Roberto Clemente 1966 Timeline

This is the 1966 installment in a chronology of memorable moments in the professional career of Roberto Clemente.

__ Mar 14 __ 450-Foot Grapefruit Game-Winner

Clemente's three-run, "450-foot blast" "over the left-center wall" powers the Pirates to their fourth straight exhibition victory. Clemente's clout follows eighth-inning singles by Manny Mota and Gene Alley and, judging from its epic dimensions, the early indications are that manager Harry Walker's's call for increased power and run production from his already raking right fielder has not fallen on deaf ears. And just in case these indications are somehow too subtle or ambiguous, Clemente will amplify them by about 50 feet in exactly ten days.

__ Mar 24 __ 500-Foot Grapefruit Game-Winner

Roberto Clemente's prodigious pre-season blast beats the still mediocre Mets, proving that his March 14 moon shot was no mirage. This has to make manager Harry Walker one happy camper, as per his preseason request for increased power numbers from RC. Just the third home run in Terry Park's 12-year history to clear the high center field fence, this mammoth Met-killer was "estimated at 500 feet" by UPI, TSN, and Post-Gazette sports editor Al Abrams:

"Roberto Clemente boomed a 500-foot home run high over the 30-foot green fence at Terry Park today and it took a shot like that to knock over the improved New York Mets by a score of 7 to 5. Clemente's tremendous blow came in the eighth inning off Darrell Sutherland on the first pitch and broke up a 5-5 tie. [...] Sutherland was so shook up by Clemente's drive that he gave up a triple to Donn Clendenon and walked three men in a row to force in a superfluous run as far as the game was concerned."

Even thirty-some-odd years later, this vicious shot remains vividly etched in its victim's consciousness. Sutherland recalls:

"I threw a fastball a foot inside and he hit it on a dead line. It was still going up as it went over the center field fence."

__ Apr 16 __ Long-Distance, 'Wrong-Field' RC Rocket

"With Don Schwall on the mound, the Redbirds closed to within 4-3 in the eighth. However, Roberto Clemente got that run back quickly when he led off the home eighth with an opposite-field home run, to the upper deck in right, off Hoerner."

__ Apr 28 __ Clemente's Clutch Walk Follows Epic At-Bat

Example of the supposedly undisciplined Clemente working out a walk when it matters – 9th inning, 2 outs, none on, Bucs down by one, up against a pitcher who's always had his number:

"Abernathy had Clemente no balls and two strikes, but apparently the Pirate slugger worried the Cub reliever and he grew too careful. He threw three balls and then Clemente put on a dazzling display of bat control. Abernathy threw eight straight strikes and Clemente fouled off every pitch, seven to right field. Then he drew a walk and Willie Stargell, who always hits Abernathy, hit him again."

__ May 01 __ The Hardest Hit Ball Swoboda Ever Saw

This fifth-inning line drive high off the wall above the 436-foot mark makes a big impression on the young Ron Swoboda, looking on from left field:

"I saw him hit line drives off the brick wall at Forbes Field. One of them was the hardest ball I ever saw hit. I saw Willie Stargell and Willie McCovey and Dick Allen hit some long balls against us, up and out, but Clemente’s was different. I just never saw a ball hit so hard."

No less impressed are the respective teams' beat reporters, Les Biederman and Dick Young:

"Clemente’s first double almost cleared the 436-foot sign near the light tower. It banged a few inches from the top of the brick wall and bounced back into Bill Murphy’s glove." "The ball got there so fast, and bounced back to Murphy so hard, that the speedy Roberto got only two bases." "But the blast caused a rumble through the stands and no doubt unnerved Jack Fisher."

__ May 13 __ Tape-Measure Triple Trumps Cubs

440-to-450-footer off Forbes Field's distant left-center wall leads to deciding run.

"Clemente lashed a triple off the center-field wall and Pag scored him with a sacrifice fly." "Clemente’s hit to left center came off Phil Regan."

__ May 14 __ One Less Shutout for Sandy Koufax

One More Moon Shot for Momen

RC's sixth and final career HR off Koufax spoils soon-to-be-retired future HOFer's bid for career shutout No. 36; Robby had never gotten cheated on his home run hacks off Sandy and this final entry in the catalog would maintain that tradition admirably:

"He tied into an outside pitch and sent it into the upper deck in right field. Fairly didn’t even move, it was hit so solidly."

