September 13, 1972: Clemente’s torment of Fergie Jenkins continues with final career home run

When Roberto Clemente watched a Ferguson Jenkins pitch on the inside corner of the plate pass for a strike on September 13, 1972, young teammate Fernando Gonzalez didn’t understand.

The pitch was in Clemente’s wheelhouse, and when Gonzalez questioned his mentor about why he held up on such a pitch, Clemente, an 18-year veteran, told the rookie and fellow Puerto Rican countryman he would get his answer later in the game.

In the seventh inning, Jenkins placed another pitch at the same location in an effort to fool Clemente again, but the “ageless marvel”1 won the mental chessmatch by blasting a two-run home run to center field that broke a 3-3 tie on the way to Pittsburgh’s 6-4 victory at Wrigley Field in front of a scant weekday crowd of 4,418.2

“When he came to the bench, he said, ‘That’s why I gave him that pitch in the first at-bat,’” Gonzalez recalled years later. “He was doing things by that time that I never saw anyone do and I haven’t seen anyone do since. He was like a computer. He was set to play baseball. He always knew what he had to do.”3

Jenkins – who five days earlier had declared he was “in a class by myself” after earning his sixth straight season with at least 20 victories4 – often had trouble figuring out Clemente throughout his first seven full major-league seasons.

The tiebreaking homer was the 240th and last of Clemente’s career. In 95 at-bats against Jenkins, Clemente hit .274 and hammered six home runs,5 but he was especially strong in ‘72, going 7-for-12 with three homers and two triples when facing the reigning National League Cy Young Award winner.

“I think Clemente is the only superstar in our league,” Jenkins said after Clemente reached base four times in their final meeting. “Well, he and [Henry] Aaron.… Today, he just hit everything I had.”6

With his second straight three-hit showing, Clemente’s career hit total moved to 2,984, and it was expected he would become the 11th player to reach 3,000 hits before the season was through – considering there were 19 games left on the schedule.

“He won’t need to play in 19 more games to reach that goal,” said first-year Pittsburgh manager Bill Virdon of Clemente’s late-season hot streak,7 “if he keeps belting the way he has.”8

But despite all of Clemente’s Wednesday afternoon heroics, the Cubs nearly saved Jenkins from a loss in the bottom of the ninth.

With one out, Carmen Fanzone reached on an error and Randy Hundley followed with a single to chase reliever Bob Miller from the game and bring the go-ahead run to the plate in pinch-hitter Glenn Beckert, who was 3-for-10 in pinch-hit situations in his career. Beckert poked a grounder up the middle, but second baseman Rennie Stennett fielded the ball, stepped on second, and threw to first to complete the double play, giving new reliever Ramon Hernandez his 12th save after just a handful of pitches.

“If I had looked at Stinnett earlier, I would have figured outfield was his best position,” Virdon said. “But the more I see him play second base, I think that might be his best position.”9

Virdon liked Stennett’s play at second base so much that after Clemente’s untimely death on December 31, 1972, Stennett didn’t become one of the primary players used in 1973 to replace the void in right field – despite having spelled Clemente there for 53 innings during the 1972 campaign. Instead, Stennett remained a staple in Pittsburgh’s infield for the rest of the decade.

Clemente’s afternoon in Chicago started with a harmless single in the top of the first, but his two-out triple to left in the third helped put the Pirates on the scoreboard.10 Willie Stargell followed with a grounder into the hole at first, but while first baseman Jim Hickman made a nice defensive play to stop the ball, Jenkins failed to cover the base. By the time Hickman recovered to his feet, he lost a foot race to the bag, allowing Clemente to score and Stargell to pick up an infield single.11

“I started to first then stopped, thinking Hick could handle it. I didn’t realize he was that deep,” Jenkins said. “When I tried to start again I couldn’t. It was just a lapse of memory by me.”12

To open the sixth, Clemente drew a walk and moved to third when Stargell’s high chopper went over Hickman’s head and into right field for a double. Richie Hebner lifted a sacrifice fly to bring home Clemente, and Manny Sanguillen‘s grounder went through Don Kessinger‘s legs for an error, allowing Stargell to cross the plate.

A two-run double by Chicago’s Jose Cardenal and an RBI single by Hickman tied the game in the bottom of the sixth. Pittsburgh starting pitcher Nelson Briles singled to open the seventh, and after two quick outs, Clemente again strolled to the plate to face Jenkins.

“I should have walked Clemente,” Jenkins said after the game.13

Instead, Jenkins tried to fool him on the inside corner but paid the price. Clemente’s home run sealed what became Jenkins’ fourth loss of the season to the Pirates.14

“He hit a slider for the single, a fastball for the triple, and another slider for the home run,” said Jenkins, who fell to 20-11 for the season and didn’t win another decision until his third start of 1973. “He’s something.”15

Briles recorded 13 straight outs to open the game16 and was credited with the victory, moving his season ledger to 14-7.17

In addition to the ninth-inning comeback try, Chicago worked to regain the lead in the eighth. Billy Williams had an RBI double to move the Cubs within a run, but Stennett pushed across another run for Pittsburgh with a single in the top of the ninth.

