Roberto Clemente’s Puerto Rico Winter League Career, Part I

Click here to read Part II of this article on Roberto Clemente’s Puerto Rico winter league career.

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Jim “Junior” Gilliam and Roberto Clemente with Santurce. (Photograph courtesy of Jorge Fidel López Vélez.)

 

In 1952 Pedrín Zorrilla, a native of Manatí, one of Puerto Rico’s 78 municipalities and the owner of the Santurce Crabbers, a team in the Puerto Rico Winter League (PRWL), received a tip from Roberto Marín, a salesman for Sello Rojo Rice Company. Marín had discovered 14-year-old Roberto Clemente four years earlier, hitting empty tomato cans with sticks – hitting them a long distance.1 Clemente played on Marín’s softball team prior to suiting up with the Juncos Mules, an amateur team in Puerto Rico’s Double-A League. Zorrilla watched Clemente in an exhibition game for Juncos, at Manatí. He was impressed with Clemente’s skills and offered him a $40-a-week contract and a $400 signing bonus for the 1952-53 PRWL season.2 Zorrilla liked Clemente’s solid upbringing, as a Baptist, and his support of the ideals of Luis Muñoz Marín, Puerto Rico’s first elected governor in 1948. Muñoz ran on the Partido Popular Democrático’s mantra of Pan, Tierra, Libertad (Bread, Land, Liberty) as a US Commonwealth.3

This essay focuses on Clemente’s 4½ winter seasons with Santurce, his late-December 1956 sale to the Caguas Criollos, and his brief tenure with Caguas, 1956-57 and 1957-1958. It showcases his fine play in the memorable February 1955 Caribbean Series in Caracas, Venezuela, alongside Santurce teammate Willie Mays, and his all-star performance in center field for Caguas in the February 1958 Caribbean Series in San Juan. Part II covers his seasons with the San Juan Senators, who acquired him via a trade with Caguas before the 1959-60 season.

A 1952-53 ROOKIE SEASON WITH LINKS TO TED WILLIAMS AND JACKIE ROBINSON

An 18-year-old Clemente wore uniform number 39 for the 1952-53 Crabbers, a mostly veteran club dotted with some big-league prospects. Player-manager Buzz Clarkson defended shortstop and third base, part-time; a crowded outfield included spot starter Bob Thurman in right field, Billy Bruton in center field, and Willard Brown in left and center field, with left fielder Alfonso Gerard and Johnny Davis (pitcher-left fielder) in the mix. Island baseball fans bestowed colorful nicknames on players: Ese Hombre (The Man) was Willard Brown’s sobriquet; Thurman was El Múcaro (The Owl) for his fine night vision displayed at Sixto Escobar Stadium, home of the Crabbers and archrival San Juan Senators; El Gaucho became Johnny Davis’s moniker – his mannerisms were like Argentine cowboys. Rubén Gómez was El Divino Loco (Divine Crazy) for the way he drove his sports car to away games. Billy Hunter, Santurce’s shortstop, recalled, “Clemente was just a kid. I don’t think he got much playing time.”4

Clemente looked up to 35-year-old Thurman for his elegance, professionalism, and calm demeanor. Both homered in an October 11 preseason game against a visiting team from the Dominican Republic, in Clemente’s first appearance wearing Crabbers flannels.5 A regular-season highlight was being summoned to pinch-hit for Thurman against Caguas left-handed pitcher Roberto Vargas, a.k.a. the “Joe Page of Puerto Rico,” in a game tied 2-2. Clemente doubled down the left-field line to give the Crabbers a 4-2 win on November 30, 1952.6

Some of Clemente’s 77 at-bats in the 72-game season came against the San Juan Senators, who featured a rotation of Harvey Haddix, Cot Deal, Diómedes Olivo, and Don Liddle. Haddix later joked around with Clemente as a Pittsburgh Pirates teammate but did not recall facing him in Puerto Rico. “I remember Willard Brown, from that [Santurce] team,” said Haddix,7 – the first professional pitcher Clemente faced – after he replaced left fielder Gerard, on Tuesday, October 21, 1952.8 Haddix retired Clemente en route to a 4-0 shutout. Clemente’s 18 hits during the season included three doubles and a triple; he scored five runs and drove in five.9 Santurce’s most consistent hitter was second baseman Jim Gilliam. When Gilliam played in 1952 for the Montreal Royals of the International League, he contacted Bobo Holloman,10 who pitched for Syracuse, and put him in touch with Zorrilla, who signed the pitcher. Each PRWL team was allowed eight “imports,” normally stateside players. Quality imports could make the difference between winning a title or not qualifying for the postseason.

