Roberto Clemente's 'Toolbox': The Total Package

'The Great-est One'?

Clemente's Contemporaries Chime In

Here's a passage from Peter Bjarkman’s 2007 article regarding the campaign to retire Clemente’s number:

”Billy Jurges, who played against Ruth and managed Ted Williams, once told this writer that Clemente was easily the best all-around ballplayer he ever laid eyes upon, and the opinion has had numerous seconds down through the decades.”

The impressive but unsupported claim which concludes the preceding paragraph will undoubtably generate a certain degree of scepticism among readers, and rightly so. By definition, a claim which so clearly flies in the face of conventional wisdom demands documentation. In the interests of meeting that demand, let's take at least a partial roll call of those seconding Jurges' motion, plus several others who readily place RC among the top two or three:

_________ The Witnesses _________

__ Roberto Rated Number One __

__ Sparky Anderson _

"In my 22 years as a manager, I never saw a better player than Roberto Clemente. No player at any position could do anything better than he did it.” “Everyone talks about Mays being the greatest. I never got to see Mays in his prime so I can’t make a judgment." “Bobby could do more things than any player I’ve ever seen." "He could hit for power when he had to. When he wanted to slap it to right, he shot the ball like a bullet. Plus, he could fly. When he hit a ground ball to the infield, he was flying to first. That fielder better not be napping." "People didn’t realize how fast he was. He only stole bases if it meant something..." "Walking away… Roberto Clemente is my premier outfielder – period." "Clemente wrote the book about playing right field. He made every play; he also knew how to trick you. Preston Gomez warned me about that when I coached third base for him at San Diego in 1969. He told me to watch Clemente on a base hit to right with the runner rounding second." "‘Clemente’ll play a game with you. If we have a man on first and there’s a base hit to right field, he’ll pretend to be loafing in on it. The moment you start to wave for that runner to come to third – look out, there’s gonna be an explosion.’ Well, sure enough, I don’t know what inning it was, but the situation came up, he put me in his trap and I did it. And let me tell you, my runner was about two-thirds of the way to third when the ball arrived." "His arm was a laser." "I came into the dugout and Preston was laughing. He said, ‘What did I tell you?’ But that was Roberto. There wasn’t anything he couldn’t do."

__ Al Barlick _

The following is excerpted from TSN's story on Barlick's acceptance of the first annual "Umpire of the Year" award.

"Somebody wondered if Barlick were general manager of a major league club and could take any player he wanted, who would it be. He replied quickly: 'Roberto Clemente. He can do everything."

__ Les Biederman __ See below.

__ Dave Bristol _

"“The best player in the game today. I’d have to take him over Aaron and all the rest.” “Clemente is the best player I’ve ever seen. I said so when I first came into the league and I still say so.."

__ Joe Christopher _

"Clemente was the kind of man that I’d like to have on my team. We were playing one time in St. Thomas, an exhibition game. This was for nothing and here’s a guy making over 100,000 bucks a year. Somebody hit a short fly ball into right field. Here’s Clemente – he took off for the ball, there was a whole pile of rocks there, and the guy makes a helluva diving catch. How many guys are gonna do that, making the kind of money he was making? When he put a baseball uniform on, there was only [one] thing that Clemente thought: ‘Give my best and give my all.’ When he played with the Pirates, that’s all he did." "There was so much to Clemente, but words don’t do him justice. You have to use words, and it’s hard to categorize what you’re dealing with. You’re dealing with euphemisms and they don’t work with Clemente to capture his greatness. But he was so great. Can you imagine how much money Clemente would get today? How much would you pay a guy like Roberto Clemente today? He was the greatest rightfielder I ever saw [and] the best player pound for pound. He could throw, he could hit, he could hit with power, he could run – he was simply the greatest. I’m glad I knew him.”

__ Dick Groat _

"I don’t know of anybody who played on the same team with more superstars than I did. I was with ’em all, all except Hank Aaron and Sandy Koufax, whom I don’t count because he was a pitcher. I played with Musial with the Cardinals, Clemente with the Pirates, Richie Allen with the Phillies and Willie Mays with the Giants. The best of ’em? For natural tools, I’d have to say Clemente. All around he was the best ballplayer I ever saw."

__ Howie Haak _

“Clemente was the greatest player I’ve ever seen. I only saw Mays play 20 games and [that was after] he had begun to go downhill. Clemente was better than Musial. He could throw better and run better. Couldn’t run better than Mantle. Threw better than Mantle. Mantle played in a park that was built for him, Clemente didn’t. All around, Clemente was better than Aaron. Not a better hitter and not more power, but he was a better fielder, better runner and a better thrower.”

