Roberto Clemente in All-Star Games

As inadvisable as it would be to draw conclusions based on 34 plate appearances or 72 innings of defense spread out over more than a decade, it’s safe to state that Roberto Clemente’s All-Star Game performances only enhanced his legacy. The lifetime .317 hitter batted .323 in 15 midsummer exhibitions against his most skilled competitors and provided some memorable moments.

In 1960 the Los Angeles Dodgers visited Pittsburgh the weekend before All-Star Game rosters were announced. The Pirates hadn’t won a pennant since 1927, but they’d moved atop the National League in May when Clemente earned Player of the Month honors by driving in 25 runs in 27 games. By the conclusion of the first half, the sixth-year right fielder ranked third in the majors with a .325 batting average. Before leaving Pittsburgh, Dodgers skipper Walter Alston – who also was to manage the NL All-Stars – remarked, “Clemente is the worst-looking good hitter in the game. I have some batters who swing like .400 hitters and wind up with .200, yet Clemente swings like a .200 batter and winds up close to .400.”1

As it happened, Clemente was one of eight Pirates on the National League squad, five of whom were on the field when he made his All-Star Game debut on July 11 at Kansas City’s Municipal Stadium, where the game time temperature was a muggy 100 degrees.2 After replacing the Braves’ Hank Aaron in the bottom of the seventh inning, Clemente flied out against Athletics lefty Bud Daley in his only at-bat and caught both balls hit his way in right field, including Harvey Kuenn’s liner for the final out of the NL’s 5-3 victory. There were two All-Star Games that year so, two days later at Yankee Stadium, Clemente replaced Aaron again, this time as an eighth-inning pinch-hitter. He was walked by the Tigers’ Frank Lary and the NL won again, 6-0. After the regular season resumed, Clemente summed up his first All-Star experience: “It’s rush, rush, rush. No time to rest.… It tired me out.”3 But he was just getting started.

There were also two All-Star Games in 1961, played nearly three weeks apart. Clemente started both contests in right field after receiving 170 of the 233 votes cast by his fellow NL players, managers, and coaches. (Only the Milwaukee Braves’ second baseman, Frank Bolling, received more support.)4 Puerto Ricans were understandably proud to have two starters in the lineup for the first time on July 11 in San Francisco, as the Giants’ Orlando Cepeda – the island’s first All-Star Game starter, two years earlier – and Clemente batted fourth and fifth for the National League, respectively. Clemente carried a major-league-best .357 average into the contest on his way to his first career batting title.

Facing Whitey Ford his first time up, Clemente tripled off the right-center-field fence between two of the southpaw’s Yankees teammates, Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris.5 He scored the game’s first run when Bill White of the Cardinals followed with a sacrifice fly. In the fourth inning, Clemente delivered a sacrifice fly of his own against the Senators’ Dick Donovan to increase the NL’s advantage to 2-0. The ball traveled nearly 400 feet to right-center, but Candlestick Park’s notorious swirling winds kept it in play. “In any other park, I[‘d] have two home runs,” Clemente lamented.6

Similar gusts knocked Giants reliever Stu Miller off the mound in the ninth inning, causing him to balk during the American League’s game-tying rally. After the AL went ahead in the top of the 10th, San Francisco’s Willie Mays doubled home Aaron to tie the contest in the bottom of the frame. After Cincinnati’s Frank Robinson was hit by a pitch, Clemente faced Baltimore’s Hoyt Wilhelm – who’d struck him out in the eighth – with runners at first and second and nobody out. Clemente swung and missed at one inside knuckleball before lifting the next pitch into right-center for a game-winning single.

“Big thrill for me,” he said. “My mother, father, [and] brothers were watching on TV and listening on radio in Puerto Rico.”7

The All-Star Game MVP award was not established until the following year, but had it existed, Clemente’s 2-for-4, two-RBI performance with a run scored in the NL’s 5-4 victory would likely have earned it. “What makes me feel most good is that the skipper [Pittsburgh’s Danny Murtaugh] let me play the whole game,” he said in the winning locker room, where he was photographed smiling with Mays and Aaron. “He [paid] me a big compliment.”8

In 1961’s second All-Star Game, at Fenway Park on July 31, Clemente went 0-for-2 before giving way to Aaron in the bottom of the fourth of a game that ended tied, 1-1.

