Roberto Clemente 1956 Timeline

This is the 1956 installment in a chronology of memorable moments in the professional career of Roberto Clemente.

__ Mar 04 __ "Clemente Wows Bucs; Outfielder Amazes New Boss, Crowd With Fly-Chasing."

Pittsburgh's sophomore star-in-waiting blows away both his rookie manager and the Fort Meyers faithful in this spring's first intra-squad game.

"Bobby Bragan didn't hesitate when he picked out Clemente's spectacular fielding as the most impressive thing he saw in yesterday's game," reports Pittsburgh Press writer Les Biederman. "Until yesterday, Bragan never had seen Clemente play and was amazed at the way he runs down fly balls and turns them into tumbling catches. 'I know he doesn't do that all the time because even Willie Mays doesn't, but I thought for sure he'd drop a couple of those he lunged for,' Bragan added. 'He seems to have sure hands.' Clemente also contributed a single that scored a run, but his best work was saved for the field. He was all over the premises in right field, came in, went back, and to either side to spear fly balls that might have been base hits. He threw out one runner at third and almost nipped another. The fans in the stands ate it up too and when Clemente came to bat for the last time, they applauded him. He was the only Pirate who drew applause from the free-loaders."

__ Mar 08 __ Robby Bags Bucs' First Long Ball of '56 In This Intra-Squad Scrimmage

"Roberto Clemente slammed three hits today, including the first homer by a Pittsburgh Pirate, as the ‘Sukeforths’ defeated the ‘Murtaughs’ 9-3 in an intra-squad game."

__ Mar 16 __ Clemente's Continuing Preamble To His Sisler-ized 2nd Season

Clemente continues to reap the benefits of newly installed full-time batting instructor George Sisler.

"Outfielders Roberto Clemente and Frank Thomas led the Pirate offense with two extra-base hits each. Thomas drove in two runs with a double and his first homer of the spring. Clemente abused Tiger pitching with four runs batted in on two triples."

__ Apr 25 __ RC's Long Distance Triple Triggers Pivotal Pirate Rally

"With Philadelphia leading 5-4, Roberto Clemente opened the seventh with a triple off the left-field wall."

__ Jun 06 __ 4-for-4, With 3 RBI & His First Home Run of Fifty-Six

Third-inning, two-run single puts Pittsburgh up, 4-0. Long-distance solo shot supplies game's final score in fifth.

"Clemente, running a hitting string to seven straight games with four hits today, stepped up after Thomas’ blast in the fifth and lashed a Valentinetti pitch deep into the left-field stands."

__ Jun 12 __ Game-Winning Blast Beats Reds

When RC's 5th-inning at-bat begins, it's 3-2 Cincinnati. In the blink of an eye, it's 4-3 Pittsburgh and, thanks to nice work from Roy Face [with a last-minute assist from Nellie King], this game is over.

"Bill Virdon singled and, after Gene Freese fouled out, Clemente belted a homer into the right-centerfield bleachers."

__ Jun 29 __ Home Run Helps Bring Bucs Back

RC's 4th-inning bomb brings Bucs to within one before three-run, 7th-inning rally puts them ahead for good.

"Clemente belted his third homer of the year in the fourth over the left-field wall between the scoreboard and the foul pole."

Modest poke perhaps, but only by Forbes Field standards, what with 12-foot-high left-field wall and 365-foot-distant foul pole. Moreover, considering that RC has to hit this ball "off his right ear," just hitting it at all, much less over the wall, is somewhat scary.

__ July 01 __ Mays vs. Momen: Advantage Mays

Clemente does his best to stave off Mays and company, but ultimately Bucs are simply ‘saved by the bell.'

"The Giants almost won a double header from the Pirates today before 23,459 Forbes Field fans. But rhey were foiled by the Sunday curfew law. They took the first game, 3-2, behind the eight-hit pitching of Johnny Antonelli plus the fine relief work of Marv Grissom. Willie Mays brought the New Yorkers from behind with a three-run double in the eighth inning of the afterpiece for a 7-6 lead and Hoyt Wilhelm, the fourth Giant pitcher, blanked the Bucs in their half. The Pirates had two on and only one out in the eighth on an error by Daryl Spencer and a bad-hop single by Dick Groat. Roberto Clemente was poised on third with the tying run but Wilhelm struck out both Bob Skinner and Jack Shepard. As Shepard was called out on strikes to end the inning, the clock reached the cease-play time of 6:59. So the Giants will have to wait until Aug. 10 to complete the game. The Pirates scored two in the first inning off Dick Littlefield on Lee Walls’ eighth homer – a clout over the left-field scoreboard – and singles by Frank Thomas and Clemente.

"In the opener the Giants scored one off Bob Friend in the fifth on White’s single, his theft of second and Mays’ double to right. Castleman provided the winning margin in the sixth when he belted his seventh homer over the left-field wall after a single by Lennon. The Bucs got an unearned run in the fifth on Clemente’s single, Sarni’s wild throw, a wild pitch and Hank Foiles’ sacrifice fly. Foiles doubled the other run across with two out in the seventh, scoring Clemente, who had singled. Walls opened on Antonelli in the ninth with a single and manager Bill Rigney called on Grissom. Thomas popped out but Clemente singled * to put the tying run on second base. In this emergency, Marv struck out Bill Virdon and got Foiles on a hot grounder to White.

