Roberto Clemente: Play (page 3)

“We play too many games with too much traveling. We should stay in one city longer and have a day off now and then. It would be beneficial for the teams, keep them in top physical shape more.”

Roberto Clemente

As quoted in "Clemente Says Hitting Does Not Come Easy"
Baseball-related, <big><big>1960s</big></big>, <big>1968</big>

Travel , Game

“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

“Somebody say once that I like to goof off; that I'm lazy because I don't play winter ball and make a habit of reporting late to spring training. What these fellows don't know is that I have no time for winter ball. When I return home to Puerto Rico after the baseball season, I open my camp right away. It is a camp for boys, where they can come and learn how to play baseball. They come from all ages and get a lot of help. Cepeda spends some time with me. He teaches how to play first base. José Santiago shows them how to pitch. 'Chito' Rios, he comes from Mayagüez and gives base running instruction. Even Frank Lane has been there and talked to my kids. Jim Brown has been there, and Tommy Nobis, to talk football, although most of our kids have little interest in football. But they like to hear these fellows. Bill Russell has been there; so have Oscar Robertson and all the Harlem Globetrotters. The boys love it, and I really believe it has meant a lot in the development of some fine young men for later life.”

Roberto Clemente

As quoted in "All-Star Case of Roberto Clemente"
Baseball-related, <big><big>1970s</big></big>, <big>1970</big>

Love , Life , Men , Age

“I think he had the best eye, best stance and sharpest cut of all the big leaguers playing in Puerto Rico. He also field real good and throw like a bullet.”

Roberto Clemente

Recalling his boyhood idol Monte Irvin, as quoted in "CHANGE OF PACE: Scribes Now Rate Clemente as 'Best'" by Bill Nunn, Jr., in The New Pittsburgh Courier (February 24, 1962)
Baseball-related, <big><big>1960s</big></big>, <big>1962</big>

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

“Many people tell me I wanna play like Weelie. I no play like Mays. From little boy up, I always play like thees. I always wanna run fast, to throw long and heet far.”

Roberto Clemente

Attempting to differentiate himself from his onetime mentor, as quoted in "Clemente Realizes Boyhood Ambitions To Pain of Hurlers" http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/33482707/ by Rudy Cernkovic (UPI), in The Terre Haute Star (Tuesday, May 24, 1960), p.9
Baseball-related, <big><big>1960s</big></big>, <big>1960</big>

People , Boy

“I want everybody in the world to know that this is the way I play all the time. All season, every season. I gave everything I had to this game.”

Roberto Clemente

Speaking to Roger Angell before Game 7 of the 1971 World Series, as quoted in "Some Pirates and Lesser Men" https://books.google.com/books?id=7PP7VJ0gXa0C&pg=PA285&dq=%22I+want+everybody+in+the+world+to+know+that+this+is+the+way+I+play+all+the+time%22 by Angell, in The New Yorker (November 6, 1971), p. 148; reprinted in Angell's The Summer Game (2004), p. 285
Baseball-related, <big><big>1970s</big></big>, <big>1971</big>

World , Way , Game , Time

“I hit many what you call the "bad bol" pitches, and get good wood. The bol' travel like bullet. That remind me, I hit 565 foote hum-rum in Chicaga last year; the bol' disappear from centerfield, and Raj Hornsby tell me it longest drive he ever saw hit out of Wrigley Field. The bol' feel good on the bat but I feel bad at heart, when no writer with our team play up the big drive. I feel effort not appreciated.”

Roberto Clemente

As quoted by Bill Nunn, Jr. in The New Pittsburgh Courier (June 25, 1960); reproduced in Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero https://books.google.com/books?id=jIhcvFs-k1cC&pg=PA98 (2006) by David Maraniss, p. 98
Comment: Clemente is not entirely correct. At least nationally (via TSN's weekly Pirates report), one veteran Pirates beat writer did do his part to publicize the blast. See Les Biederman (5/27/59 and 6/6/66) in Media, as well as Ernie Banks in Opponents.
Baseball-related, <big><big>1960s</big></big>, <big>1960</big>

Travel , Feeling , Effort , Heart

“Jackie, what is the matter with you? You did not lose this ball game. We all lost it. No one man loses any ball game. You remember that. You are a good ball player. We need you to play shortstop. Come now, get dressed, let's go out and have a steak.”

