961</big>

Hope , Game

“I am tired of playing in a shadow Everything I do they compare to Paul Waner. I am not Paul Waner's shadow. I try not to let it bother me, but I get tired of the things some people say. They call me a showboat because I make basket catches. They don't call Willie Mays a showboat, do they? They say I'm a hypochondriac, too. When I have trouble with my back, they say it's in my mind. In Houston last year, right before the end of the season, I was still in the race for the batting title and Murtaugh told me to do everything possible to win it. One time I was being intentionally walked and I swung at one of the pitches. Then I wasn't a team player any more. People said I was out for myself.”

Roberto Clemente

As quoted in "Roberto's Not Happy; Clemente in Waner's Shadow" https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/15674492/ by Sandy Padwe (NEA), in The Indiana Gazette (July 2, 1964), p. 16
Baseball-related, <big><big>1960s</big></big>, <big>1964</big>

People , Time , Season

“I sent eleven people there. All of them have families in Puerto Rico. The least I can do is be with them tonight.”

Roberto Clemente

Speaking on New Year's Eve, 1972; as quoted by Ruth Fernández in Clemente! (1973) by Kal Wagenheim, p. 242
Other, <big><big>1970s</big></big>, <big>1972</big>

People , Family

“It seems to me they like to play up my faults. If I make a bad play, it seems to get more publicity than the good things I do. They always compare me with Paul Waner and things in the past. I didn't play ball 25 years ago. I'm playing now. I think I should be judged on this basis. I get tired of hearing that Waner was a better hitter than me. A lot of old fans tell me I field better, run faster and throw harder than Waner. Nobody says anything about that.”

Roberto Clemente

As quoted in "Change of Pace" by Bill Nunn, Jr. in The New Pittsburgh Courier (August 10, 1963), p. 22
Baseball-related, <big><big>1960s</big></big>, <big>1963</big>

Thinking , Past

“You all wrong. You try to hit home run every time but you no can do. No man can do. I wish you try to hit ball like you did when you joined team last July. Then you just try to meet ball because you want to make good showing after coming from minors. You swing easy and ball goes into centerfield seats. Next day, you swing easy again and ball goes over left field wall. Now you swing too hard. Try to hit home run every swing. You wrong. You have no timing, you miss ball. Please, for me, just try to meet ball when we open season. You have so much power, you just meet ball and whoosh—it goes over fence. Stu, with my brains, if I have your power, I make $200,000 in baseball.”

Roberto Clemente

Advice given to teammate Dick Stuart on April 7, 1959, as quoted in "The Scoreboard: Meet Ball, Homers Will Come, Clemente Assures Stuart" https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=IEIqAAAAIBAJ&sjid=aU4EAAAAIBAJ&pg=7149,2639076 by Les Biederman, in The Pittsburgh Press (Wednesday, April 8, 1959), p. 43
Baseball-related, <big><big>1950s</big></big>, <big>1959</big>

Home , Time , Season

“We are on the field doing what we love to do. They have to work in the mill or other places eight hours a day, and work much harder than us and they pay their way in.”

Roberto Clemente

Explaining to reporters why it's the players who should pay the fans, and not vice versa; at post-game press conference on Roberto Clemente Day, as quoted in "Roberto Clemente's a Man of 2 Lives ... and 2 Loves" https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=zbYcAAAAIBAJ&sjid=NWYEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2327%2C2876682 by the Associated Press, in The Sarasota Herald-Tribune (July 26, 1970)
Other, <big><big>1970s</big></big>, <big>1970</big>

Love , Way

“No, I don't think I can hit.370 for the season. At my age you come to the point when you are tired in the warmer weather. But if I were younger, and I knew what I know now about hitting, I could do it easily. When you are 28, you feel good all the time. At my age, sometimes you feel groggy. People say, "Why do they have to rest Willie Mays once in a while. They think it is not that hard to play the outfield. But it is not playing the outfield that is so tiring. It is the base-running. People don't realize how much more you are on base and how much running you have to do when you get 200 hits a year. You have to concentrate every minute on the bases to avoid the pickoffs, to fake a steal, to know whether to take the extra base. It begins to wear you down in late summer.”

Roberto Clemente

As quoted in "You Can't Overlook Roberto Clemente" by Al Grady, in The Iowa City Press-Citizen (Wednesday, June 28, 1967), p. 13
Baseball-related, <big><big>1960s</big></big>, <big>1967</big>

People , Age , Feeling , Thinking

“I won't play ball in the winter. I gonna rest. If the pain is still there, I won't come back to spring training. I don't want to play the way I play now. I can't do nothing. That's like I steal money from the club.”