"Clemente made the catch of the day in the third inning of the opener to rob Rhodes of an extra-base hit. Roberto went against the right-center wall 400 feet from the plate to pull down Rhodes’ drive."

* Apropos of that 3rd-inning body slam, Clemente will later launch a less costly, more one-sided onslaught on those distant but formidable bricks. Though evidently deemed not "fit to print" by America's paper of record, the fact remains that RC's 9th-inning 'single' is of the 400-plus-foot variety, "one of the longest singles on record":

"Clemente drove a long ball to the left center wall and Jackie Brandt leapt and almost caught it... Walls had to hold up and when the ball fell, the best he could do was make second base."

__ July 21 __ Game-Winning Blast Beats Reds REDUX *

* Composing variations on a theme – i.e. RC's June 12 come-from-behind Reds-killer.

When RC's 9th-inning at-bat begins, it's 3-1 Cincinnati. In the blink of an eye, it's 4-3 Pittsburgh and, thanks to nice work from Roy Face [unassisted this time], this game is over.

"Lee Walls and Frank Thomas connected for singles in the ninth before Clemente belted a pitch into the right-center portion of the bleachers off the second ball offered him."

_ July 24 __ 406-Plus-Foot Triple and 410-Plus-Foot HR Help Bucs Bag Bruins

" Rush encountered an assortment of difficulties aside from base hits. The chief tormentor was Roberto Clemente who, with a triple, homer and sacrifice fly, personally accounted for four runs. There was additional annoyance from Dee Fondy and Gene Baker, whose inept fielding precipitated three unearned runs in the third inning. [With the Cubs up 1-0], Rush retired Bill Virdon in the Pirates’ opening half before meeting up with complications that knocked him into arrears by 2-to-1. Skinner singled to center and Clemente committed his first bit of mischief by whacking his triple to the wall in left center. He carried in the second run with the help of Dale Long’s fly to Drake. What touched off Rush’s difficulties in the third was Fondy’s fumble of a grounder off [Pirate starter Ron] Kline’s bat. Baker then gave Virdon’s grounder such a robust boot that Kline had time to reach third. He scampered home while Skinner was forcing Virdon. Rush’s next pitch was the one Clemente wafted over the left center field wall, making it 5-to-1."

_ July 25 __ Walk-Off, Inside-the-Park Grand Slam

On the 2-year anniversary of his first North American home run, Clemente hits his first major league grand slam.

• As was the former, so today's home run is game-ending.
• Moreover, it's inside the park, as was his first big league home run of any kind.

And, of course, as per previous 1956 game-winning blasts of June 12 and July 21:

• When RC's 9th-inning at-bat begins, it's 8-5, Chicago. In the blink of an eye, it's 9-8, Pittsburgh, and thanks to the fact that this time we're in Pittsburgh, this game is over.* (In one notable departure from the previous examples, it is reliever Roy Face's atypically awful outing – salvaged by a successful and quite succinct one from winning pitcher Nellie King, albeit not quite so succinct as loser Jim Brosnan's failure – that has set the stage for RC's heroics.)

*In fact, according to baseball researcher and author Madison McEntire, this is the only walkoff IPHR in modern baseball history (defined by the author as 1900 and after).

While its place in baseball history will not become apparent until many years later, the at-bat itself is described in some detail by the Post-Gazette's Jack Hernon:

"Brosnan made one pitch, high and inside. Clemente drove it against the light standard in left field. Jim King had backed up to make the catch but it was over his head. The ball bounced off the slanted side of the fencing and rolled along the cinder path to center field. Here came Foiles, Virdon and then Cole, heading home and making it easily. Then came Clemente into third. Bragan had his hands upstretched to hold up his outfielder. The relay was coming in from Solly Drake. But around third came Clemente and down the home path. He made it just in front of the relay from Ernie Banks. He slid, missed the plate, then reached back to rest his hand on the rubber with the ninth run in a 9 - 8 victory as the crowd of 12,431 went goofy with excitement.”

Now if this multiple Momen moonshot 7/25 tie-in is not bizarre and obscure enough for you, RC’s 7/25/56 shot comes just one day too soon to commemorate the 13th anniversary of fellow hall-of-Famer Arky Vaughan’s IPHR to the ballpark's considerably more distant left-center field light tower, a HR which just happened to be, believe it or not, likewise a grand slam game-winner:

“With the score 6-6 in the 10th inning, three on bases and two out, Arky Vaughan flew into a rage at umpire Al Barlick for a called strike, then belted the next pitch off Bill Brandt 450 feet to the light tower in left center field for a grand-slam homer inside the park.”

Oh, and by the way, did I happen to mention that Vaughan was not alone in abusing the light tower in that WWII-era slugfest? Well, not only was there yet another IPHR off that same light tower, its author, while no HOF-er, was certainly a significant figure in Clemente’s career:

“Vaughan’s homer was the fourth of the long afternoon and the second inside Forbes Field. Luis Olmo whacked one off Max Butcher in the second inning against the same light tower.”