__ Billy Jurges _

See above.

__ Allen MacPhail _

(Lesser-known member of the MacPhail family – son of Lee, grandson of Larry – who served as Assistant Director of Group Sales and Promotions for the Pirates in the late sixties and had extensive prior experience in American League front offices):

"People in Pittsburgh don’t really know what they have in Clemente. He’s the best all-around ballplayer I have ever seen."

__ Willie Mays __ See below.

__ Norm Miller _

“The guy was 38 years old and was still putting out 200 per cent on the playing field. That’s how I’ll remember Roberto Clemente. He was a winner. He could rise to the occasion – any occasion. After eight years up here, I’m convinced Clemente was the greatest I’ve seen. Yet, he was always smiling. He would always stop and talk to you… The year he spoke at the baseball dinner here is something I’ll never forget. It was one of the greatest speeches I ever heard. I'll remember that night as much as anything.”

_ Manny Mota _

“Clemente and I, we played together for about six years – from 1963 to 1968. In my opinion, Roberto Clemente was the best player I’ve ever seen playing this game.”

__ Danny Murtaugh __ See below.

_ Dave Roberts _

“I was just a kid at the time, only 18. Clemente was a holdout that spring. There were several of us rookies who would come in and look over at his locker to see if he had shown up yet. But there would only be his uniform hanging there. Finally, he showed up for workouts and I was a little surprised. I had built Clemente up so much in my mind that I was looking for a guy like Frank Howard. You know – 6-foot-7 and 250 or 260 pounds. But he was nothing like that. He was just average size, just like any other individual. But he was the greatest ballplayer I’ve ever seen.”

_ Art Routzong _

The following observations come circa June 1971 courtesy of one Art Routzong, Pittsburgh Pirates’ treasurer at the time of Clemente’s legendary June 15 catch against the Houston Astros. Routzong’s prior employment in the Astros’ front office afforded Houston Post sports director Clark Nealon easy access to this timely quote, relating both to the aforementioned catch and to the level of Clemente’s day-in-and-day-out performance:

“[The June 15 catch was] one of Clemente’s greatest, but, when you watch him every day, he makes so many great catches and fielding plays, almost always key plays. I can say truthfully that the first two weeks I was with the Pittsburgh club last year, I was able to watch Clemente every day and it was my greatest thrill in baseball.

“To watch him in all the things he does to influence a ball game, over a stretch of games, is the revelation of the complete player. He’ll make the big hit, shoot out runners with his arm, take away hits from the other team like he did Watson and make the smart baserunning play when it counts. He has to have a sense of rising to the occasion.”

_ Manny Sanguillen _

"I don’t have to tell anybody about Roberto Clemente or Bill Mazeroski. Nobody can tell me anybody was ever any better at their positions. Maz was the greatest infielder I ever saw. I can’t imagine any better outfielder ever lived than Clemente."

_ Red Schoendienst _

"Clemente is the most complete ball player to wear a baseball uniform. He can do everything to beat you. He can hit for power, he can steal a base, he can field, and his arm alone should take him to Cooperstown."

_ Tommie Sisk _

"Bobby and I were close friends. He was the best player I ever saw."

_ Duke Snider _

"Carl was the best right fielder I ever saw until Roberto Clemente came along, and Clemente was possibly the best ballplayer I’ve ever seen. And just think that we could have had Clemente in our outfield… Imagine if the Dodgers had Clemente all those years. I don’t know if Clemente would have played left and Furillo right, of if Furillo would have moved to left to allow Clemente to play right. Either one of them could have been a great left fielder, and that would have given us a great outfield for years. With both of them, we might have won a few more world championships in Brooklyn."

_ Willie Stargell _

“The best and most complete ballplayer I’ve ever seen is Roberto Clemente. He responds in any situation and the guy will come up with a base hit in any situation, or a catch, or a throw, or whatever you need." “People in Pittsburgh and people who had to deal with him on the field knew. He commanded their respect. That was the peace of mind that really made him feel good. He knew in due time that people would put him up there with the best players who ever played in the National League. He knew he didn’t have to take a back seat to anybody. You talk about Aaron, Mays, Clemente. They’re all right there." "We faced Koufax, Drysdale, Gibson, Marichal, Perry, a young Seaver, Ryan, Carlton, Jenkins. That's the kind of baseball we had to play. To have the success he had against that kind of talent, it’s overwhelming. We got a chance to see a very special individual. As a teammate, we had a chance to marvel at talents a lot of people didn't understand.” "I run into people who had a chance to see him play and they come up to me and say they love the Pirates. Then they’ll invariably say something like, ‘No offense, but Clemente was my favorite player on the Pirates.’ I say, ‘No reason to apologize. He was that to me, too.'"

