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Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero

Page 45

by David Maraniss


  the Clementes were consumed: Ints. Vera Clemente, Osvaldo Gil; Air Accident File, Delgado-Cintron deposition. U.S. District Court trial testimony, Vera Zabala de Clemente, November 1975.

  The Clementes were met at the dock: Int. Vera Clemente; San Juan Star, December 30, 1972.

  Roberto placed a call: Ints. Carolyn Rauch, Carol Brezovec (Bass), Vera Clemente.

  Back at the airport: NTSB Air Accident File, Delgado-Cintron, Matias depositions.

  15: DECEMBER 31

  Vera Clemente stood in the kitchen: Int. Vera Clemente; lyrics of song by Trio Vegabajeño.

  Jerry Hill, the pilot Arthur River recruited: Transcript of crash trial, testimony Delgado-Cintron, Matias, Vera Clemente; NTSB Air Accident File depositions.

  The aircraft was already full: cargo manifest filed with FAA, San Juan, NTSB Air Accident File, Pangia archive.

  Clemente was at home: Ints. Vera Clemente, Cristobal Colón; testimony, transcript, Vera Clemente, United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, civil numbers 778–73, 779–73, 999–73, 1000–73, 1096–73.

  At 5:30 P.M., according to FAA records: Air Accident File, History of Flight; Pangia Memo, Pangia archive; transcript, George E. Mattern testimony, U.S. District Court.

  Clemente handed him: NTSB, Statement of Interview with Rafael Delgado-Cintron. The mechanic was likely the last person outside the plane to see Clemente alive. “The stairs were already on the way [out] but he put it back and said good-bye to everybody and . . . Mr. Clemente asked for a favor to call his wife and gave me the telephone [number]. Did you see where he was seated? Yes, he was seated on the bunk forward of the cargo.”

  “San Juan tower, Douglas”: NTSB Air Accident File, Transcript of Air Traffic Control, December 31, 1972.

  The plane didn’t seem: NTSB Air Accident File, Statement of Witness—Juan Reyes, Gilberto Quiles, Antonio Ríos, Rafael Delgado-Cintron, Dennis A. McHale, Gary Cleaveland.

  The Rauches were delighted: Ints. Carolyn Rauch, Carol Brezovec (Bass), Vera Clemente.

  Matino woke his father: Int. Matino Clemente, Carolyn Rauch, Carol Brezovec (Bass), Vera Clemente; testimony transcript, George E. Mattern, United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, civil numbers 778–73, 779–73, 999–73, 1000–73, 1096–73.

  “It was quiet and sad”: Reaction to news of the crash drawn from Ints. Orlando Cepeda, Osvaldo Gil, Cristobal Colón, Juan Pizarro, Enrique Zorrilla, Diana Zorrilla, Eduardo Valero, Luis Olmo, Vic Power, Chuck Goggin, Steve Blass, Joe L. Brown, José Pagán, Ann Ranalli, Richard Santry, Nancy Golding, Bev Couric, Vera Clemente, Luis Clemente.

  16: OUT OF THE SEA

  a sequence of twenty telephone calls: Facility Accident Notification Record, January 1, 1973, Aircraft Ident N500AENTSB Air Accident File; Department of Transportation, U.S. Coast Guard Telecommunications Center, Sitrep 1, January 1, 1973.

  “That night on which Roberto Clemente”: Elliott Castro, Home: A Celebration of Roberto Clemente’s Spirit and Passion, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico.

  Vera wavered between: Ints. Vera Clemente, Osvaldo Gil, Carolyn Rauch.

  The effort that day was slowed: U.S. Coast Guard sitrep, January 1–2, 1973; AP, January 1, 1973; San Juan Star, El Nuevo Día, January 1–3, 1973; Ints. John Parker, Vincent Bogucki, Fernando González, Vera Clemente.

  It was not mythmaking: Newsday, AP, Pittsburgh Press, Chicago Tribune, New York Post, January 3–4, 1973.

  President Nixon mentioned: Account of the White House and Roberto Clemente drawn from President Nixon’s Daily Diary, Nixon Presidential Papers, NARA, Statement About the Death of Roberto Clemente; Memorandum for the President from: Richard A. Moore, January 3, 1973; Memorandum for H. R. Haldeman from Richard A. Moore, January 3, 1973; Richard Reeves, President Nixon: Alone at the White House.

  By that hour in the choppy Atlantic: Instituto de Medicina Legal, Centro Medico Hospital, Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, Autopsy No. 31-ML-73.

  Early the next morning: Ints. Richie Hebner, Al Oliver, Preston Pearson, Les Banos, Steve Blass, Vera Clemente, Ramiro Martínez, Eduardo Valero, Fernando González; transcript of press conference drawn from Ramiro Martínez tape collection.

  By the end of that weekend: U.S. Coast Guard Telecommunications Center, Sitreps 5–6; NTSB Air Accident File; ints. Osvaldo Gil, Vic Power, Vera Clemente.

  Lifetime Record of Roberto Clemente

  YR.