Clemente’s peers elected him a starter again in 1962, the last year that baseball staged two All-Star Games. In the first, at D.C. Stadium in front of President John F. Kennedy on July 10, he delivered a two-strike double down the right-field line against Tigers righty Jim Bunning in the opening frame.9 It would be the NL’s only extra-base hit, and he also stroked two singles. The first was pulled to left against Twins ace Camilo Pascual in the fourth, an inning that ended with Minnesota catcher Earl Battey cutting down Clemente on an attempted steal of third base to complete a double play after Cepeda struck out.

Before yielding right field to the Giants’ Felipe Alou, Clemente legged out an infield safety against Pascual in the middle of the two-run sixth-inning rally that keyed the NL’s 3-1 victory. Through 2022, his three-hit performance has been surpassed by only three players in All-Star competition. (Joe Medwick in 1937, Ted Williams in 1946, and Carl Yastrzemski in 1970 all had four hits.) On July 30 at Wrigley Field, Clemente played for a losing NL team for the first time, though the score was tied when he departed after playing three innings and going 0-for-2 against the Senators’ Dave Stenhouse.

In 1963 Clemente finished second to Aaron in voting to start for the NL in right field. Aaron, who was leading the majors in home runs and RBIs, played the entire midsummer classic at Cleveland Stadium on July 9, and Clemente replaced Mays in center for the bottom of the ninth inning with the NL on top, 5-3. He fielded Brooks Robinson’s one-out single just before the game-ending double play.

Clemente regained his starting role for the July 7, 1964, All-Star Game at Shea Stadium. His mother was in attendance, and he entered the contest with the majors’ best average (.345) and the NL lead in doubles (22).10 Facing the Angels’ Dean Chance, Clemente whiffed leading off the bottom of the first and grounded to shortstop his next time up. He stroked a two-out single against Pascual in the fifth, however, with the ball bouncing up after striking the second-base bag.11 When Pittsburgh’s Dick Groat followed with a double, Clemente raced home from first to increase the National League’s lead to 3-1. The AL battled back to seize a short-lived lead after Clemente left the game in the top of the sixth, but the senior circuit prevailed on a three-run walk-off homer by his successor in right field, the Phillies’ Johnny Callison.

In the summer of 1965, Clemente enjoyed a career-best 20-game hitting streak that ended against the Dodgers’ Sandy Koufax on the final day of the first half. He was already a two-time batting champion and won his third title that year. When Clemente learned that he’d finished third behind Aaron and Callison in his peers’ All-Star Game voting, he made it clear that he didn’t intend to suit up as a reserve, saying, “I won’t play.”12 Pittsburgh coach Harry Walker encouraged him to reconsider, and he relented after National League manager Gene Mauch of the Phillies told him, “It won’t be a game without you. You belong there with the rest of the stars.”13

Before the July 13 contest at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, Minnesota, Clemente and his fellow Puerto Rican Félix Mantilla were photographed alongside Juan Marichal of the Dominican Republic, Vic Davalillo from Venezuela, and Cubans Leo Cárdenas, Tony Oliva, Cookie Rojas, and Zoilo Versalles – an image that foreshadowed baseball’s changing demographics. In the top of the seventh, Clemente pinch-hit for his Pittsburgh teammate Willie Stargell against the Indians’ Sam McDowell with the score tied and runners at the corners; he grounded into a force out just before the Cubs’ Ron Santo delivered the eventual game-winning infield hit. Clemente played three innings in left field and finished 0-for-2 at the plate after grounding out in the ninth.