Clemente’s first outfield start was at Escobar Stadium against the visiting Mayagüez Indians on October 22. From left field, he watched Ted Williams throw out the first pitch from the mound, next to Zorrilla and starting pitcher Holloman. Williams was available for the occasion during a break from doing joint maneuvers between Vieques and Roosevelt Roads Naval Station in Ceiba.11

Holloman (15-5) and Rubén Gómez (13-9) accounted for two-thirds of Santurce’s wins in the team’s second-place (42-30) finish, three games behind San Juan. Santurce beat the Ponce Lions in three straight semifinal series contests before defeating San Juan, four games to two, in the finals. Clemente sat on the bench throughout these playoffs but met Jackie Robinson prior to Game Five of the final, when Robinson was in San Juan, and attended this February 14 contest.12

Santurce team officials left Clemente off the February 1953 Caribbean Series 22-player roster for the Havana round-robin event. Clemente was replaced by Caguas star Vic Power. “Roberto was still in high school [then],” recalled Power. “I was 25 and had been in the PRWL six seasons.”13 Santurce overwhelmed its opponents – the Havana Reds, Caracas Lions, and Panamá’s Chesterfield Smokers – in winning all six games, scoring 50 runs and committing two errors.14

FIRST-TO-WORST (1953-54)

Guigo Otero Suro, Zorrilla’s right-hand man with Santurce, tried to sign Ernie Banks and Ted Williams for the 1953-54 Crabbers. The Chicago Cubs did not allow Banks to play winter ball.15 Guigo attended the 1953 All-Star Game in Cincinnati and saw Williams throw out the first pitch before both took the same flight out of Cincinnati. Guigo asked Williams – back from his tour of duty in Korea – if he would consider playing for Santurce (1953-54) to stay sharp. “Williams asked me if there were good golf courses and fishing in Puerto Rico,” said Otero Suro. “I said yes to both … spoke with Fred Corcoran, Williams’s agent, by phone, in Pittsburgh.… Later that summer, a Pittsburgh radio station announced that Williams might play winter ball with Santurce!”16 The price tag for signing Williams would be $30,000, an unheard-of sum in the PRWL. Williams hit .407 with Boston (37-for-91) during August-September 1953 and did not sign a Santurce contract.

So Clemente earned the left-field job and appeared in 66 of Santurce’s 80 games. He batted a respectable .292 with 2 home runs and 27 RBIs.17 Santurce (32-48) finished fifth of five teams, 14 games behind first-place Caguas (46-34), which featured 19-year-old Hank Aaron. The Crabbers hit 20 homers in 80 games.18 Aaron and teammate Jim Rivera tied for the league lead with nine home runs apiece.19 Tom Lasorda (7-6, 3.60 ERA) and Rubén Gómez (5-6, 2.86) were Santurce’s best hurlers. Lasorda noted that “Clemente had a great attitude and was not hesitant to seek out the veterans’ advice.”20

Mickey Owen, the Caguas player-manager, wanted Clemente in his Caguas outfield. Owen’s left fielder, Juan “Tetelo” Vargas, was 47 years old, with Luis Olmo in reserve. “Aaron and Clemente would have been something else,” mused Owen. “We had the veteran Olmo as trade bait for Clemente, but a deal [with Santurce] couldn’t be worked out.”21 After Caguas emerged as playoff champion, the team’s management considered adding Clemente to its February 1954 Caribbean Series roster when Aaron departed to the States. Instead, the Criollos added Mayagüez’s Carlos Bernier. Owen vouched for Clemente but was overruled by Caguas’s owner and GM.22