_ Rusty Staub _

“Clemente has fantastic power, fantastic speed, a fantastic ability to hit the ball to the opposite field, a fantastic arm – he is the complete ballplayer. Roberto is not merely good at everything, but great at everything." "Clemente's the best defensive outfielder I’ve ever seen. I’ve never been on his ballclub and I don’t know what he’s like as a team player, but this guy can do just everything to beat you – run, hit, throw, catch, and just kill you with power. Clemente does it all." "He just beats you, and beats you at everything you can do in baseball. I know of no other player comparable to him." "He’s the best player I’ve seen in the big leagues.”

_ Don Sutton _

“Clemente was the best player I competed against and the most exciting I ever saw."

Speaking with reporters on the occasion of the announcement of his election to the Hall of Fame, Sutton reiterates and expands upon his earlier remarks:

“Roberto Clemente was the best player I’ve ever played against. Anything between the on-deck circles was a strike to him. I’ve seen him double on knock-down pitches.”

Six months later at the inductions ceremony, Sutton was vacillating a bit on the ‘toughest hitter’ question, but still put Clemente at the head of the class:

“Toughest hitter to face? I can’t figure out one. There probably were five: Roberto Clemente would be at the top of the list. Rico Carty, Bill Madlock, Bob Watson… and the world-famous Rance Mulliniks.”

_ Coot Veal _

“There were many guys on the Pirates who had leadership qualities: Roberto Clemente, Dick Groat, Don Hoak, Vernon Law, even Smoky Burgess. Clemente led with his play. There wasn’t a better player than Roberto Clemente. Clemente, Mantle and Kaline were the best all-around players I ever saw, and I think Clemente was the best.”

_ Dick Williams _

"Roberto Clemente was the greatest ballplayer I have ever watched. He could do it all. In fact, last year, Gonzalo Marquez, one of our young outfielders, told me he was going to copy Clemente. I told him if he could become one third of the ballplayer Clemente was, he would make me very happy."

_ Maury Wills _

"I’ve been asked if I ever saw anyone better than Willie Mays. The answer is, yes. Roberto Clemente was much better than Willie Mays. It wasn’t just his arm. He could do everything better." "I had played against Clemente for years and I always realized he was an outstanding player. But after playing 162 games a season with him for two years at Pittsburgh, I realized I hadn’t rated him high enough. As a fielder he is as great as anyone in baseball. When it comes to hitting, I think Clemente is the only batter in our league who is a real match for Bob Gibson. He has outstanding power to all fields. I know Tommy Helms has said that the hardest ball ever hit at him was a ball hit by Clemente, a righthanded hitter hitting to the right side."

_ Eddie Yost _

(responding when asked to name the guys who really stood out during his 40 years in baseball):

"Yogi... and all the Yankees, for that matter. But I saw Clemente when I was coaching for the Mets. I believe he was the best I saw."

How ironic that the two players singled out by Yost, arguably the most selective hitter of his generation, are in fact two of the best “bad ball” hitters in the history of the game. And, speaking of irony, remember the envisioned-for-Clemente-but-enacted-by-Mazeroski triple play filmed at Shea for the 1967 film, “The Odd Couple"? Well, forget that. The true odd couple at Shea in the late sixties was the pair of coaches stationed at opposite ends of the diamond – Yost at third, Yogi at first. Of course, both the oddness and the opposition could have been considerably more concrete had Yost's employment come just a few years later as, say, Mets' batting coach working under newly named Mets' manager Yogi Berra.

_ Two Adversaries Turned Advocates _

This title is a bit misleading in that both Murtaugh's and Biederman's RC advocacy was there almost from the beginning (Murtaugh's in particular quite passionate), while the adversarial stances were relatively fleeting, if no less hurtful for that fact. Biederman's blip was his somewhat over-the top pro-Groat/anti-Clemente MVP electioneering during the final stretch of the 1960 campaign, both in print and behind the scenes. Murtaugh's misstep was disputing the legitimacy of Clemente's ailments, particularly the 'sore' back, a misapprehension of which he was cured, prior to his third go-round as Bucs skipper, by the onset of his own excruciating back miseries and, shortly thereafter, by Roberto's miraculous reduction of Murtaugh's symptoms, via his own by then not inconsiderable chiropractic skills.