Roberto Clemente

Speaking with George Kiseda of The Pittsburgh Sun Telegraph in late July or early August 1957, reproduced in "Frustration in the Fifties" https://books.google.com/books?id=03XsO25A3I8C&pg=PA63&lpg=PA63&dq=%22I+won't+come+back+to+spring+training%22&source=bl&ots=xfn30GlAmb&sig=9pGIiE3gGIwAp6QroqRbNPygCjM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjo37rStb7NAhWGdT4KHSxjDCcQ6AEIFDAA#v=onepage&q&f=false, from Roberto Clemente: The Great One (1997) by Bruce Markusen, p. 63
Baseball-related, <big><big>1950s</big></big>, <big>1957</big>

Money , Pain , Way , Spring

“In Canada they no have much segregation. But one day I am signing autographs and talking to white man and his wife outside park, and this other man say, "You not supposed to talk to white woman." I say, "No, I talk to the one I want. I talk to my friends. You believe in that stuff if you want. I don't do it."”

Roberto Clemente

As quoted in "The Man in the Pirate Uniform: Clemente is Spectacular" https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=zcxRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=NGwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7274%2C5131234 by Myron Cope, in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Tuesday, August 23, 1960), p. 29
Other, <big><big>1960s</big></big>, <big>1960</big>

“I do not care about home runs. The pitch is always away from me and it is foolish to try to pull this pitch for a home run. The pitcher does not wish it so, and I don't try. I am not foolish. Only in Philadelphia I think maybe I will try for the home run, but I do not think so even in L. A. I make the hits which the pitcher cannot stop, and that is better than striking out and will drive out the pitcher, too.”

Roberto Clemente

As quoted by Les Biederman—who, not coincidentally, notes both Clemente's successful suppression of "the home run urge" and his ability to "hit for distance with the best" (the former earning the "unqualified praise of George Sisler")—in The Sporting News (June 1, 1960), p. 7
Baseball-related, <big><big>1960s</big></big>, <big>1960</big>

Home , Thinking

“How you blame Bragan for what we do? He no hit for us, no run for us, no peetch for us, no feeld for us. Bes manager I efer play for.”

Roberto Clemente

As quoted in "Murtaugh Takes Pirate Reins" https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=zUEqAAAAIBAJ&sjid=_k0EAAAAIBAJ&pg=5107%2C910504 by Les Biederman, in The Pittsburgh Press (Sunday, August 4, 1957), Page 2, Sect. 4
Baseball-related, <big><big>1950s</big></big>, <big>1957</big>

“I jus' try to sacrifice myself, so I get runner to third. If I do, I feel good. But I get heet and Willie scores, and I feel better than good. […] What makes me feel most good is that the skipper let me play the whole game. I think maybe he take me out after a few innings for Aaron but no, he pay me big compliment. I stay in game and that gave me confidence. I think I don't let him down, no?”

Roberto Clemente

As quoted in "'All-Star Clemente Wins MVP Award" https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=GwBbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=H04NAAAAIBAJ&pg=2384%2C288081 by Joe Reichler (AP), in The Michigan Daily (Wednesday, July 12, 1961), p. 4
Baseball-related, <big><big>1960s</big></big>, <big>1961</big>

Feeling , Confidence , Game , Thinking

“My body is old and tired, but I'll bounce back. I think Mazeroski can do the same if he takes off a few pounds and gives them to me. I need them.”

Roberto Clemente

On being informed that Mazeroski had claimed he wouldn't be retiring if he had Clemente's body; as quoted in "Sidelights on Sports: Monday Morning's Sports Wash" by Al Abrams, in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Monday, October 2, 1972), p. 24
Baseball-related, <big><big>1970s</big></big>, <big>1972</big>

Thinking

“There are many good players in this game. If they weren't good, they wouldn't be in the majors. I'm not bragging when I say I think I'm as good as anyone. Mays, Aaron, Robinson, guys like that, hit with more power than I do. After that, I think I can hold my own.”

Roberto Clemente

As quoted in "Change of Pace"
Baseball-related, <big><big>1960s</big></big>, <big>1963</big>

Guy , Game , Thinking

“There was a time when I said if I couldn't play in Pittsburgh, I wouldn't want to play anywhere. I don't feel that way now. If the Pirates traded me, I would accept it as a part of baseball and continue doing my best wherever I went.”

Roberto Clemente

As quoted in "Change of Pace"
Baseball-related, <big><big>1960s</big></big>, <big>1963</big>

Way , Feeling , Time , Parting

“We don't have that kind of a club. We've been a relaxed team all season and I expect us to be the same in the Series. Pressure didn't get us down during the National League race. We fought off Milwaukee, St. Louis and Los Angeles without cracking. Now that we have come this far, we aren't going to look back now. As a team I would have to rate the Braves over the Yankees. If the Braves had won the pennant, I believe they would have been good enough to beat the Yankees, too. We have a better field club and better pitching than they do. We'll get our share of runs, too.”