Caguas (4-2 W-L) won the four-team event at Escobar Stadium. First baseman Vic Power and a San Juan reinforcement, second baseman Jack Cassini, produced for Caguas, as did series MVP Jim Rivera. Cassini, Clemente’s teammate with the 1954 Montreal Royals, opined that “Clemente had the makings of a future big-league star, as a 19-year-old, with Santurce.”23 Coincidentally, Clemente began wearing number 21 in the PRWL in 1953-54, as a gesture to honor his parents, Melchor Clemente and Luisa Walker.24 Roberto Clemente Walker has 21 letters; it is a common practice in Puerto Rico to list paternal and maternal surnames.

 

ONE OF THE BEST WINTER LEAGUE TEAMS EVER ASSEMBLED (1954-55)

Don Zimmer was in a reflective mood as a Boston Red Sox coach when the author asked him about the talent on the 1954-55 Santurce Crabbers team, one with power, speed, defense, and three solid starters, Sam Jones (league MVP, pitching triple crown: 14 wins, 1.77 ERA, 171 strikeouts),25 13-game winner Rubén Gómez, and Bill Greason. “Without a doubt, it was probably the best Winter League baseball club ever assembled. I mean, we had guys like Buzz Clarkson, myself, Ronnie Samford, George Crowe, Valmy Thomas, and Harry Chiti catching. We had Mays, Thurman, and Clemente in the outfield. I mean, you’re talking about a big-league ballclub. Not only that, but Herman Franks was an outstanding manager. We could have beaten National League clubs.”26

Clemente cracked a three-run homer on Opening Day, October 17, against San Juan and continued his torrid hitting throughout a 72-game season, one which 47-25 Santurce won by five games over Caguas (42-30) and by nine over San Juan (38-34). Left-handed pitcher Pete Burnside recalled that Clemente and Mays were “younger stars trying to outdo each other on the field in a friendly rivalry.”27 There were some similarities – Clemente started to use the basket catch, similar to Mays and Olmo, a reserve. (Clemente, Mays, and Olmo were the only outfield trio on a Winter League team to all use the basket catch.)

Throughout the season, Franks would convene Clemente for an 11 A.M. practice at Escobar Stadium, along with Mays, Olmo, and 17-year-old Orlando Cepeda, who worked out with the team prior to joining them a year later. Cepeda told historian Jorge Colón Delgado that Mays taught Roberto how to more effectively field grounders and release the ball more quickly. “I stood near the mound, from where Franks hit them to the outfield.… Those incoming throws from Clemente and Mays burned my glove hand,” Cepeda remembered.”28 Clemente benefited immensely from these practices, per Cepeda and Burnside. Franks put in a good word for Clemente to Branch Rickey Jr. of the Pittsburgh Pirates before the November 22, 1954, Rule 5 draft. (Clemente was the first pick of the draft.)29

Clemente impressed the Pirates brass by slugging two homers in the League All-Star Game, at Mayagüez on December 12. One was a solo shot off Caguas’s Roberto Vargas in the third; Ponce’s Dave Cole gave up his two-run shot in the fifth inning. (Caguas-Ponce-Mayagüez players comprised the “South” team, while San Juan-Santurce was the “North” squad.) Mays’ inside-the-park homer in the first started the scoring in the North’s 7-5 win, with Rubén Gómez the victor.30

Through 50 games, Mays was hitting .404, with Clemente following at .378. Thurman, third in the race, was hitting .366.31 Bill Greason had fond memories of Clemente: “I called Roberto ‘hermano’ [brother]. We were real close; he was a very fine young man, dedicated and determined. Wouldn’t say too much, just come to the clubhouse and speak to some of the guys, get his uniform on, field infield grounders, then go to the outfield. He had a fine disposition.32

Thurman and the author took part in a radio sports talk and call-in show, Foro Deportivo, in Ponce, two days before the first induction ceremony (October 20, 1991) of the Puerto Rico Professional Baseball Hall of Fame. Thurman and Clemente were two of 10 inductees. One caller asked Thurman about Clemente’s throwing arm, noting that he played left field for Santurce in 1954-55. Thurman, a right fielder and pitcher, responded, “strong and accurate.”33

