Clemente: The Passion And Grace Of Baseball's Last Hero Part 13

GO TO HILL! NEGRO FAMILY TOLD: Pittsburgh Courier, July 2, 1955; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 25, 2004. Courier reporter George E. Barbour began his story: " 'I'll throw you out,' Richard Cook, burgess of Glenfield, told this 200-pound reporter Monday when he went to Cook's office to learn why the latter had advised a Negro family last Friday not to move into an all-white residential section."

Clemente's first friend in Pittsburgh: Ints. Duane Rieder, Bill Nunn Jr., Bob Friend; Jim O'Brien, Remembering Roberto.

The Garlands had let rooms: Ints. Vera Clemente, Bill Nunn Jr., Carolyn Rauch.

Looking south and downhill: Observations of Schenley Park geography and sociology drawn from leisurely tour of the area provided by longtime resident Bill Nunn Jr.

with no help from the baseball team: Stefan Lorant, Pittsburgh, The Story of an American City; Sports Town, David Shribman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 2004.

5: ARRIBA! ARRIBA!.

Bob Prince, the play-by-play announcer: Ints. Howard Fineman, Richard Santry, Bruce Laurie, Myron Cope, Nelson Briles, Bob Friend, Harding Peterson; baseballLibrary.com.

Clemente wrote Brown a letter: February 26, 1960, Duane Rieder collection, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Native Pittsburgher Duane Rieder, a first-cla.s.s photographer, has turned the second floor of his firehouse studio into a shrine to Roberto Clemente. Along with a fine collection of photographs, he has acc.u.mulated baseb.a.l.l.s, letters, even a blue pinstriped suit that Clemente bought in Chicago.

The regular season started on the road: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh Press, April 1215, 1955.

A face in the crowd: Int. Howard Fineman. As a native Pittsburgher, who became a national political writer for Newsweek, Fineman was fascinated by the role of department stores in the cultural sociology of his hometown: "Pittsburghers had this thing of always being the biggest or best between New York and Chicago. People in Pittsburgh never looked to Philadelphia for anything. As far as we knew, Philadelphia never existed. If you had ambition in Pittsburgh, it was for New York. One of the ways in which Pittsburgh was the training ground was the department store business. What came to be called the Golden Triangle, the central part of downtown Pittsburgh, was compact and Manhattanlike in its own way. And it was a training ground for the guys who would end up running Macy's or whatever. When I was a kid [1950s and early 1960s] there were five department stores in downtown Pittsburgh: Kauffman's, Gimbels, Horns, Frank and Seder, and Rosenbaum's."

During an Easter Sunday doubleheader: Ints. Bob Friend, d.i.c.k Schofield; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh Press, April 1822, 1955.

The Pirates were as consistent: World Champions Pittsburgh Pirates 1960 Statistical Resume, Pittsburgh Baseball Club, Galbreath Collection, Darby Dan.

One of the paper's weekly features: Pittsburgh Courier, MaySeptember 1960. In his guest column, utility infielder Gene Baker, who was widely respected by baseball insiders, wrote optimistically about the future of blacks in the game's management. "I'm one of the optimists who like to think the day will come when Negroes are accepted in front-office jobs the same as they are on the playing field. When that day arrives, I would like to be ready to fit into the pattern." Baker went on to become a scout and minor league manager for the Pirates, but never got his full shot at a top job.

"Som' Co-lored people": Pittsburgh Courier, June 25, 1955. Courier sports editor Bill Nunn Jr. followed in the tradition of his father, Bill Nunn Sr., a longtime editor at the Courier. The son played basketball at Westinghouse High School in Pittsburgh and then at West Virginia State, returning to work at the Courier in 1948. He was a close friend of most of the black major leaguers, starting with Jackie Robinson. The baseball player guest column began with a regular article under Robinson's byline that was ghost-written by Nunn.

The Pirates had several candidates: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, September 2, 1960; Pittsburgh Courier, AugustSeptember 1960: Ints. Bill Nunn Jr., Roy McHugh, Myron Cope, Bob Friend, d.i.c.k Schofield, Joe L. Brown.

Less than a month later: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh Press, August 15September 15, 1960; The Incredible Pirates, We Had 'Em All the Way, LP (Rare Sport films Inc., 1960).