__ May 30 __ Rested Roberto Powers Pirates

"In the sixth inning of the opener, Clemente homered into the right field stands. In the eighth, he singled, went to second on Clendenon's single, and raced home with the winning run when Kessinger missed Jim Pagliaroni's grounder.

"In the fifth inning [of the nightcap] with the Pirates down 3-0, Clemente drove a sacrifice fly deep to center that scored the first Pirate run. When Clemente came to bat again in the seventh, the score had narrowed to 3-2 and Pagliaroni was on second." "Durocher went to the mound to tell the youngster [who'd relieved Holtzman] about Clemente, but Roberto hit Billy’s first pitch into the seats in right center.”

But, as Biederman notes, this is not just multi-HR but multi-tool time for RC, flashing power on both sides of the ball:

"Clemente hit two home runs against the Cubs on Memorial Day – and tossed in a fabulous throw from deep right field to cut down a run at the plate – to help the Bucs sweep a double-header from the Chicagoans. His throw from the 375-foot mark in right field came to home plate on one short hop and snuffed out George Altman trying to score from first on a double."

__ Jun 05 __ Five Hundred-Footer Off Farrell

Roberto takes Turk very, very deep to tie this game at two all after two; there'll be a bit more back and forth before Pittsburgh puts this one away in the seventh and eighth.

"Clemente hit one ball between the Barney Dreyfuss monument and the right-center light tower – a rarity for a right-handed slugger." "This one traveled out of the park between the 436-foot sign on the right-center fence and the Barney Dreyfuss memorial to the left. It [the memorial] actually is center field, although the flagpole (457 feet) is [often mistakenly] regarded as dead center. The ball landed approximately 60 feet beyond the wall on a diamond where some youngsters were playing." "The estimates on this shot range in the 500-foot category. [...] The fans talked about this one for a long time, and it was such a shot that centerfielder Jim Wynn of the Astros stood with hands on hips and admired it for a few seconds. 'At first I didn't think the ball had a chance of going out,' Wynn related. 'I even thought I could catch it. But it kept jumping * and when it did leave the park at that spot, I just couldn't believe it. I didn't think Clemente could hit a ball that far in that direction. But he can.'"

* Wynn's observation highlights yet another example of the prototypical Clemente clout - i.e. the seemingly gravity-defying, late-rising line drive. Just how such trajectories are generated can be gleaned from Kent Tekulve's recollections of Clemente's spring training seminars. Wynn himself is no newcomer to this phenomenon (though, thankfully, his current outfield employment affords him a considerably less stressful viewing experience than did his down and dirty, up-close-and-personal infield encounter back on July 11, 1963.)

_ Jun 09 __ And That Makes a Thousand?

Roberto Clemente's third 500-footer in three months and his second in five days? Well, not quite. As Clemente himself says, "Sunday was the longer ball." Absent any eyewitness to this launch's landing, it may have travelled 450-, 460-, 470-plus feet or more. In any case, RC's five-day feast remains a Forbes Field first. TSN's Les Biederman, who's covered the Pirates since 1938, elaborates:

"This time the ball disappeared over the monument with Al Jackson of the Cardinals on the mound, and the fans gasped. Two titanic shots in less than one week. He became the first batter within memory to hit two home runs into the sector of right-center between the Barney Dreyfuss monument and the light tower at the exit gate."

By way of corroboration, Cardinals beat writer Neal Russo enlists some sources with even more seniority:

"Forbes Field employees who have been watching baseball there 40 years could not recall any right-handed batter besides Clemente hitting more than one ball over the wall in dead center. In fact, only a few, including Rogers Hornsby [on April 24, 1926, off the flagpole by the 457-foot mark in left center] and Mickey Mantle (in the 1960 World Series) [on October 6th, between the 436-foot mark and the exit gate in right center, measured at 478 feet], have done it even once."

St. Louis centerfielder Curt Flood speaks with Biederman:

"I thought at first I might catch it. Then I thought it might hit the wall and I'd get the bounce. I just didn't think any righthander could hit a ball that far."

Flood's reaction echoes that of his Houston counterpart, Jimmy Wynn, just four days ago.

_ Jun 13 __ Blast from the Past Beats Reds

Game-winning blast continues RC's '4-Day Plan,' though it does come one day too late to commemorate 10th anniverary of his first administration of such medicine to the Reds.