Midway through his 1966 MVP season, Clemente started another All-Star Game for the NL. By appearing in his 10th such contest, he surpassed Arky Vaughan for the most in Pirates’ franchise history. The game was played on July 12 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, where the Cardinals’ Joe Torre – who caught the first seven innings – estimated that the on-field temperature was 115 degrees.14 Batting second against Detroit’s Denny McLain, Clemente flied out to center in his first trip. In the fourth inning, he followed Mays’s leadoff safety with a single of his own against the Twins’ Jim Kaat. After Clemente was erased on a force, the Nationals evened the contest, 1-1, on an infield hit by Santo. That score held until the National League prevailed in the bottom of the 10th. Clemente played the entire game in the oppressive heat and went 2-for-4, including a sixth-inning, opposite-field double off the Yankees’ Mel Stottlemyre. “I never felt so tired and weary in my life,” he said.15

Entering the 1967 All-Star Game, only Cepeda (.356) boasted a better batting average than Clemente’s .352. Both made what proved to be their final All-Star starts on July 11 at Anaheim Stadium and played all 15 innings. After Clemente beat out an infield single against the Angels’ Dean Chance in the top of the first, however, he struck out in four straight at-bats; against Chance, the White Sox’ Gary Peters (looking), the Yankees’ Al Downing and the A’s Catfish Hunter. A heavy haze on a 92-degree afternoon and shadows resulting from the 4:15 first pitch contributed to an All-Star Game record 30 strikeouts – 11 on called third strikes.16 “It was hard to see the breaking stuff at this time of day,” Clemente remarked.17 He finished 1-for-6 after grounding out against Hunter in the 14th, but the NL prevailed one inning later. Both his six putouts in right field and four strikeouts remain All-Star Game records as of 2022. (Clemente had only one other four-strikeout game, in Los Angeles against Don Drysdale on May 21, 1966.)

Before leaving for spring training 1968, Clemente injured his right shoulder in a fall at his home in Puerto Rico. He failed to reach double figures in outfield assists for the only time in 14 seasons from 1958 to 1971 and entered the All-Star break hitting just .245. “I don’t want to alibi,” he replied when asked about his shoulder. “It’s not real good, see, I say something like that and it sounds like an alibi.”18 For the first time in nine years, he wasn’t selected for the National League squad. Clemente batted .347 after the break, however, and led NL position players with 8.2 WAR in 1968.

When Clemente returned to the All-Star Game at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington in 1969, he was in the middle of earning NL Player of the Month honors for batting .418 in July. The game was played in damp, overcast conditions on July 23 after being rained out the previous night. Clemente replaced Aaron in right field in the bottom of the fifth and struck out against McDowell in his only plate appearance, “after he had tomahawked a couple of high, hard ones foul,” reported the Pittsburgh Press.19 On defense, Clemente made a valiant diving attempt to glove the Orioles’ Boog Powell’s sinking liner in the eighth inning but trapped the ball.20 The National League won again, 9-3.

When the privilege of choosing starters for the All-Star Game returned to the fans in 1970, Aaron, Mays, and the Reds’ Pete Rose received the most votes among NL outfielders on the ballot, although the majors’ leading hitter – Rico Carty of the Braves – bumped the latter from the lineup on the strength of a write-in campaign. “The hell with the All-Star Game,” said Clemente, who entered the break batting .355. “The only way I would play is if the game were being played in Pittsburgh.”21 His neck had been bothering him for weeks and with the Pirates leading their division by 1½ games, he said, “I want to use those three days to rest.”22 NL President Chub Feeney called Pittsburgh GM Joe Brown, however. Clemente missed the workout the day before the contest to visit a chiropractor, but he was in uniform for the game at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.23 When the teams were introduced, he was one of only three National Leaguers to be audibly booed by the 51,838 in attendance. (Dick Allen of the Cardinals and Cubs manager Leo Durocher were the others.)24

Clemente did not see action until the bottom of the ninth. The NL, after trailing, 4-1, at the beginning of the inning, had pulled within one run and had runners at the corners when he pinch-hit for the Cardinals’ Bob Gibson. Stottlemyre relieved for the American League and fell behind in the count 3-and-1 before Clemente fouled off a curve that would’ve probably been ball four.25 The next pitch was another down-and-away breaking ball, and Clemente lined it to center with a one-handed swing for a game-tying sacrifice fly, drawing cheers from the fickle crowd.26

When the Tigers’ Willie Horton lined a hit off the right-field fence with one out in the top of the 10th, “it appeared to everybody in the new ballpark that it would be an easy double.”27 But Clemente played the carom off the wall perfectly and fired a bullet to second base to hold Horton to a single. An NBC cameraman caught Richard Nixon smiling in the box seats after the strong throw, prompting broadcaster Tony Kubek to remark, “Roberto has gained the admiration of our president.”28 Horton was erased when the next batter grounded into a double play. After Clemente made the second out in the bottom of the 12th, the NL strung together three straight singles to win, 5-4, improving the senior circuit’s record in All-Star Games that he appeared in to 11-1-1.