6: ALONE AT THE MIRACLE.

The last time the Pirates played: Bob Addie, Was.h.i.+ngton Post, October 5, 1960; Edward Prell, Chicago Tribune, October 5, 1960; Pittsburgh Press, October 4, 1960.

"We'll fight 'em until our teeth fall out": Will Grimsley, AP, October 4, 1960.

The Pirates would win: Int. Bill Nunn Jr.; Pittsburgh Courier, October 1960.

Another scouting report got in more digs: Life, October 5, 1960.

Among those making the trip: Int. Matino Clemente; Pittsburgh Courier, October 1, 1960. In another Courier story headlined FIVE TAN PLAYERS READY FOR SERIES, Ric Roberts noted that not since "1950, when the Yankees routed the Phillies in four games, have we seen an all-white World Series. We can be certain that at least one of our heroes will be in the call to arms at Forbes Field on Wednesday, October 5. Over 40,000 Pirate fans will greet his appearance at bat with the Spanish urging Arriba! Arriba!"

A fellow named Ralph Belcore: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh Press, AP, October 5, 1960.

"Only in Pittsburgh": Red Smith, New York Herald Tribune, October 5, 1960.

A telegram had been taped: Branch Rickey Papers, LCMD; Pittsburgh Press, October 6 1960.

Law had the stuff: San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, New York Herald Tribune, New York Times, October 47, 1960; The Incredible Pirates, LP; ints. Bob Friend, Roy McHugh, Harding Peterson, Bill Nunn Jr., d.i.c.k Schofield.

"Any questions?": Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, d.i.c.k Groat, October 6, 1960.

The first-inning rally: Account of Game 1 drawn from ints. Bob Friend, Harding Peterson, d.i.c.k Schofield, Roy McHugh, Joe L. Brown; The Incredible Pirates, LP; Baseball Cla.s.sics, 1960 World Series (Rare Sportsfilms Inc.); articles in the Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, San Francisco Chronicle, New York Times, New York Herald Tribune, Pittsburgh Courier, Chicago Tribune, New York Post, and Was.h.i.+ngton Post.

It rained all that night: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, New York Times, New York Herald Tribune, Pittsburgh Press, Was.h.i.+ngton Post, October 7, 1960.

"I don't blame Danny": Int. Bob Friend.

In the mess of this slaughter: New York Herald Tribune, Was.h.i.+ngton Post, October 7, 1960; The Baseball Encyclopedia; Ralph Berger, The Baseball Biography Project, SABR.

The batting star: New York Times, New York Herald Tribune, Chicago Tribune, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh Courier, October 7, 1960; int. d.i.c.k Schofield.

"If you quit on the Pirates now": Don Hoak column, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 9, 1960.

For the critical fourth game: Game account drawn from columns by Vern Law, Don Hoak, and Pennsylvania Governor David Lawrence in Post-Gazette; Was.h.i.+ngton Post, New York Times, New York Daily News, Chicago Tribune, Pittsburgh Press, October 10, 1960; ints. Bob Friend, d.i.c.k Schofield, Joe L. Brown.

Bob Friend was ready: Int. Bob Friend; Don Hoak column Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 12, 1960.

In the locker room after the game: Ted Meir, a.s.sociated Press, published in San Juan Star, October 12, 1960. The Star article ran under the headline: CASEY ADMITS ROBERTO IS GOOD RIGHT FIELDER.

The focus of the world: Was.h.i.+ngton Post, New York Times, New York Herald Tribune, Chicago Tribune, October 12, 1960.

"The fellow who did the most throwing": New York Times, October 13, 1960.

The thirteenth of October: Account of Game 7 of World Series and postgame drawn from Baseball Cla.s.sics, 1960 World Series; The Incredible Pirates, LP; ints. Bob Friend, d.i.c.k Schofield, Harding Peterson, Joe L. Brown, Roy McHugh, Myron Cope, Bill Nunn Jr., Howard Fineman, Matino Clemente; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh Courier, Pittsburgh Press, New York Times, New York Daily News, New York Herald Tribune, Was.h.i.+ngton Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune.