“ McCool had just relieved starter Joey Jay in the eighth inning, coming on with two men aboard and the Reds leading 4-2. McCool worked the count to 1-and-2 before Clemente, a right-handed batter, drove the ball into the upper right field stands.” "It was the first home run off McCool in 21 games."

_ Jun 17 __ Don Schwall 'Hit Hard,' Adding Injury to Insult

While certainly a more modest installment in the aforementioned 4-Day Plan, this incident does demonstrate vividly the more visceral sort of 'threat' posed by RC to opposing pitchers:

“[N]ewly acquired right-hander Don Schwall [was] shelved with an injury in his first appearance for the Braves. Schwall pitched only one and one-third innings before former Pittsburgh teammate Roberto Clemente slammed a double off the back of his pitching hand." [I guess that would be called ‘adding injury to insult.’]

_ July 17 __ Mays vs. Momen: Mays-Like Move Breaks Tie

Giants' beat writer Bob Stevens chronicles Clemente's Mays-like maneuvers:

"Gene Alley singled infield to introduce the fourth and Clemente tripled off the right-field wall for 1-1. Roberto made it 2-1 with an audacious piece of baserunning against a Giant defense that had the infield pulled in. Pagan grounded to Hart at third. Jim Ray feinted Roberto back toward the base, then let loose with the cross-diamond throw. In the meantime, Clemente streaked home, scoring standing up as McCovey’s frantic throw to catcher Tom Haller crashed against the stands."

Incidentally, following this virtual one-man rally, Pittsburgh's first insurance run would come courtesy of a then obscure but now familiar and revered figure, then making his first major league plate appearance:

"Alley wrenched his knee scoring on the Clemente triple, so somebody named Gene Michael was sent in to play shortstop. He had yet to make his maiden appearance at a major league plate, but wouldn’t you know it? He finally broke in in the fifth and doubled home the run that made it 3-1 and finished off Priddy."

_ Aug 01 __ Robby's Revenge: (Still a Thorn in Sandy's Side)

Freak Triple Trips Up Southpaw

While losing both whitewash and win by way of Clemente is nothing new for Koufax, it's not usually the result of dumb luck:

“But for a lucky Pittsburgh bounce, Koufax might well have recorded his 18th victory and another shutout.” "The Pirates’ lone run was a fluke when Roberto Clemente's first inning single took a bad bounce over Ron Fairly's head for a triple."

_ Aug 03 __ Robby's Revenge: The Saga Continues

Sutton's Turn to Suffer

Rookie right-hander gets first dose of Dodger medicine as dispensed by Dr. C ever since Dodgers deposited bonus baby on Bucs' doorstep lo those many years ago.

“The Dodgers, who came to town Monday in first place, dropped back down to the ‘show’ spot in the National League race Wednesday night when a former Brooklyn farmhand, Roberto Clemente, beat them with one swish of his bat." "Clemente lined a two-run homer into the upper deck in right in the first inning off rookie Don Sutton. The Clemente home run baffled Sutton. 'I threw him a fastball, low and inside, and he hit it into the upper deck in right field. He amazes me.'”

_ Aug 07 __ Cincy Pitchers' Punishment Persists – 2 HR, 5 RBI

RC Bows to DJ in One-Man Show Contest

RC's power display sets the stage for a reprise of his June 13 heroics but this time Reds reliever Billy McCool comes out on top in a classic confrontation:

"Clemente's first homer landed against the right-field screen and caromed into the seats in the first inning... He clubbed his second homer (No. 19) over the left-center wall with two aboard in the seventh to cut the Reds' lead to two runs."

Thus the stage is set for the aforementioned Clemente-McCool rematch when RC, representing the winning run, comes to bat with two on and two out in the ninth:

"Ball one, then two fouls, the last one a long foul into the right field stands. Then 2-2 and somehow McCool injured his left leg... McCool refused to leave the game. He threw another pitch that Clemente fouled and the next pitch ended the game. Clemente lifted it to center and Dick Simpson came in and took it on the run."

_ Aug 12 __ Blast in Round Three Yields Pass in Thirteenth

Mota Makes Unlucky Reds Pay

"With first base open, Clemente, who’d shot his 20th homer far over the centerfield fence in the 3rd inning, drew a walk and Mota bounced a McCool pitch to left for [the decisive] two-run single."