The National League lost the All-Star Game at Tiger Stadium on July 13, 1971, that featured a record 22 future Hall of Famers. Clemente was a reserve after batting .342 to help the Pirates build the majors’ best first-half record. He replaced Mays in right field in the bottom of the fourth inning and struck out looking against Orioles ace Jim Palmer to end the top of the fifth. Clemente’s eighth-inning plate appearance against Detroit’s Mickey Lolich proved to be his last in All-Star competition, though there was no way for the 53,559 ticket-holders to know that. The count went to three balls and one strike as Lolich followed a pair of hard deliveries with two benders. On the fifth pitch, Clemente committed himself to swinging early but kept his hands back. Balanced on his left leg, he connected and drove the ball more than 450 feet into the right-field upper deck for his only All-Star Game homer.29

In 1972 fans elected Clemente an All-Star Game starter for the first time. His total of 1,091,623 votes ranked fifth in the majors overall, trailing only Johnny Bench, Torre, Aaron, and Allen.30 After being sidelined for two weeks by an intestinal virus, he’d played in Pittsburgh’s final game before the break but bruised his left knee sliding into second base in the eighth inning.31 Nevertheless, he arrived in Atlanta intending to start in center field. “There’s no other place to be than the All-Star Game,” he said. “I have to be excited about playing center field. It’s a compliment, especially when we have so many good centerfielders in our league.”32 Clemente, nearly 38, hoped to play three innings, but he was limping noticeably two hours before game time. When a doctor informed Murtaugh that Clemente risked aggravating his knee injury, the NL (and Pirates) manager had no choice but to scratch him from the lineup.33

Five months and six days later, Clemente died tragically. Stargell and pitcher Dave Giusti had commemorative patches on their left sleeves with his number 21 when they represented the Pirates at the 1973 All-Star Game in Kansas City. The 1974 contest was played at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh with Clemente’s widow, Vera, and three sons in attendance.34 When the All-Star Game returned to the same ballpark 20 years later, the unveiling of a 12-foot-high bronze statue of Roberto Clemente was part of the festivities.35 In 1998 at Coors Field in Denver, Vera became the first female captain of an All-Star team.36 The 2006 All-Star Game, at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, was paused after four innings so that Bud Selig could present her with the Commissioner’s Historic Achievement Award.37

Roberto Clemente’s All-Star Game legacy will never be forgotten. Since Vic Power and Luis Arroyo became Puerto Rico’s first All-Stars in 1955, a total of 50 players from the island have earned selections through 2022, but none of them have been in uniform for more All-Star Games than Clemente.38

 

Sources

In addition to sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted w​ww.Ba​sebal​l-Ref​erenc​e.​com and w​ww.Re​trosh​eet.​org.

 

Notes

1 Lester J. Biederman, “Bucs May Dominate NL All-Star Team with Eight Players,” Pittsburgh Press, July 4, 1960: 30.

2 Lester J. Biederman, “The Scorecard,” Pittsburgh Press, July 12, 1960: 28.

3 Harry Keck, “Bravos and Bards Bounce Off Bucs’ Danny,” The Sporting News, August 10, 1960: 7.

4 “Clemente, Burgess Named N.L. All-Stars,” Pittsburgh Press, July 2, 1961: 54.

5 Jack Hernon, “Roberto Drives in Two Runs, Scores One for Nationals,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 12, 1961: 20.

6 “Clemente Explains Game-Winning Hit,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 12, 1961: 20.