Thurman was proud of his role as a mentor to Clemente, who respected all Negro Leaguers on the 1954-55 club.34

Clemente’s .344 batting average was fourth best, behind Mays, but his league-leading 65 runs scored eclipsed Mays’ 63.35 Clemente had a good final series vs. Caguas, won by Santurce, four games to one. His four hits and four RBIs propelled Santurce to a 10-3 Game One win on February 3. Zimmer got the headlines with three home runs and 10 RBIs in five games.36

The February 1955 Caribbean Series in Caracas, Venezuela, resulted in Santurce’s third title in five years – after winning the 1951 and 1953 events. Zimmer earned MVP laurels with a .385 average, three homers, and four RBIs. Here are Clemente highlights from the 1955 series:

February 12 – First-inning homer off Ramón Monzant knotted the score, 1-1; Mays’ walk-off homer in the 11th, with Clemente on first, won it, over Magallanes (Venezuela), 4-2

February 13 – Two RBIs, in a 7-6 win versus Almendares (Cuba)

February 14 – Two triples in an 11-3 win over Carta Vieja (Panamá).37

Clemente’s eight runs scored were tops in the Series. He went 7-for-26, with a double, two triples, one home run, three RBIs, and a .577 slugging percentage.38 Collectively, Santurce had a .290 batting average and .500 slugging percentage. Clemente, after Pittsburgh won the 1971 World Series, was asked if he had ever played on such a powerful team. His response was, “Yes, when the Santurce Crabbers won the [1955] Caribbean Series.”39

CAGUAS UPENDS SANTURCE (1955-56)

Clemente mostly played center field, flanked by Gerard in left and Thurman in right. His 85 hits in 278 at-bats gave him a .306 average; his seven homers were the most he ever hit in a PRWL season.40

Clemente met Carl Hubbell at Sixto Escobar Stadium after the latter arrived in Puerto Rico on January 9, 1956, to get a closer look at Gómez, Steve Ridzik, and Al Worthington. (Hubbell was the New York Giants farm director.) “I introduced Roberto [Clemente] to Hubbell,” noted Gómez. “Hubbell got to watch some of our games – he thought Roberto would eventually become a very good major league hitter.”41

Owen, now managing Ponce, opined that Clemente had “improved offensively and defensively” since 1953-54. “He just had one season [1954] in the minors, and 1955 Pittsburgh,” said Owen. “He was on his way.…”42 Santurce (43-29) faced Caguas (38-34) in the finals, and lost it, four games to two.43

 

CLEMENTE FLIRTS WITH .400 AND IS SOLD TO CAGUAS (1956-57)

By late December of 1956, Clemente sported a .431 average (56-for-130), with Santurce.44 Zorrilla publicly announced his team was for sale45 and transferred team ownership to Ramón N. Cuevas, who in turn sold Clemente, Juan Pizarro, and Samford to Caguas, for $30,000 in cash on December 30 to liquidate Santurce’s debt. Cuevas announced this to Santurce players, prior to a doubleheader that day in Mayagüez.

Rubén Gómez was so livid he took off his uniform, stormed out of the clubhouse, and drove home. “I replaced Roberto in center field in January,” recalled Gómez. “We still won the [regular season] pennant without three key players.”46 Eighteen-year-old Marcial “Canenita” Allen, a Crabbers batboy and Clemente confidante, tearfully recalled Clemente’s reaction years later. “Roberto told me to grab the stuff,” said Allen. “‘You’re coming to Caguas with me.’ He was a brother and a friend.”47

Ted Norbert took over managing duties for Santurce from Ramón “Monchile” Concepción. The Crabbers (43-29) won their third straight pennant but lost to second-place Mayagüez (41-31), managed by Owen, in the finals.

