July 24, 1970: Roberto Clemente’s defense stands out on his night in Pittsburgh

Roberto Clemente Day 1970, with the proud father holding Rickey with Luis on the left and Roberto Jr. on the right. (Les Banos photograph courtesy of The Clemente Museum.)

That the first-place Pirates routed the fifth-place Astros was a side story for most of the 43,290 fans at the recently opened Three Rivers Stadium on this summer Friday night.

Most in attendance were there to honor the home team’s right fielder. It was Roberto Clemente Night.

Fans would have a chance to show Clemente how much they loved him. The game was announced in March and partly sponsored by the Allegheny County Civic Sportsmen’s Association, an organization that regularly presented Sportsman of the Year awards to local athletes.1

It was not intended as any precursor to retirement. At age 35, Clemente was still going strong, having hit .345 in 1969. Just a few months earlier, during spring training, the Cincinnati Reds’ Pete Rose said he aspired to be what Clemente was. “I’d say he’s the best hitter I’ve seen since I’ve been in the big leagues,” Rose said.2

Local newspapers printed coupons to help fans make donations to a local children’s hospital in Clemente’s honor.

“I want to make sure that every penny will be used for poor, crippled kids,” Clemente said.3

On the day of the game, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ran a story with quotes from every manager about Clemente’s excellence.

Among the highlights:

• “Clemente and greatness are one and the same word.” – Gene Mauch, Expos
• “Clemente is the most complete ball player to wear a baseball uniform. He can do everything to beat you.” – Red Schoendienst, Cardinals
• “Every time I hear that Clemente has an ache, I look for him to go four-for-four.” – Gil Hodges, Mets4

The ceremony began more than an hour before the game, was bicultural and bilingual, and was broadcast back to Clemente’s native Puerto Rico. Hundreds of Puerto Rican residents were flown to Pittsburgh, including Heriberto Nieves, the mayor of Clemente’s hometown, Carolina. Cuban-born Puerto Rican baseball broadcaster Ramiro Martínez served as emcee.5

Clemente and his family received a truck’s worth of gifts as well as news that the Pirates had established a trust fund to handle the college education expenses of Clemente’s children. The gifts were donated to the children’s hospital.6

Clemente cried as he tried to give a speech to the crowd.

“I have achieved this triumph for us the Latinos,” he said. “I believe that it is a matter of pride for all of us, the Puerto Ricans, as well as for all those in the Caribbean because we are all brothers.”7 He also told the fans, “I will never wear any other uniform than a Pittsburgh uniform.”8

As for the game, the Pirates put this one out of reach quickly, scoring six runs in the first inning.

After Matty Alou singled and Richie Hebner walked against Astros starting pitcher Tom Griffin, Clemente singled to load the bases. Al Oliver followed by singling in the first two runs. Manny Sanguillen then drove in Clemente with a sacrifice fly. The bottom of the Pirates lineup contributed to the big frame as Freddie Patek’s two-run double knocked Griffin out of the game. Dock Ellis’s double drove in the last run.

The Pirates scored twice in the third inning. Dave Cash hit an RBI double and Patek sprinted home on a wild pitch thrown by Astros reliever Jim Bouton. Pittsburgh added one run in the fifth and two runs in the eighth inning, one coming on Willie Stargell‘s home run.

Clemente walked in the third and singled in the fifth but neither plate appearance factored in the scoring. He finished the game 2-for-3 with a run scored. Seven of the Pirates starters drove in at least one run, with Clemente and Hebner being the exceptions. Patek, who was filling in at shortstop for Gene Alley, had a game-high three RBIs and three runs scored. The Pirates played this game with a different double-play combination than usual with Patek and Cash starting for Alley and Mazeroski, the latter of whom was 8-for-46 in his previous 14 games.

Even though Clemente didn’t drive in any runs, he was still enjoying one the best offensive stretches of his career. In the 25 games spanning July 3 to August 10, Clemente hit .437 with a .529 on-base percentage and an .862 slugging percentage. His 1.391 OPS was his best for any 25-game span in his career.9

Pitching on three days’ rest, Ellis went the distance, throwing a four-hit shutout. Clemente helped preserve Ellis’s effort with two notable defensive plays, a diving catch in the third inning against Joe Morgan and a sliding, sitting catch in the seventh inning against Dennis Menke. He was removed from the game after that inning.10

Asked by reporters why he tried to make daring catches in a lopsided game, Clemente simply said, “It’s the only way I know how to play.”11

Ellis, like Clemente, was working on a good stretch. In his past five games, he had a 1.66 ERA over 43⅓ innings.

The win was the Pirates’ 22nd in their last 30 games, a hot streak that moved them from four games out of first place to a 2½-game lead in the NL East.

Clemente suffered a bruised knee, presumably from the sliding catch. That was just the beginning of an injury bug that hampered him the rest of the season. He left the game in the eighth inning with a cut on his left leg.

The next day, Clemente was hit on the right wrist by a pitch and didn’t start again for two weeks.12 He had 31 hits and batted .365 in 21 games after returning but missed another two weeks in September with a sprained muscle in his lower back.13

Clemente finished the 1970 season with a .352 batting average but played in a career-low 108 games. Baseball writers still voted him 12th in the National League MVP race.

SOURCES

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted B​aseba​ll-Re​feren​ce.​com and R​etros​heet.​org.

h​ttps:​//www​.base​ball-​refer​ence.​com/b​oxes/​PIT/P​IT197​00724​0.​sh​tml

h​ttps:​//www​.retr​oshee​t.org​/boxe​setc/​1970/​B0724​0PIT1​970.​htm

NOTES

1 Bill Christine, “Ex-Buc Taylor Takes a Fancy To Cards’ Way of Doing Things,” Pittsburgh Press, March 19, 1970: 43-44.

2 Milton Richman (United Press International), “Pete Rose’s Aim: Another Clemente” Latrobe (Pennsylvania) Bulletin, March 18, 1970: 35.

3 “Clemente Goes All Out for Fund,” Pittsburgh Press, July 19, 1970: 5.

4 Charley Feeney, “Roamin’ Around,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 24, 1970: 15.

5 David Maraniss, Clemente, The Passion and Grace of Baseball’s Last Hero (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006), 238.

6 “Clemente Shines on His Night,” Pittsburgh Press, July 24, 1970: 6.

7 Maraniss, 238-239.

8 Charley Feeney, “Clemente Has His Night, Pirates Make It a Big One,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 25, 1970: 9.

9 S​tathe​ad.​com, h​ttps:​//sta​thead​.com/​tiny/​TL​03W.

10 In the game box score on Retrosheet and Baseball-Reference, Clemente is listed as being removed to start the seventh inning. This is contradicted by multiple newspaper reports that state that Clemente came out of the game in the eighth inning.

11 “Clemente Shines on His Night.”

12 “Swollen Wrist Sidelines Clemente,” Pittsburgh Press, July 27, 1970: 23.

13 “Clemente Twists Back Swinging, Leaves Game,” York (Pennsylvania) Dispatch, September 5, 1970: 27.