7 Lester J. Biederman, “Clemente ‘Misses’ Two Homers but Still Comes Out a Hero,” Pittsburgh Press, July 12, 1961: 47.

8 “Clemente Just Hoped to Move Mays Along,” Asbury Park (New Jersey) Evening Press, July 12, 1961: 28.

9 Jack Hernon, “Pirates Spark NL Stars to 3-1 Win,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 11, 1962: 18.

10 Al Abrams, “Sidelights on Sports,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 8, 1964: 18.

11 Lester J. Biederman, “NL Win Upholds Alston’s Faith in Callison,” Pittsburgh Press, July 8, 1964: 54.

12 Les Biederman, “Hats Off…!” The Sporting News, July 24, 1965: 29.

13 Bill Christine, “Clemente Drills Phils, Snubs Stars,” Pittsburgh Press, July 8, 1970: 61.

14 Lester J. Biederman, “Would You Believe 115 Degrees?” Pittsburgh Press, July 13, 1966: 71.

15 Biederman, “Would You Believe 115 Degrees?”

16 John Hall, “N.L. Wins a Real Swinger in 15th, 2-1,” Los Angeles Times, July 12, 1967: B1.

17 “Richie Is All Smiles as Tony Arrives Late,” Camden (New Jersey) Courier-Post, July 12, 1967: 46.

18 Charley Feeney, “Roamin’ Around,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 9, 1968: 17.

19 Vince Leonard, “NBC’s Double Day of Delight,” Pittsburgh Press, July 24, 1969: 50.

20 “Alou Makes Most of All-Star Chance,” Pittsburgh Press, July 24, 1969: 32.

21 Bill Christine, “Clemente Drills Phils, Snubs Stars,” Pittsburgh Press, July 8, 1970: 61.

22 “Clemente to Pass Up ‘Star Game,’” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 8, 1970: 18.

23 “Will Hodges Use Clemente Tonight?” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 14, 1970: 16.

24 “Fans Swing to Clemente,” Pittsburgh Press, July 15, 1970: 63.

25 “Fans Swing to Clemente.”

26 “Rose ‘Nationalizes’ a Classic,” Camden Courier-Post, July 15, 1970: 57.

27 Charley Feeney, “Nationals Keep ‘Star Grip,’ Win by 5-4 in 12,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 15, 1970: 19.

28 Roy McHugh, “Roberto’s Reverse,” Pittsburgh Press, July 15, 1970: 63.

29 Joseph Durso, “Nationals Also Connect 3 Times – 6 Equals Record,” New York Times, July 14, 1971: 23.

30 “All-Star Balloting,” Pittsburgh Press, July 18, 1972: 30.

31 “Injured Knee Puts Clemente Out of Game,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 26, 1972: 21.

32 Bob Smizik, “Clemente Center of Star Attention,” Pittsburgh Press, July 25, 1972: 30.

33 Charley Feeney, “Playing Games,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 27, 1972: 15.

34 Joe Grata, “All-Star Fan Recalls Past, Calls ‘Shot,’” Pittsburgh Press, July 24, 1974: 2.

35 United Press International, “Statue Dedicated to Clemente,” July 8, 1994, h​ttps:​//www​.upi.​com/A​rchiv​es/19​94/07​/08/S​tatue​-dedi​cated​-to-C​lemen​te/39​85773​640​000/ (last accessed July 19, 2021).

36 Claire Smith, “Baseball Names Clemente’s Widow Captain,” New York Times, July 3, 1998: 3.

37 Robert Dvorchak, “Clemente All-Star Tribute Another Touching Moment,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 13, 2006, h​ttps:​//www​.post​-gaze​tte.c​om/sp​orts/​pirat​es-al​l-sta​r-gam​e/200​6/07/​13/Cl​ement​e-All​-Star​-trib​ute-a​nothe​r-tou​ching​-mome​nt/st​ories​/2006​07130​453 (last accessed July 19, 2021).

38 Iván Rodríguez, like Clemente, saw action in 14 All-Star games. Clemente was in uniform for 15 All-Star Games over 12 different seasons, while Rodriguez made All-Star teams in 14 separate years.