Clemente was instrumental in completing the series sweep the next day, helping spark a two-run rally in the seventh inning that extended Pittsburgh’s one-run lead on the way to a 5-2 victory.18 He had two hits to complete his best single-series showing of the year,19 which marked the first time he had posted at least eight hits in a three-game series since he recorded 11 against the Los Angeles Dodgers on August 21-23, 1970.20

“I always play better in this ballpark. I always seem to do better against the tougher teams like Chicago,” Clemente said after the series opener. “I always say I would not play for any other team except Pittsburgh. But I would like to play with Chicago. I like the park. I like day baseball and the crowds here are very good.”21

Clemente hit 23 home runs at Wrigley Field throughout his career. None were more famous than the one he slugged in the second game of a doubleheader on May 17, 1959, which sailed out of the ballpark. With an estimated distance of more than 500 feet, it is among the longest ever hit at the park.

One fellow slugger – Cubs legend Ernie Banks, who hit 512 career home runs – said Clemente would have flashed more power had he called Chicago home and wasn’t surprised that Clemente found a way to take advantage of Wrigley Field in his limited opportunities.

“Had he been a Cub, I’m sure he would have adopted a power style of swinging,” Banks wrote in 1969. “… Only the great hitters can alter their batting styles to fit certain parks.”22

By sweeping the Cubs, the Pirates moved a season-best 15 games ahead of Chicago in the standings23 and knocked down to three their magic number to clinch the East Division crown. Pittsburgh locked up its third straight division title on September 21, but despite holding the best record in the major leagues, the defending World Series champion Pirates lost to the Cincinnati Reds in the NL Championship Series.

“I know people get tired of hearing it, but those guys are just having a helluva year,” Cubs manager Whitey Lockman said of the Pirates. “And Clemente is one of the three best hitters I’ve seen among those I’ve had a chance to watch on a regular basis. The others were Stan Musial and Aaron. I never had a chance to see much of Ted Williams.”24

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/​CHN/C​HN197​20913​0.​shtml

h​ttps:​//www​.retr​oshee​t.org​/boxe​setc/​1972/​B0913​0CHN1​972.​htm

NOTES

1 Jerry Liska (Associated Press), “Clemente’s HR Beats Cubs” Clearfield (Pennsylvania) Progress, September 14, 1972: 17.

2 That was Wrigley Field’s second-smallest crowd of the season after just 4,153 showed up to the series opener. Down the stretch, seven more games at Wrigley Field would feature smaller crowds, including a low mark of 1,362 against the Montreal Expos on September 19.

3 David Maraniss, Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball’s Last Hero (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2006), 277.

4 George Langford, “Jenkins Captures No. 20; ‘I’m in a Class by Myself,’” Chicago Tribune, September 9, 1972: 2, 2.

5 Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax also surrendered six home runs to Clemente.

6 George Langford, “Pirate Guns Scuttle Cubs, Fergie 6-4,” Chicago Tribune, September 14, 1972: 3, 1.

7 Clemente hit .400 over his first 12 games of September. He hit .291 in 14 games the rest of the month, but got his 3,000th hit in his final at-bat of the season.

8 Liska.

9 Bob Smizik, “Stennett Cashes In on Second Chance,” Pittsburgh Press, September 14, 1972: 42.

10 The triple was the 166th and last of Clemente’s career, and through 2021, no player has matched his mark, which stands in a tie for 27th all-time.

11 Langford, “Pirate Guns Scuttle Cubs, Fergie 6-4.”

12 Langford, “Pirate Guns Scuttle Cubs, Fergie 6-4.”

13 Liska.

14 It was the first decision Jenkins had lost since August 4.

15 Langford, “Pirate Guns Scuttle Cubs, Fergie 6-4.”.

16 Briles also took a perfect game into at least the fifth inning two other times in 1972. On June 24 he retired the first 14 batters during a 3-1 victory over the Cubs, and on August 22 he retired 20 straight before allowing the only hit in his 14th career shutout, a 1-0 victory over the Giants.

17 Briles was forced from the game in the bottom of the seventh with a bleeding blister on the middle finger of his right hand.

18 The Pirates became the first road team since the 1894 New York Giants to win every game in Chicago in a season. Pittsburgh won the opening game of the series, 7-0, and also swept three games from June 23-25. The 1972 Pirates played only six games at Wrigley Field due to the players’ strike early in the season, which wiped out three games scheduled between the teams in Chicago.

19 Clemente’s second-best effort of the season came May 5-7 when he had seven hits at Cincinnati.

20 Clemente had back-to-back five-hit games in the series, though that included a 16-inning game. He also had 11 hits in a four-game series from August 23 to 25, 1971, at Atlanta.

21 Joe Mooshil (Associated Press), “Bucs Cut Magic Number” Clearfield (Pennsylvania) Progress, September 13, 1972: 17.

22 Ernie Banks, “Clemente Toughest, in Banks’ Opinion,” Chicago Tribune, July 6, 1969: B1.

23 This was a stark difference from the NL West Division, which saw the Cincinnati Reds leading the Houston Astros by seven games. By the end of the season, however, the division leads were separated by just a half-game (the Pirates winning by 11 games and the Reds winning by 10½ games).

24 Langford “Pirate Guns Scuttle Cubs, Fergie 6-4.”