__ Danny Murtaugh _

On the eve of game three of the 1971 NLCS, Roberto's manager – and erstwhile nemesis – Danny Murtaugh spoke with reporters:

“I saw Roberto for the first time in 1956 when I joined the Pirates as a coach. When you look at a ballplayer you look at his arm, his speed, his bat and also his power. Roberto couldn’t help but become an outstanding player. But I never dreamed that he was going to be as great as he really is. I have seen him play more than anybody. *

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=tYFBAAAAIBAJ&sjid=WakMAAAAIBAJ&pg=7074,1533981&dq=clemente+roberto+danny-murtaugh&hl=en

* Well, almost anybody; Les Biederman would beg to differ , and indeed his 14 consecutive seasons – 1955 through 1968 – clearly trump Murtaugh’s eleven and a half – 1956 thru ’64, the final two and a half months of ’67, plus ’70 and ’71. All that notwithstanding, Murtaugh continues:

“If Clemente were a selfish player, he could hit 25 to 40 home runs a season. But he’s always been content to set up a lot of runs for the fourth and fifth place hitters. That’s why I always hit him third in the lineup. That has been my argument all along with the press. I’ve told the writers time and time again; nobody ever takes into consideration the amount of runs he sets up with singles and doubles. He takes great pride in hitting behind the runner and he does everything possible to help a ballclub. All the players look up to him. He helps a manager in so many ways, starting with spring training. When the young Latin players come into camp, he takes them under his wing and advises them as if he were their father.”

Here's Murtaugh speaking earlier that season, following a mid-May contest during which, after failing twice early in big spots [and receiving the corresponding chorus of disapproval from the hometown heretofore faithful], Clemente, now batting in the bottom of the ninth with two on, two out, the Bucs down by one, the count one-and-one, would proceed to drill a two-run triple off the top of the center field wall to send everyone home happy – everyone, that is, except losing pitcher Mike Marshall and the rest of the Montreal Expos:

“I have always said that everybody expects too much of Roberto. He’s batting in the third position and in my style of play his job is to set up runners as well as drive them in. If you were to take Roberto’s runs set up, you’ll come up with a tremendous plus in his favor. Everybody always mentions the RBIs, but nobody ever mentions the runs set up. That’s equally important.”

His intermittent flare-ups with Clemente notwithstanding, Danny could be found in print at least as early as 1960, dishing out the superlatives to his spectacular right fielder. Speaking with San Francisco sportswriters after Clemente’s 7/14/61 game-winning grand slam against the Giants, the crusty Murtaugh positively gushed:

”Clemente’s quite a ballplayer, isn’t he? Now you know why he was picked on the All-Star team. He’s as good an outfielder in right field as your Willie Mays in center. There isn’t anything he can’t do.”

And, as if to finish that thought, he spoke with Pittsburgh writer Les Biederman later that same week:

"Just name me one thing he can't do. There's nobody better."

Even the year before that, speaking with reporters prior to the memorable 1960 Pirate-Yankee World Series, Murtaugh could be heard bragging on his young right fielder to the uninitiated Yankee beat writers:

"You are going to see the best right fielder in baseball. He'll open your eyes."

Many – if far too few – years later, upon hearing of Clemente’s death, Murtaugh reiterated::

“I’ve often said he was the greatest player ballplayer I ever saw. I think it was typical of Roberto – a man who gave so much of himself to become an outstanding athlete – to give all of himself in an effort to help others less fortunate than himself. It was quite an honor to manage in the major leagues, bit it was a double honor to manage a superstar like Roberto … and he was a super star. He made his mark not only on baseball, but on everybody he touched.”

“You know what we used to call him? We called him ‘The Great One.’ He was the best player I’ve ever seen and I say that with all due respect to Aaron, Musial and Mays. Clemente was also my intermediary. He had an important influence on the Latin American players on our club. If I saw one was going astray, I’d call Roberto into my office. He’d say, ‘Give me two or three days,’ and that would be the end of the problem.”

It was that third tour of duty with the Bucs [1970-1971] during which Murtaugh seems to have come to fully appreciate Clemente as a human being – a trend given visceral reinforcement, no doubt, by the chiropractic wonders performed by Clemente on the returning manager’s own newly ailing back.

