“If a Latin player is sick, they said it is all in their head. I'm sick of these people who make these statements. They call me 'Jake.' It is Roberto… Roberto Walker Clemente.”

— Roberto Clemente

As quoted in "Sidelights on Sports: I Remember Roberto" by Al Abrams, in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Tuesday, January 2, 1973), pp. 14 https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=6tgNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=zGwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2562%2C472702 and 17 https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=6tgNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=zGwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4826%2C491051
Baseball-related, <big><big>1960s</big></big>

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Roberto Clemente 170

Puerto Rican baseball player 1934–1972

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“My name eet is Roberto Enricque Clemente Walker. I no use Enricque—spell him E–n–r–i–c–q–u–e —and I no use Walker. Him make too long for name. Just Roberto Clemente, thas all. This Enricque is middle name. Walker eet is my mother's name. In Puerto Rico, people she use father's and mother's name. I use Roberto Clemente in thees country.”

Roberto Clemente (1934–1972) Puerto Rican baseball player

As quoted in "Sidelight on Sports: A Baseball Star is Born" https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=d5dRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=52sDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1293%2C4057980 by Al Abrams, in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (June 7, 1955), p. 20
Comment: 1994 interview with Vera Clemente https://www.google.com/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=%22Roberto+Enrique+Clemente%22+intitle:Remember+intitle:Roberto&num=10 confirms that Enrique was Clemente's middle name; the discrepancy in spelling is presumably due to a misunderstanding by the non-Spanish-speaking Abrams, mistaking the word "Si" for the letter c.
Other, <big><big>1950s</big></big>, <big>1955</big>

“I don't want to be a big shot. From head to toes, Roberto Clemente is good as Richard Nixon. I believe that. And I think that every man should believe that about himself. I am not dumb. I went to school. I made grades. But when I came here, I couldn't speak English. All I could say was, 'Me, Roberto Clemente.' Some of them laugh and say it sounded like, 'Me Tarzan, you Jane.”

Roberto Clemente (1934–1972) Puerto Rican baseball player

As paraphrased and quoted in "Roberto Clemente, The Pirates' Thorobred: He proved his class in the Series" by Joe Heiling, in The Houston Post, circa Fall 1971; reprinted in Baseball Digest (January 1972)
Other, <big><big>1970s</big></big>, <big>1971</big>
Context: He is a proud man. Proud of Puerto Rico, his native land, and proud to be a professional baseball player. He is a strong believer in the dignity of man and that all people, no matter their color, should work together. "I don't want to be a big shot. From head to toes, Roberto Clemente is good as Richard Nixon. I believe that. And I think that every man should believe that about himself. I am not dumb. I went to school. I made grades. But when I came here, I couldn't speak English. All I could say was, 'Me, Roberto Clemente.' Some of them laugh and say it sounded like, 'Me Tarzan, you Jane.'" He is a self-made man. He took his natural talents and made the most of them, in baseball and in his personal life. He's never abused them. "Some players are wild on the field and off the field. They are made to look like heroes. I get nothing but sarcasm. And people take me for a fool."

“Roberto Baggio was the best player I ever played against; he made football look very easy.”

Roberto Baggio (1967) Italian association football player

Matthew Le Tissier, Matthew Le Tissier Interview: "Roberto Baggio Was The Best Player I Ever Played Against" http://www.thehardtackle.com/2012/matthew-le-tissier-interview/, The Hard Tackle, 21 June 2012. Retrieved on 9 February 2014.

“Roberto Clemente doesn't care too much for New York. Says there are too many people and everybody is in too much of a hurry. He had one ride on the subway with Felipe Montemayor as his guide and they got lost.”

Roberto Clemente (1934–1972) Puerto Rican baseball player

As paraphrased in "The Scoreboard: Thursday" https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=b0EqAAAAIBAJ&sjid=000EAAAAIBAJ&pg=4340%2C3027303 by Les Biederman, in The Pittsburgh Press (Saturday, June 11, 1955), p. 6
Other, <big><big>1950s</big></big>, <big>1955</big>

“I dedicate this hit to the fans in Pittsburgh. They have been wonderful. And to the people back in Puerto Rico, but especially to the fellow who pushed me to play baseball, Roberto Marin. He made me play. He carried me around looking for the man to sign me. […] I dedicate that hit to the person I owe most to in professional baseball, Roberto Marin.”

Roberto Clemente (1934–1972) Puerto Rican baseball player

Speaking with reporters, and later on the radio, about his 3,000th hit; as quoted, respectively, in "Roberto Gets 3,000th, Will Rest Till Playoffs" http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=rXcqAAAAIBAJ&sjid=TVMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4436,402538 by Bob Smizik, in The Pittsburgh Press (Sunday, October 1, 1972), p. D-1; and in Clemente! https://books.google.com/books?id=n-4qAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT14 (1973) by Kal Wagenheim, p. 23
Baseball-related, <big><big>1970s</big></big>, <big>1972</big>

“Just because I'm so horribly conditioned to accept everybody else's values, and just because I like applause and people to rave about me, doesn't make it right. I'm ashamed of it. I'm sick of it. I'm sick of not having the courage to be an absolute nobody.”

Jerome David Salinger book Franny and Zooey

Source: Franny and Zooey (1961), Franny (1955), p. 30

“You know, I'm sick and tired of people pointing rifles at me.”

Carrie Vaughn (1973) American writer

Source: Kitty Takes a Holiday

“The only people who criticize me are writers. You say, maybe I no team player. Did a player ever come to you and say I no team player? Who say that? The writers, right. I win four batting championships. Why I no team player? I kill myself in the outfield. You say, I no team player. You never see me loaf on the field. I break my back. Even Harry Walker tell me: "Roberto, why you want to break your back? Look at the other fellows. Take it easy." Super stars, my foot. They say Mickey Mantle is a super star. He's limping. They say poor Mickey. I play with four stitches in my foot and nobody knows about it. […] The fans are good to me. Only the writers are bad."”

Roberto Clemente (1934–1972) Puerto Rican baseball player

As quoted in "Clemente Back, Lashes Out at Writers; Buc Explodes Over 'Team Player' Image" https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=LJxRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=02wDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7083%2C4907609 by Charley Feeney, in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Monday, March 31, 1969), p. 29
Baseball-related, <big><big>1960s</big></big>, <big>1969</big>

“I'm sick of this. Call me what you like, say I'm without honor, I don't care. I'm not getting on any more horses to whack you people with a stick.”

Tamora Pierce Squire

Source: Squire

“Is there no hope? the sick man said;
The silent doctor shook his head.”

John Gay (1685–1732) English poet and playwright

Fable, The Sick Man and the Angel
Fables (1727)

“If a Latin player is sick, they said it is all in their head. I'm sick of these people who make these statements. They call me 'Jake.' It is Roberto… Roberto Walker Clemente.”

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Roberto Clemente 170

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