As unlucky as is this particular 'thirteen,' given McCool's even more unlucky, dare I say traumatic two-month-old thirteen, i.e. RC's vicious treatment of McCool's June 13th 1-and-2 offering, one has to think that not only wouldn't the Cincy southpaw do things any differently given a chance to replay the latter game, but that he – or rather Reds' skipper Dave Bristol – would indeed revise his earlier course of action, opting this time for discretion rather than valour.

_ Sep 01 __ Robby's Revenge: Sutton's Suffering Continues

Nonetheless, having lost battle, Sutton – and Dodgers – win war, despite RC's clutch 2-out, 6th-inning single and 10th-inning throwing clinic.

"The 21-year-old Sutton had a no-hitter in the works until three singles tied the score in the sixth… With the 1,999th hit of his major league career, Bob Clemente drove in Law with the tying run in the sixth after Law and Matty Alou got hits. And Clemente again demonstrated his great arm in the 10th by forcing Jim Barbieri at the plate after Willie Davis’ blooper bounced in front of the Pirate right fielder."

Regarding latter play, which temporariy freezes L.A.'s newfound lead at one, longtime Clemente observer and chronicler Arnold Hano comments:

"And before you say, whaddya expect from some ignorant rookie who must run like Ernie Lombardi, Barbieri is a swifty, used many times in 1966 by the Dodgers as a pinch-runner."

_ Sep 02 __ Hit No. 2,000 & 1st 100-RBI Season on 3-Run HR

2000th career hit is an opposite-field upper-deck shot off Ferguson Jenkins which, aside from breaking open the game, also puts RC over 100 RBIs in a season for the first time.

"Hit No. 2,000 for Roberto Clemente came with a dramatic impact. Like his first hit in the big leagues and also Hit 1,000, this one came at Forbes Field. Clemente went into the September 2 game with the Cubs owning 1,999 hits and, on his first time at bat, Ferguson Jenkins struck him out. On the second trip, Clemente bounced into a force play. In the fifth inning, Clemente batted with runners on first and second, one out and the Pirates leading, 1-0. Jenkins threw a fastball and Clemente blasted it on a line into the upper deck in right field."

_ Sep 04 __ Two-Run Bomb Sparks Winning Rally

“After Gene Alley beat out an infield hit, Clemente lined the first pitch over the ivy-covered wall in left center near the 406-foot mark [to bring the Bucs within one at 5-4].”

_ Sep 19 __ Mays vs. Momen: Two 'Money' Players

Two banged-up superstars trade clutch hits; Mays’ ninth-inning pinch-hit single ties the score and Clemente’s 11th-inning, leadoff HR unties it.

"Two out now, and the expectant roar of the crowd, some 40,000, told Veale who was coming to bat. Willie Mays came out, swinging bats, and then the pinch-hitter stepped into the batter’s box. The count went to two and two on Mays, the crowd howling on every pitch. Then Veale threw a slider tight and Willie lashed at it. The ball shot under Bailey’s glove into left field, tying the score. The crowd stood; applauding as Mays came back to the dugout, replaced by a pinch runner. There was a painful grimace on his face and he limped.

"The game was still tied in the 11th. Clemente, who’d gone 0-for-ten since his home run off Drysdale in Los Angeles, led off. On a 2-2 count, reliever Frank Linzy threw an inside breaking pitch and Clemente swung, picking the ball off his belt buckle and undercutting it 340 feet over the right-field wall for his 25th homer and the Pirates led, 2-1."

_ Sep 24 __ Gargantuan Game-Winner Beats Braves

"Clemente hammered his game-winning home run off reliever Jay Ritchie, a tremendous 440-foot drive over the right-center field fence."

_ Sep 28 __ Robby Keeps Bucs Close Down the Stretch

8th inning, runner on third, 2-2 tie, two out, and two games out of first place:

"Roberto Clemente doubled to deep center for the lead run." "Clemente doubled against the wall in left center, scoring Alou.'" "Clemente cut loose with a long double to left center [...] Clemente has had some big hits for the Pirates but this one could have been the hardest. He hit the first pitch off Jackson. 'I wasn't going to let Jackson walk me.'" "Clemente drilled a double to left center on the first pitch and he scored the insurance run when Dick Groat threw past first on Clendenon’s infield hit."