Prior to his sale to Caguas, Clemente got two hits off Caguas’s Sandy Koufax, in the young left-hander’s last PRWL start on December 16, a 2-0, seven-inning shutout of Santurce, in the second game of a twin bill.48

With Caguas, Clemente went 33-for-95, a fine .347 average, but it dropped his league-leading final mark to .396, with 89 hits in 225 at-bats, still the best league batting average of the 1950s.49 Clemente joined Caguas in the midst of an 18-game hitting streak and extended it to 23 after game one of a January 5, 1957, doubleheader with San Juan, breaking Francisco “Pancho” Coímbre’s standard of 22 straight in 1943-44. Luis Arroyo, aka Tite, put an end to it when he collared Clemente in game two of the twin bill. Tom Lasorda took the loss. “I was [Clemente’s] teammate with Santurce and Caguas,” recalled Lasorda. “What a great competitor.”50

Caguas (39-33) and San Juan (39-33) tied for third, necessitating a one-game tiebreaker at Yldefonso Solá Morales Stadium, the Criollos’ home. San Juan skipper Ralph Houk gave the ball to Tite Arroyo on one day of rest. Juan Pizarro took the mound for Caguas. Arroyo prevailed, 4-1, but all eyes were on Clemente, who entered the day hitting .398. He needed a 2-for-4 game on January 28 to reach .400 but fell short with one hit in four at-bats.51

When postseason awards were announced for 1956-57, José “Ronquito” García of Mayagüez garnered the MVP.52 He finished second in batting average, but propelled Owen’s club to a berth in the 1957 Caribbean Series. García remembered Clemente getting three or four hits whenever he would have two or three in a game. “Give Roberto credit for the batting title,” said García. “We won the [PRWL] championship, and that’s why the writers voted me the MVP.”53

ABBREVIATED 1957-58 SEASON AND 1958 CARIBBEAN SERIES

The 1957-58 Caguas-Rio Piedras Criollos waited until January 12, 1958, to see Clemente in action. The club had added Rio Piedras to the team’s name in 1956-57 to expand the franchise’s marketing base. Clemente’s debut came at Ponce’s Paquito Montaner Stadium.54 In nine games, he went 8-for-32.55 Teammate Canenita Allen won Rookie-of-the-Year laurels. The 33-31 Criollos tied San Juan for second, three games behind Santurce. Caguas bested San Juan three games to one in the semis before sweeping Santurce.

Clemente pulverized Santurce pitching in the league finals, with nine hits in 17 at-bats, a .529 average. On January 31, at home, he doubled and hit two singles off Greason, in game two, a 5-0 shutout by Roberto Vargas. Rubén Gómez was in center field for Santurce, with Clemente in center for Caguas.56

Caguas-Rio Piedras hosted the February 1958 Caribbean Series at Sixto Escobar Stadium. Juan Pizarro fanned 17 Carta Vieja Yankees on Opening Night, an all-time Caribbean Series record.57 “I threw hard,” said Pizarro. “It was an honor to represent Puerto Rico, with Clemente and Vic Power playing behind me.”58

Clemente hit Caguas’s only series homer,59 off Marianao’s Bob Shaw, in game three on February 10, an eventual 5-4 win for Cuba. Caguas and Marianao faced off in the February 13 finale. Ninth-inning singles by Solly Drake and Minnie Miñoso, preceded an error and Ray Noble sacrifice fly to give Marianao a 2-0 win.60

Marianao became the first team to win back-to-back Caribbean Series. Caguas duplicated this 60 years later (2017 and 2018)61. Total attendance was 57,355, including 13,269 on Opening Night, and standing room 16,000 on the closing night.62 Escobar’s seating capacity was roughly 13,500.