“Roberto Clemente, to me, was a compassionate man. He was a man of two faces. In the clubhouse, he was the center of all the funny stories. He’d hold court in front of his locker and there was always gaiety and laughter. When the time came for the game, Roberto would put on his other face – the disturbed face he always wore when he was concentrating completely on winning a baseball game. That’s why I say the fans never knew the real Roberto Clemente.” “When he was approaching his 3,000th hit, I asked him if that would be the most important thing in his life. ‘No, Danny,’ he said. ‘I have a project going in Puerto Rico for the underprivileged and I have made so much progress with the political men in our country that I’m beginning to think my dream will come true.’ That’s the Roberto Clemente I know, who constantly thought of others instead of himself.”

__ Les Biederman _

Now let's hear from the Pittsburgh Press sports editor and longtime Pirates beat writer, increasingly a Clemente champion over the years but one whom, it seems, Clemente never really forgave for his aggressive pro-Groat/anti-Clemente MVP electioneering during the latter months of the 1960 campaign:

"The most complete ballplayer in the game today is Roberto Clemente and if you don’t believe it, simply ask his Pirate teammates, opposing players, scouts or better yet – look at the record. Clemente has been wearing a Pirate uniform for 13 years and his lifetime average is .314, despite a rather slow start. He’s the only major leaguer who has hit .300 or better since 1960 and his average over the last eight years is .330. There isn’t anything he can’t do. He can hit, hit with power at times, run and throw, and there isn’t a better fielder."

Speaking after Clemente's death, Biederman reinforced his previous statement:

"Clemente was his own man. He told you what he thought and why he thought that way. When you’d ask him to name the best player he ever saw, he’d tap his chest and say, 'me.' Then he’d explain: 'I play the game as I think it was meant to be played. I don’t think there’s anybody who plays the game harder than I do and this is the way I play all of the time. All season, every season. I give everything I have to the game of baseball and I have a lot of pride. I just feel I’m the best.' * In my opinion, he was. I knew Roberto Clemente as a Pirate rookie in 1955, a 19-year old [sic - 20, actually] Latin who spoke little if any English but with a tremendous amount of natural baseball ability. I watched him grow into the superstar he was, the best ballplayer I ever saw and I saw him in every game he played from 1955 through 1968. He could do it all and do it all better and more often than anybody else."

* On many other occasions, perhaps when he felt more appreciated, hence less defensive, Clemente called Willie Mays the greatest player he’d ever seen.

__ Roberto Rated Number Two Behind Willie Mays __

__ Willie Mays __

Speaking of Willie, that pretty much brings us full circle. Even before Biederman, just prior to his 'abduction' by Pirates, Momen would meet Mays in P.R. Almost instantaneously, Mays would become Momen's mentor and role model. In similarly short order, a mutual admiration society twixt M & M came to be, with Mays often giving Clemente a boost over the years, both in print and out. An instance of Willie actually rating Roberto, however, had to wait until several years after the latter's demise, on the occasion of a 1979 press conference announcing Mays' election to the Hall of Fame:

"I think I was the best ballplayer I’ve ever seen. I feel nobody in the world could do what I could do on a baseball field. I hope I’m not saying anything wrong, but you have to think you’re the best."

After it was made clear – amidst some raised eyebrows – that Willie was, in fact, being asked to name the best player he'd seen, not the best player he'd been, the newly named HOFer did not hesitate:

"The next one would be Roberto Clemente.”

A couple of days later in Boston, Mays tried to do a little damage control, reiterating and elaborating a bit on his Clemente assessment in the process. Here’s a passage from the UPI story:

"'That’s not like me, but I was giving my honest opinion. It doesn’t sound too good, though,' the recently enshrined Hall-of-Famer told reporters at the Boston baseball writers’ dinner… He was then asked who he thought the second-best player was. 'I’d have to say Roberto Clemente. He could do anything with the bat and in the field. And then there’s Cesar Cedeno. I don’t know why he hasn’t put it all together. He can do it all.'"

Perhaps it shouldn't surprise us, given Mays' and Momen's stylistic similarities, that their taste in ballplayers should dovetail as well. As we will see in the following passage from TSN's 1972 Cedeno profile, Clemente, just months before his passing, would bestow his own blessing upon his heir apparent, albeit in this case a considerably younger Cedeno, one with nearly all of his ultimately disappointing career yet to come:

"Henry Aaron and Roberto Clemente are 38 years old. Willie Mays is 41. The sands of time inexorably spill on. Only Clemente has managed to stave off manifest erosion of the once magnificent skills. These were the National League’s super outfielders of their era, ‘super’ used in the classic and restrictive sense. Others were excellent, but these were colossi. Who will replace them? The No. 1 possibility is Cesar Cedeno, Houston’s dynamic Dominican. Cedeno may already be the best outfielder in the National League.