Nunn noticed that Clemente: Ints. Matino Clemente, Bill Nunn Jr.; Bill Nunn Jr., Pittsburgh Courier, October 22, 1960. After describing Clemente's actions in the clubhouse and during the walk to his car, Nunn's concluding paragraph read: "And as the auto pulled away from the curb and Clemente sat back and relaxed, it was obvious that here was a player who had enjoyed his victory celebration a lot better on the streets of Pittsburgh than in the clubhouse he shares with his teammates."

7: PRIDE AND PREJUDICE.

Handmade welcome-home placards: San Juan Star, October 17, 1960. HOME FROM BATTLE read the cutline above a Star photograph accompanying the front-page story that showed Clemente kissing his mother.

There was only one small note: Jim Douglas, ROBERTO SAYS HE'S NOT SURE HE'LL PLAY HERE, San Juan Star, October 17, 1960.

The winner was indeed a Pirate: Ints. Matino Clemente, Vera Clemente, Roy McHugh, Myron Cope, Bill Nunn, Jr., Bob Friend, d.i.c.k Schofield, Joe L. Brown; San Juan Star, November 1819, 1960, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Sam Nover, "A Conversation with RC," 1972.

"My father was a boy": Int. Enrique Zorrilla.

Power and Clemente were fast friends: Ints. Vic Power, Matino Clemente, Luis Olmo, Eduardo Valero; Zorrilla family archive; Thomas E. Van Hyning, The Santurce Crabbers.

On the day he reached Fort Myers: New York Times, March 2, 1961.

Wendell Smith, the influential black sportswriter: Wendell Smith papers, National Baseball Hall of Fame, Cooperstown, New York; Brian Carroll, Wendell Smith's "Last Crusade," 13th Annual Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball and American Culture, National Baseball Hall of Fame; Jack E. Davis, "Baseball's Reluctant Challenge," Journal of Sports History, Summer 1992; Pittsburgh Courier, March 26, 1961; Chicago's American, JanuaryAugust 1961. In an April 3, 1961, Chicago's American article, "What a Negro Ballplayer Faces Today in Training," Smith wrote: "To the average white player, the six weeks spent training is merely a blink of pleasant time in a ballplayer's life, but to his Negro teammate it is an eternity of humiliations and frustrations."

Clemente was described as "bitter": Bill Nunn Jr., Pittsburgh Courier, April 15, 1961.

"So I say to Joe Brown": Sam Nover, "A Conversation with RC," 1972.

When the Fort Myers Boosters Club: Fort Myers News-Press, March 8, 1961.

When the Fort Myers Country Club: Fort Myers News-Press, March 27, 1961. Manager Danny Murtaugh said he shot his "best round ever," a 104, which was said to be a few strokes better than Joe L. Brown, "who had a few difficulties": ints. Bob Friend, d.i.c.k Schofield.

Change was slow: Pittsburgh Courier, May 20, 1961; Wendell Smith columns in Chicago's American, AprilAugust 1961; Carroll, Wendell Smith's Last Crusade.

Clemente was not to be ignored: New York Times, Fort Myers News-Press, March 2829, 1961, New York Times, March 29, 1961.

Sisler's first breakthrough: Sisler hitting a.n.a.lysis, Branch Rickey Papers, LCMD; Fort Myers News-Press, March 1030, 1961.

But by 1961 he was using: Hillerich & Bradsby bat doc.u.ments maintained by Rex Bradley; int. Rex Bradley.

The All-Star setting offered: Pittsburgh Courier, AP, San Francisco Chronicle, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh Press, July 1112, 1961.

A trivial manifestation: New York Times, Chicago's American, Pittsburgh Courier, August 1, 1961; ints. Bill Nunn Jr., Bob Friend.

One night that August: Jack Hernon, "Roamin Around," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 13, 1961. In that same sports section, the Post-Gazette ran a photo of Smoky Burgess, d.i.c.k Groat, Clemente, and Bill Virdon holding a bat that read 1,000 hits. Clemente had reached the 1,000-hit club a week earlier, Burgess a day earlier, and Virdon needed four more hits to join them.