Roberto Clemente

As quoted in "World Series Prediction: 'Pirates in Six Games,' Says Clemente" by Bill Nunn, Jr. in The New Pittsburgh Courier (October 8, 1960), p. 25
Baseball-related, <big><big>1960s</big></big>, <big>1960</big>
Context: "The Yankees aren't going to frighten this club. Except for power, we are a better all-round club than the Yankees and this is going to pay off in a world championship for Pittsburgh in six games." Clemente [... ] isn't worried about the Pirates being affected by Series jitters. "We don't have that kind of a club. We've been a relaxed team all season and I expect us to be the same in the Series. Pressure didn't get us down during the National League race. We fought off Milwaukee, St. Louis and Los Angeles without cracking. Now that we have come this far, we aren't going to look back now. As a team I would have to rate the Braves over the Yankees. If the Braves had won the pennant, I believe they would have been good enough to beat the Yankees, too. We have a better field club and better pitching than they do. We'll get our share of runs, too." Clemente, who played in Yankee Stadium during the All-Star Game, admitted the late afternoon shadows in the New York park could be a disadvantage to the Pirates outfielders. "The ball is hard to follow and it may give us some trouble. I really don't think it will make a difference in the outcome of the Series though."

Angels , Season

“I have made a great study of the spine ever since I had my spine trouble, and now I know what to do and it doesn’t involve doctors, operations or anything like that. Why, in Puerto Rico last winter I helped 29 people who had back trouble and one of them was a doctor who couldn’t get medical relief. Ask Willie (Stargell), ask Danny Murtaugh what I did for them. They had back trouble and I fixed them, not by any tricks or anything, but because I know how to manipulate and bring relief. A lot of people think if you have a pain or tightness here, it can be worked out by rubbing that area. It can’t. The way to do it is to know the trigger points. Sometimes you have to manipulate a few inches from the spot that’s hurting because that's maybe where the muscle that controls the soreness is. It’s all very complicated, but believe me, it works.

I was suffering so bad I could hardly walk [in 1957]. All the x-rays and medical doctors couldn’t find out what was wrong. Then a man in St. Louis, a chiropractor, called me and offered to help. The ballclub was against it and said they wouldn’t be responsible, but I was desperate and the pain was driving me crazy. But the man, who told me I had a curvature of the spine, was able to fix me up. It was after that I became interested in studying the human back and ever since I’ve never had trouble I couldn't take care of. Back trouble is a painful thing and people who don’t have the problem don’t know how lucky they are.”

Roberto Clemente

As quoted in "Clemente a Doc" by Red Foley, in The New York Daily News (October 10, 1971), pp. 69, 75
Other, <big><big>1970s</big></big>, <big>1971</big>

Pain , People , Way , Problem

“The Braves have been digging in on us all year. They're taking toeholds on our pitchers. Somebody is going down tonight if I have to come in from right field and do it myself.”

Roberto Clemente

Speaking with reporters after a 14-1 loss, as quoted in "Hot Braves Stagger Pirate Pennant Hopes" https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=hr0bAAAAIBAJ&sjid=VU8EAAAAIBAJ&pg=7552%2C3389475 by Les Biederman, in The Pittsburgh Press (September 23, 1966), p. 32
Comment: Apparently, Clemente's words were heeded, as hard-throwing Bob Veale hit the second Braves batter of the game that night, en route to a 4-hit, 12-strikeout, 3-0 victory http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1966/B09230ATL1966.htm.
Baseball-related, <big><big>1960s</big></big>, <big>1966</big>

“I was not trying to be smart when I did that. I was trying to tell them that they could do whatever they want. The fans of Pittsburgh have cheered me a lot through the years. There’s always a first time for booing. But I don’t say to hell with the fans because of this. I am not swinging the bat the way I should. It is just one of those things. I am not the way I should be. I do not feel sure when I swing. I am trying to adjust so that I will swing well even though my shoulder still hurts. If a player doesn’t try hard, he deserves to be booed. I try hard. Maybe I was booed today because I have not played that bad before.”

Roberto Clemente

As quoted in “Clemente Still Loves Pirate Fans” https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=kWwqAAAAIBAJ&sjid=VlAEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3630%2C5689009 by Bill Christine, in The Pittsburgh Press (Monday, April 14, 1969), p. 32
Baseball-related, <big><big>1960s</big></big>, <big>1969</big>

Way , Feeling , Hell , Time

“There was no use for me to say yes because I am not a politician. Say, for example, I was elected and a situation came up where I was told I had to compromise. I could never do that; I can't compromise.”

Roberto Clemente

As quoted in "Roberto Clemente for Mayor?" http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/72498032/ by Milton Richman, in The New Castle News (Tuesday, July 8, 1969), p. 17
Other, <big><big>1960s</big></big>, <big>1969</big>