Roberto Clemente

English translation of pep talk given on August 21, 1971, after Hernandez' 6th-inning miscue—scored as a hit—had contributed significantly to Cincinnati's 6-3 come-from-behind victory over Pittsburgh http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1971/B08210CIN1971.htm, as quoted in "Playing Games: Bad Day in Cincy" https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=iG8mAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Bm0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=5765%2C1664013&dq=clemente-began-talk-spanish by Charley Feeney, in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Tuesday, September 28, 1971), p. 23
Baseball-related, <big><big>1970s</big></big>, <big>1971</big>

Game

“I've had two lives: the first one when I was born in Puerto Rico in 1935 [sic] and the second when I came to Pittsburgh to play baseball in 1955. I have been very lucky and I feel gifted to be able to play well.”

Roberto Clemente

Addressing fans at Three Rivers Stadium on Roberto Clemente Day, as quoted in "Pirates, Puerto Rico Pay Clemente Honors" http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/12807951/ by Vito Stellino (UPI), in The El Paso Herald-Post (July 25, 1970)
Other, <big><big>1970s</big></big>, <big>1970</big>

Feeling

“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

“It's a shame he couldn't play in the majors due to the color barrier. I've always insisted Pancho would have been one of the best ever.”

Roberto Clemente

As quoted in "Pancho Coimbre Atiles" https://books.google.com/books?id=ce8wlREHG_0C&pg=PA78&dq=%22Pancho+Coimbre+Atiles%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CBcQ6AEwAWoVChMI0cne8vqBxwIVSKkeCh0OKAbb#v=onepage&q&f=false, from Puerto Rico's Winter League: A History of Major League Baseball's Launching Pad (2004) by Thomas E. Van Hyning, p. 78
Baseball-related, <big><big>1970s</big></big>, <big>1972</big>

Color

“They pay for their ticket, let them do what they want to do. I get mad. One of these days, I’ll leave my uniform on the field and keep on walking. If I don’t hustle or something like that, I’d say that it would be good for me to be booed. The problem with me is hitting. You hit.280, it’s a pretty good average. But I used to hit.350, so.280 is not good enough. A lot of times in my career, I play when I shouldn’t play. I say as long as I can run and swing a bat, I play. That was my biggest mistake. One time I play with a shoulder – it hurts so bad, I can’t lift it. I hit into a double play. Then they hit a ball to the outfield and I can’t bend down to pick it up, so they boo me. The season start, I hurt my finger the last weekend of spring training. I couldn’t grip the bat right and I was trying to pull everything. They would like for you to start every year from the beginning, right on top, boom, boom, boom. Now I start a season a little bit slowly, so they boo.”

Roberto Clemente

As quoted in ".280 Not Good Enough: Clemente's Bat Answers Boos" https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=TpcuAAAAIBAJ&sjid=kKEFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2309%2C1919830 by Ian McDonald, in The Montreal Gazette (Friday, May 21, 1971), p. 17
Baseball-related, <big><big>1970s</big></big>, <big>1971</big>

Spring , Problem , Time , Hurt

“I believe I can hit with anybody in baseball. Maybe I can’t hit with the power of a Mays or a Frank Robinson or a Hank Aaron, but I can hit. As long as I play in Forbes Field, I can’t go for home runs. Line drives, yes, but not home runs.”

Roberto Clemente

As quoted in “Clouter Clemente: Popular Buc; Rifle-Armed Flyhawk Aims At Second Bat Crown” by Les Biederman, in The Sporting News (September 5, 1964)
Baseball-related, <big><big>1960s</big></big>

Home

“Once upon a time I never believed I could get tired of baseball. I played baseball from morning to night. But today it isn't as it once was. I just never seem to get enough rest. And if I can't play at my best all the time, why play?”

Roberto Clemente

As quoted in "Clemente: Happy 33, With 3 Years to Go" https://www.newspapers.com/clip/83638719/the-pittsburgh-press/ by Les Biederman, in The Pittsburgh Press (August 17, 1967), p. 39
Baseball-related, <big><big>1960s</big></big>

Time , Night