This was not just Clemente's rise: Ints. Orlando Cepeda, Vic Power, Eduardo Valero, Osvaldo Gil, Matino Clemente, Luis Olmo; El Imparcial, San Juan Star, October 810, 1961. A front-page photograph on October 10 showed Cepeda and Clemente inside Sixto Escobar stadium, waving to the crowd. Clemente kept his sore right elbow at his side and waved with his left.

8: FEVER.

On a December day in 1963: Narrative of Clemente-Zabala courts.h.i.+p drawn from several interviews with Vera Clemente and Matino Clemente; also M. I. Caceres, Reader's Digest, July 1973.

To Steve Bla.s.s, a rookie pitcher: Int. Steve Bla.s.s.

First base that year: Int. Donn Clendenon.

The Tobs had a rivalry: Ints. Bob Veale, Donn Clendenon.

He had become: Int. Tony Taylor.

" 'Clemente's a mean man'": Sam Nover, "A Conversation with RC," 1972.

"I always had a theory": Int. Steve Bla.s.s.

Leppert placed the blame: Int. Don Leppert.

"it becomes a vicious circle": Myron Cope, Sports Ill.u.s.trated, March 7, 1966.

"He'd crawl in a sh.e.l.l": Bill Mazeroski, Sport, November 1971.

Clemente took offense: Int. Roy McHugh.

"Everybody in that clubhouse": Int. Tony Bartirome.

The Pirates were in the middle: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh Press, San Juan Star.

In his ellipses-dotted: Al Abrams, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 78, 1964.

The trip was a success: Int. Vera Clemente.

Rickey scouted for general manager: Branch Rickey Papers, LCMD.

Groat went on to hit .292: Halberstam, October 1964, pp. 33-36.

Here, in Carolina: Ints. Vera Clemente, Matino Clemente; San Juan Star, November 15, 1964.

One woman in New York: Letter to RC, Duane Rieder collection, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Clemente organized a group: Ints. Vera Clemente, Juan Pizarro; San Juan Star, February 4, 1965; San Juan Star, February 15, 1965.

What was wrong? Ints. Vera Clemente, Juan Pizarro, Eduardo Valero, Ramiro Martnez, Joe L. Brown, Matino Clemente.

9: Pa.s.sION.

Every move Clemente made: Ints. Bruce Laurie, Howard Fineman, Rex Bradley, Roy McHugh, Richard Santry, Donn Clendenon; Jim Murray, Los Angeles Times, October 15, 1971.

During the first two months: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh Press, May 37, 1965. On May 3, in his "Sidelights on Sports" column, Al Abrams wrote from St. Louis: "The 'Hat' went into a monumental rage. He not only banged and threw things around in the small cubicle in which the visiting players dress, he let his men know in the most earthy and sulphuric language at his command that he is far from pleased with the way they were playing."

The malarial funk was long forgotten: Ints. Vera Clemente, Luis Clemente.

During a home stand late in September: Int. Gene Garber.

Home now was a funky modernist house: Observations of Clemente home in Rio Piedras. Ints. Vera Clemente, Roberto Clemente Jr. The ponds in the front became filled with frogs that were collected by neighborhood children.

One visitor that winter: Ints. Myron Cope, Roy McHugh, Vera Clemente; Myron Cope, Sports Ill.u.s.trated, March 7, 1966.

A few days after Cope left: Brown letter, Duane Rieder collection, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

she wrote a note to Phil Dorsey: Duane Rieder collection, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The truth was he had a temper: Account of the punch incident drawn from ints. Bernard h.e.l.ler, John h.e.l.ler; Philadelphia Inquirer, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 79, 1966.

The punch seemed more instinctive: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 6, 1963; Baseball Cla.s.sics, 1960 World Series; Ints. Vic Power, Juan Pizarro, Luis Olmo, Ramiro Martnez.

Carol Brezovec would only see: Ints. Carol Brezovec (Ba.s.s), Carolyn Rauch, Vera Clemente.

"So the story goes": Int. Steve Bla.s.s.

"When you have the world's best base runner": Int. g.a.y.l.o.r.d Perry.

making it feel more like home: Ints. Jose Pagn, Vera Clemente.

"Sore arm, my foot!": New York Daily News, September 1819, 1966.

You have to visit me: Ints. Carol Brezovec (Ba.s.s), Vera Clemente, Roberto Clemente Jr.

10: A CIRCULAR STAGE.