“I was looking for an inside pitch. I don't know whether it was a fastball or not, but it came in a little inside and I was ready for it. I know it went out of here fast. Last year I hit one harder to the left field bleachers. That was a high fly ball. But this was a line drive. And I liked this hit better because it won the game.”

— Roberto Clemente

Discussing his game-winning 7/14/61 grand slam, and contrasting it with a prodigious shot hit on 5/6/60 http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Roberto_Clemente%27s_%27Toolbox%27:_The_Club#Clemente.27s_majestic_May_6.2C_1960_blast_into_the_teeth_of_Candlestick.27s_crosswind.2C_described_by_Arnold_Hano, also at Candlestick Park; as quoted in "The Big Grand Slam: Clemente Was All Set" by Phil Berman, in The San Francisco Chronicle (Saturday, July 15, 1961), p. 26 Baseball-related, <big><big>1960s</big></big>, <big>1961</big>

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Puerto Rican baseball player 1934–1972

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“Last year when I hurt my shoulder, I couldn't hit high pitches, but they kept throwing me low and away, and I could hit that pitch without much pain. "Look, he gets three hits, but he says he's in pain," they say, but they don't know that I can't go for the high pitch, and I'm not about to tell them!”

Roberto Clemente (1934–1972) Puerto Rican baseball player

Speaking with the San Juan Star in September 1970, as quoted in Clemente! (1973) by Kal Wagenheim, p. 178
Baseball-related, <big><big>1970s</big></big>, <big>1970</big>

“Now it was Liddle, jerking into motion as Wertz poised at the plate, and then the motion smoothed out and the ball came sweeping in to Wertz, a shoulder-high pitch, a fast ball that probably would have been a fast curve, except that Wertz was coming around and hitting it, hitting it about as hard as I have ever seen ball hit, on a high line to dead center field. For whatever it is worth, I have seen such hitters as Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Ted Williams, Jimmy Foxx, Ralph Kiner, Hack Wilson, Johnny Mize, and lesser-known but equally long hitters as Wally Berger and Bob Seeds send the batted ball tremendous distances. None, that I recall, ever hit a ball any harder than this one by Wertz in my presence.”

Arnold Hano (1922) American writer

From A Day in the Bleachers (1955), p. 116; reprinted in The Greatest Baseball Stories Ever Told: Thirty Unforgettable Tales from the Diamond https://books.google.com/books?id=dj6_F7omJZcC&pg=PA151&dq=%22Now+it+was+Liddle%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CBoQ6AEwAWoVChMIwoTj2c7GxwIVRDw-Ch2howea#v=onepage&q=%22Now%20it%20was%20Liddle%22&f=false (2001), edited by Jeff Silverman, p. 151 Sports-related

“Blass, I 'm going to tell you this. You pitch me inside; I will hit the freaking ball to Harrisburg.”

Roberto Clemente (1934–1972) Puerto Rican baseball player

Circa 1970, '71 or '72; as quoted by Blass in A Pirate for Life https://books.google.com/books?id=NfLFdUrYpH8C&pg=PT146&dq=%22I+will+hit+the+freaking+ball+to+Harrisburg%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiC8tLNxIrVAhVGWz4KHY_XBWUQ6AEIJDAA#v=onepage&q=%22I%20will%20hit%20the%20freaking%20ball%20to%20Harrisburg%22&f=false (2012) by Blass and Erik Sherman Baseball-related, <big><big>1970s</big></big> Variant: Blass, I'm going to tell you something: You pitch me inside, I hit the ball to Harrisburg.

“To hit in, it's okay; for power, it's not. If you get a line drive in this park, you're in good shape. It's best to hit to right field in this park because of the wall." He explained that balls bounding off and around the right field wall produce more extra base hits. He also said that he doesn't try for the home run. "If I tried hard, I might hit 20 to 25 homers a year. But if you hit for a high average, you will help the ball club more.”

Roberto Clemente (1934–1972) Puerto Rican baseball player

On hitting at Forbes Field; as quoted and paraphrased in "Clemente Unorthodox?" Well, He Gets Results"
Baseball-related, <big><big>1960s</big></big>

“I didn't try to hit him. I just tried to make my pitch and the ball went out of my hand.”

Carlos Zambrano (1981) Venezuelan baseball pitcher

Gano, Rick, St. Louis 5, Chi Cubs 4 http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/recap?gid=240719116, Yahoo! Sports, Retrieved on June 15, 2007 2004

“If you pitch me inside, I'll hit the ball to McKeesport.”

Roberto Clemente (1934–1972) Puerto Rican baseball player

Circa 1970, '71 or '72, as quoted by Blass in "Through Good and Bad, Blass' heart is with Pirates” https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/141557288/ by Rick Hummel, in The St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Sunday, July 27, 2003), p. 22 Baseball-related, <big><big>1970s</big></big> Variant: You pitch me the fuck inside and I hit the fucking ball to McKeesport.

“No one hit the ball harder than Frank Howard. He was the strongest I ever saw. I saw him hit a line drive off Whitey Ford at the stadium that Whitey actually jumped for, it was hit that low. It ended up hitting the speakers behind the monuments in dead center. I told Whitey later that it was lucky he didn't catch it because it would have drug him to death.”

Mickey Mantle (1931–1995) Professional baseball player

As quoted in "IT'S OUTTA HEEERRE!!!: A New Generation of Sluggers Invites Tape-Measure Comparisons" http://articles.latimes.com/1986-07-21/sports/sp-26487_1_home-run.

“I don't know. I don't know. I want to be happy because I have never hit three home runs in one game. But how can I be happy when we lose?”

Roberto Clemente (1934–1972) Puerto Rican baseball player

As quoted in "Bob Says 'They Try': Feeble Pitching Takes Joy From Clemente's Night" https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=hBFOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=h_0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=5612%2C2872741 by Charley Feeney, in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Wednesday, May 17, 1967), p. 26 Baseball-related, <big><big>1960s</big></big>, <big>1967</big>

“Blass, if you pitch me inside, I will hit forty-three home runs a year, thirty-seven of them off you!”

Roberto Clemente (1934–1972) Puerto Rican baseball player

Circa 1970, '71 or '72, responding to the novel approach facetiously suggested by teammate Steve Blass, were he ever to be traded from the Pirates; as quoted in "A Teammate Remembers Roberto Clemente” by Steve Blass, as told to Phil Musick, in Sport (April 1973); reproduced in Clemente! https://books.google.com/books?id=n-4qAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT60 (1973) by Kal Wagenheim, p. 158 Baseball-related, <big><big>1970s</big></big>

“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 (1934–1972) Puerto Rican baseball player

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>

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