"Clemente said Cedeno has more talent than anyone who has come into the league in his time. But he does not think that Cedeno should be called ‘another Clemente’ as has so often been done. 'I don’t think it is fair to him,' Clemente said. 'When I came up, I did not like to be compared with other players.' The comparison of Cedeno to Clemente is natural because their playing styles are similar. Both have power, but hit the ball to all fields and are not primarily home-run hitters. Clemente’s season high was 29. Cedeno had hit 15 after 99 games this year. Both Clemente and Cedeno play aggressive, all-out baseball with not a little flamboyance. Both have been accused of ‘hot-dogging.’ But Los Angeles’ Maury Wills probably put that in perspective last year. 'When a player like Cedeno is on the other side, he’s a hot dog,' the veteran shortstop said. “When he’s on your side, he plays hard and is colorful.

“Clemente and Cedeno are the two most exciting players in baseball today,' said Houston manager Harry Walker, who’s managed both. 'Whether they’re catching the ball or throwing it or running the bases or batting, they do it all-out and with a flair. When they’re involved, you’re always on edge expecting something to happen. They make things happen.'"

__ Lou Brock _

The following is a passage from a 1980 New Pittsburgh Courier profile of Brock:

“Willie Mays was the greatest player I ever saw,” said the Southern University graduate who captured the eyes of major league scouts by hitting two home runs against a pitcher from Wiley College who was being touted as a pro prospect. 'Clemente was second and Hank Aaron was the greatest slugger. But pound for pound, play-for-play, Willie Mays could do it all well. You can name four or five in what I call that elite category,' he said, adding the name of Mickey Mantle to his list of greats. 'But after that, you catch hell putting anybody up there.'"

__ Orlando Cepeda _

"Mays and Clemente were the best. Mays was a better long-ball hitter and ran the bases better, but Roberto wasn’t second to anybody. I would give them the edge over Frank Robinson and Hank Aaron."

__ Bobby Del Greco _

"I think Willie Mays was the best all-around ballplayer I’d ever seen. Clemente was right up there. He couldn’t hit home runs like Mays did, but he did everything else as well. He could have hit more home runs and been a .290 hitter. If they told him to hit home runs, he could have. But he was a line drive hitter. Mays pulled everything. * Overall, though, Clemente was as good as anyone who ever came along."

*Del Greco's comments are clearly referring to his first go-round in the National League, from 1952 to 1957, when Mays was dealing with the particular idiosyncracies of New York’s Polo Grounds, namely its ridiculously distant center field fence and the even more ridiculously cozy left and right field porches. From 1960 on, when dealing with San Francisco’s Candlestick Park, with its deep and almost impregnably wind-protected left field bleachers coupled with the exceedingly accessible right field fence (due in part to that same wind blowing across from left to right), Mays became a confirmed opposite field hitter.

__ Herman Franks _

“Willie Mays was the best baseball player I ever saw; he made unbelievable plays all the time. Clemente belonged to the Brooklyn Dodgers and was with Montreal that season [1954] and at the end of the season was eligible for the major league draft. The New York Giants, whom I coached for in 1954, didn’t have a chance to draft him as we had won the pennant and World Series. Branch Rickey of Pittsburgh came to Puerto Rico looking for ballplayers. Pedrin and I told him to draft Clemente and you know his story at Pittsburgh. If I had to pick a ballplayer outside of Willie Mays, it would be Roberto.”

__ Bill Mazeroski _

“In my mind, Mays is the greatest player of the last 25 years and I rank Clemente behind him, right behind him. Roberto hasn’t hit as many home runs as Mays or Aaron, but they have played in hitter’s parks, while he spent 14 years looking into the biggest centerfield expanse in the major leagues at Forbes Field. He realized Forbes Field was built for line drive hitters and he tailored his batting style to it from the beginning. Mays steals more bases than Roberto but outside of that and the long ball, there is very little from which to choose between them.”

__ Johnny Podres _

“He’s probably one of the greatest players who ever lived outside of Willie Mays. In my opinion, Mays was the greatest player I ever saw. Yet, I’d have to say Roberto would probably be the next one.”