Clemente distinguished himself by being voted center fielder on the Series All-Star Team, with a .391 average (9-for-23) and .609 slugging percentage. Vic Power, an all-star at third, had a .458 average. Pizarro fanned 29 in 16⅔ innings.63

CLEMENTE’S CARIBBEAN SERIES LEGACY

In 12 Caribbean Series games, Clemente went 16-for-49 for a .327 average, with one double, three triples, two homers, and six RBIs. He scored 14 runs. His .592 slugging percentage ranks fourth all-time, in Phase I, 1949-1960 of the Caribbean Series, for players with at least 45 at-bats.64

 

Clemente was posthumously inducted into the Caribbean Series Hall of Fame (aka the Caribbean Baseball Hall of Fame) in 2015.65

Overall, with Caguas and Santurce, Clemente played six winter seasons and posted a .325 batting average, 358 hits in 1,102 at-bats, with 55 doubles, 13 triples, 17 homers, 129 RBIs, and a .445 slugging percentage. He scored 173 runs and stole nine bases.66

 

Acknowledgments

Grateful acknowledgment to Marcial “Canenita” Allen, Pete Burnside, Jack Cassini, José Crescioni Benítez, José “Ronquito” García, Rubén Gómez, Bill Greason, Harvey Haddix, Billy Hunter, Tom Lasorda, Luis R. Mayoral, Guigo Otero Suro, Mickey Owen, Tony Piña Campora, Juan “Terín” Pizarro, Vic Power, Steve Ridzik, Bob Thurman, and Don Zimmer, for phone/in-person interviews and emails. Jorge Colón Delgado provided Clemente’s PRWL stats. Stew Thornley wrote Clemente’s SABR bio.

 

Sources

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

Costas, Rafael. Enciclopedia Béisbol Ponce Leones (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic: Editora Corripio, 1989).

 

Notes

1 Kal Wagenheim, Clemente! (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1973), 23.

2 Luis Rodríguez Mayoral, Roberto Clemente aún escucha las ovaciones (Hato Rey, Puerto Rico: Ramallo Brothers Printing, 1987), 11.

3 Rodríguez Mayoral phone interview with Thomas Van Hyning, September 2, 2021. Muñoz Marín served four terms as governor (1948-1964). Rodríguez Mayoral confirmed that Clemente actively supported the PPD his adult life.

4 Billy Hunter phone interview with Thomas Van Hyning, May 11, 1991. All other phone and in-person interviews cited were with the subject and the author.

5 Jorge Colón Delgado, Pedrín Zorrilla: El Cangrejo Mayor (Colombia: OP Gráficas, 2011), 309.

6 El Mundo, December 17, 1954; Thomas E. Van Hyning, Puerto Rico’s Winter League (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 1995), 49.

7 Harvey Haddix phone interview, July 28, 1991.

8 Colón Delgado, Pedrín Zorrilla: El Cangrejo Mayor, 309.

9 h​ttps:​//www​.beis​bol10​1.com​/robe​rto-c​lemen​te-3/.

10 h​ttps:​//sab​r.org​/biop​roj/p​erson​/bobo​-holl​oman/.

11 Williams, a Marine Corps aviator in World War II, had been called back to service during the Korean War. Colón Delgado, Pedrín Zorrilla: El Cangrejo Mayor, 309.

12 Thomas E. Van Hyning, The Santurce Crabbers: Sixty Seasons of Puerto Rican Winter League Baseball (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 1999), 42.

13 Vic Power in-person interview, December 28, 1991.

14 Jorge S. Figueredo, Cuban Baseball: A Statistical History, 1878-1961 (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2003), 372.

15 Guigo Otero Suro in-person interview, November 20, 1997.

16 Otero Suro in-person interview, November 20, 1997.

17 h​ttps:​//www​.beis​bol10​1.com​/robe​rto-c​lemen​te-3/.

18 Van Hyning, The Santurce Crabbers, 43.

19 José A. Crescioni Benítez, El Béisbol Profesional Boricua (San Juan, Puerto Rico: Aurora Comunicación Integral, September 1997), 85.

20 Tom Lasorda in-person interview, Vero Beach, Florida, March 1993.

21 Mickey Owen phone interview, March 5, 1992.

22 Owen phone interview.

23 Jack Cassini phone interview, April 2, 1993.

24 Luis Rodríguez Mayoral, Mas Allá de un Sueño (Hato Rey, Puerto Rico: Ramallo Brothers Printing, 1981), 19.

25 h​ttps:​//www​.beis​bol10​1.com​/sam-​jones​-2/. Accessed September 7, 2021.