_ July 26 __ "That Clemente Again"

More modest but still decisive contribution: RC's 4th-inning leadoff double leads to ice-breaking and – as it turns out – game-winning tally.

"The third inning was perfect for the unpredictable Jones, but with the opening of the fourth, the puzzling Roberto Clemente – who last night beat the Cubs with his ninth-inning grand slam off Jim Brosnan – slashed a double down the third-base line."

_ July 28 __ Big HR Obscured in Meltdown Mist

Massive meltdown by Pollet, Face and Waters obscures Clemente's clutch clout. The Cincinnati Enquirer's Bob Husted reports:

"Clemente's home run over the scoreboard in left in the eighth erased a 3-2 lead held by the Reds. This turn of affairs only inspired the Reds to do something about the situation, but quick."

Case in point, next inning's 3-run shot from Frank Robinson off Face, kicking off the decisive five-run rally whose other highlights include Face, literally knocked out of the game by Ted Kluszewski's vicious comebacker, and a bunt single by, of all people, Smoky Burgess.

_ Aug 18 __ Mays vs. Momen: 'Take That, Pipsqueak!'

Mays returns last season's favor by spoiling RC's 2nd-inning birthday bid for extra bases with over-the shoulder grab a la his Vic Wertz grab from the '54 Series.

"'Leave it to Mays' could serve as a slogan for the New York outfield; the infield, too, sometimes. Willie went in, then out for the first two putouts in the second inning. It was difficult to pinpoint the more spectacular grab. Mays caught Wall’s sinking liner just off the shoetops. Then, following a long gallop, he took Clemente’s drive in front of the left-centerfield bleachers over the right shoulder."

_ Aug 26 __ Robby's Pair of Deuces Does the Trick

RC drives in one and scores another as Bucs beat Cubs, 2-0.

"Bill Virdon set up the first run off Rush by singling to center after two were out in the sixth. He went to the plate on a double into the left-field corner by Roberto Clemente. Dick Groat singled off Fondy's glove, Clemente moving to third, but Frank Thomas couldn't do anything better than a hopper to Rush. It was much the same in the eighth when the second enemy run scored. Two were out when Clemente doubled to right. Groat scored him by singling."

_ Aug 31 __ More Key Hits

5th-inning, two-run single makes Bucs' margin more manageable at three zip.

"The payoff hits were a two-run single by Bob Clemente and a one-run double by Dale Long."

Leadoff, 7th-inning double ignites 2-run rally providing additional insurance.

_ Sep 01 __ More Key Hits, But Bucs Come Up Short

4th-inning, bases-empty double leads to go-ahead run:

"They got their second run in the fourth when Roberto Clemente and Frank Thomas hit consecutive doubles."

Bucs try to reprise this formula in 6th, but Phils have wised up; After RC’s two-out double, Thomas receives free pass and Groat grounds out.

_ Sep 02 __ Yet More Key Hits In Twin Killing of Cross-State Rivals

"The Pirates beat Philadelphia's two best pitchers today, rapping Curt Simmons for six unearned runs in the first game and then chasing Robin Roberts with a 13-hit attack in the nightcap."

Game One – Roberto Clemente, ‘Tie-Breaker’

1st-inning 2-run single shatters scoreless tie. 3rd-inning RBI single unties 2-2 knot, following which Bucs wreak havoc. Two-out, 7th-inning double and ensuing run are just final nails in Phillie coffin.

Game Two – Second Game? More of the Same

4th-inning leadoff single leads to go-ahead run, while two-out, 7th-inning double pushes across final tally.

_ Sep 20 __ Another Walk-Off Hit

"Bob Clemente's two-out, 10th-inning single gave the Pittsburgh Pirates a 2-1 victory over Milwaukee today and dropped the Braves a full game behind the league-leading Brooklyn Dodgers with only seven games remaining in the drama-packed National League race... Bill Mazeroski led off the Pittsburgh 10th with his second hit of the game, moved to second on a sacrifice and tallied on Clemente's solid smash to center." " Haney said center fielder Billy Bruton's desperate shoestring try for the base hit by Roberto Clemente that broke up the game was 'a helluva play if he'd made it.'" "Bruton, after dashing into right center, caught up with Clemente’s drive, but couldn’t hold it, the ball popped out of Bill’s glove for a game-winning single." "Bruton said he barely got his glove on the ball."

_ Sep 29 __ Robby's Revenge: Yet More Key Hits, But Again Bucs Come Up Short

Latest Dodger dealer to feel Robby's wrath is Clem Labine.

"Labine was under pressure only once. That was in the top of the sixth when, still leading by only one run, he was reached by Bob Clemente for a triple with one out. But after walking Groat, Labine retired the next two to leave the runners stranded. Labine lost the shutout in the eighth, when Clemente singled, went to third on Groat's single to right, and scored while Johnny O'Brien banged into a double play. But [by] then the Brooks had three runs and nobody worried."