26 Don Zimmer in-person interview, Winter Haven, Florida, March 1992.

27 Van Hyning, The Santurce Crabbers, 66.

28 Colón Delgado, Pedrín Zorrilla: El Cangrejo Mayor, 360.

29 Hy Turkin, “‘Good Prospects Fewer’ – Only 13 in Majors’ Draft,” The Sporting News, December 1, 1954: 4. On February 19, 1954, the Brooklyn Dodgers signed Clemente for a $10,000 bonus.

30 Víctor Navarro, Los Juegos de Estrellas (Aguadilla, Puerto Rico: Navarro’s Publishing Services, 1992), 18-19.

31 The Sporting News, January 5, 1955: 23.

32 Bill Greason phone interview, March 25, 1991.

33 Bob Thurman, Foro Deportivo, Ponce, Puerto Rico, October 18, 1991.

34 Bob Thurman in-person interview, Ponce, Puerto Rico, October 19, 1991.

35 Crescioni Benítez, El Béisbol Profesional Boricua, 89.

36 Pito Alvarez de la Vega, “Zimmer’s 3 HRs Pace Santurce to Puerto Rico Title,” The Sporting News, February 16, 1955: 28.

37 The Sporting News, February 23, 1955: 28, 30.

38 Colón Delgado, La Maquinaria Perfecta, 170.

39 Colón Delgado, La Maquinaria Perfecta, 189.

40 h​ttps:​//www​.beis​bol10​1.com​/robe​rto-c​lemen​te-3/. Accessed September 5, 2021.

41 Rubén Gómez in-person interview, Hato Rey, Puerto Rico, November 30, 1992.

42 Mickey Owen phone interview, March 5, 1992.

43 The Sporting News, February 15, 1956: 34.

44 José Crescioni Benítez work papers.

45 Jorge Colón Delgado, Los Indios de Mayagüez (Mayagüez, Puerto Rico: EASM Publishing Co. LLC), 142.

46 Rubén Gómez in-person interview, Hato Rey, Puerto Rico, November 30, 1992. Gómez was allowed to drive to away games in his Corvette.

47 Marcial “Canenita” Allen in-person interview, Hato Rey, Puerto Rico, December 15, 1991.

48 The Sporting News, December 26, 1956: 20.

49 José Crescioni Benítez work papers.

50 Tom Lasorda in-person interview, Vero Beach, Florida, March 1993.

51 El Mundo, January 29, 1957.

52 Héctor Barea, Libro oficial béisbol profesional de Puerto Rico (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico: Art Printing, 1981), 48.

53 José “Ronquito” García in-person interview, San Juan, Puerto Rico, December 1, 1993.

54 El Mundo, January 13, 1958.

55 h​ttps:​//www​.beis​bol10​1.com​/robe​rto-c​lemen​te-3/. Accessed September 6, 2021.

56 Pito Alvarez de la Vega, “Clemente Paces Caguas Team to Sweep of Finals,” The Sporting News, February 12, 1958: 24.

57 The Sporting News, February 19, 1958: 30.

58 Juan “Terín” Pizarro in-person interview, Santurce, Puerto Rico, February 10, 1982.

59 h​ttps:​//www​.base​ball-​refer​ence.​com/b​ullpe​n/195​8_Car​ibbea​n_Ser​ies. Accessed September 6, 2021.

60 The Sporting News, February 19, 1958: 30.

61 Thomas E. Van Hyning, “Caguas Criollos: Five Caribbean Series Crowns and Cooperstown Connections,” Baseball Research Journal (Phoenix: SABR, 2018), 16.

62 The Sporting News, February 19, 1958: 30.

63 Tony Piña Campora work papers, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

64 Thomas E. Van Hyning, h​ttps:​//www​.beis​bol10​1.com​/jim-​gilli​am-ba​ltimo​re-el​ite-g​iants​-agua​dilla​-alme​ndare​s-min​ors-a​nd-sa​nturc​e-​part​-i/. Accessed September 6, 2021.

65 Tony Piña Campora work papers, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

66 h​ttps:​//www​.beis​bol10​1.com​/robe​rto-c​lemen​te-​3/. Accessed September 6, 2021.