  CLUB

  CLASS

  G

  AB

  H

  1954

  Montreal

  AAA

  87

  148

  38

  1955

  Pittsburgh

  NL

  124

  474

  121

  1956

  Pittsburgh

  NL

  147

  543

  169

  1957

  Pittsburgh

  NL

  111

  451

  114

  1958

  Pittsburgh

  NL

  140

  519

  150

  1959

  Pittsburgh

  NL

  105

  432

  128

  1960

  Pittsburgh

  NL

  144

  570

  179

  1961

  Pittsburgh

  NL

  146

  572

  201

  1962

  Pittsburgh

  NL

  144

  538

  168

  1963

  Pittsburgh

  NL

  152

  600

  192

  1964

  Pittsburgh

  NL

  155

  622

  211

  1965

  Pittsburgh

  NL

  152

  589

  194

  1966

  Pittsburgh

  NL

  154

  638

  202

  1967

  Pittsburgh

  NL

  147

  585

  209

  1968

  Pittsburgh

  NL

  132

  502

  146

  1969

  Pittsburgh

  NL

  138

  507

  175

  1970

  Pittsburgh

  NL

  108

  412

  145

  1971

  Pittsburgh

  NL

  132

  522

  178

  1972

  Pittsburgh

  NL

  102

  378

  118

  18 YRS

  ML. TOTALS

  2433

  9454

  3000

  YR.

  CLUB

  2B

  3B

  HR

  RBI

  AVG.

  1954

  Montreal

  5

  3

  2

  12

  .257

  1955

  Pittsburgh

  23

  11

  5

  47

  .255

  1956

  Pittsburgh

  30

  7

  7

  60

  .311

  1957

  Pittsburgh

  17

  7

  4

  30

  .253

  1958

  Pittsburgh

  24

  10

  6

  50

  .289

  1959

  Pittsburgh

&n
bsp; 17

  7

  4

  50

  .296

  1960

  Pittsburgh

  22

  6

  16

  94

  .314

  1961

  Pittsburgh

  30

  10

  23

  89

  .351

  1962

  Pittsburgh

  28

  9

  10

  74

  .312

  1963

  Pittsburgh

  23

  8

  17

  76

  .320

  1964

  Pittsburgh

  40

  7

  12

  87

  .339

  1965

  Pittsburgh

  21

  14

  10

  65

  .329

  1966

  Pittsburgh

  31

  11

  29

  119

  .317

  1967

  Pittsburgh

  26

  10

  23

  110

  .357

  1968

  Pittsburgh

  18

  12

  18

  57

  .291

  1969

  Pittsburgh

  20

  12

  19

  91

  .345

  1970

  Pittsburgh

  22

  10

  14

  60

  .352

  1971

  Pittsburgh

  29

  8

  13

  86

  .341

  1972

  Pittsburgh

  19

  7

  10

  60

  .312

  18 YRS

  ML. TOTALS

  440

  166

  240

  1305

  .317

  National League Batting Champion: 1961, 1964, 1965, 1967

  Puerto Rico Winter League Batting Champion: 1956–57, .396

  National League MVP: 1966

  World Series MVP: 1971

  National League Outfield Assist Leader: 1958 (22); 1960 (19); 1961 (27); 1966 (17); 1967 (17)

  National League All-Star: 1960–67, 1969–71

  Gold Glove: 1961–72

  Selected Bibliography

  The sourcebook I turned to more than any other was an old battered green copy of The Baseball Encyclopedia: The Complete and Official Record of Major League Baseball, published by Macmillan and edited by David Biesel, Audra Chastain, Lawrence S. Graver, Jane Herman, Fred Honig, Casey-Kwang-Chong Lee, Fred C. Richardson, and Eleanor Widdoes, with Joseph L. Reichler as the special editorial consultant. This encyclopedia was my primary source of statistics for every major league ballplayer ranging from Roberto Clemente to Mose J. (Chief) Yellowhorse. It has been revised many times since, but I used the 1976 edition, which was sufficient for all the players in Clemente’s life. Every time I reached for this heavy book it was with anticipation and a certain measure of delight, although it hurt like crazy when it fell on my foot.

  It was Clemente’s nature to honor those who paved the way before him, and in that spirit I would like to make special mention of Bruce Markesun, a true baseball man, for his earlier book, Roberto Clemente: The Great One, and to Kal Wagenheim, whose love and deep knowledge of Puerto Rico and baseball shines through in his many books about the island and in his Clemente! I also benefited from the Clemente works of Phil Musick, Bill Christine, and Jim O’Brien. The most beautiful and in many ways most penetrating publication on Clemente is Home: A Celebration of Roberto Clemente’s Spirit and Passion, which accompanied an extraordinary exhibit at the Puerto Rico Museum of Art.

  Information posted on the Internet must be considered with caution, but over the course of my research I found there were three absolutely reliable and first-rate sources only a click away. The Baseball Almanac (base-ball-almanac.com) is a bountiful source of accurate schedules and box scores. The Baseball Library (baseballLibrary.com) supplies accurate mini-biographies and day-by-day chronologies. In addition, the famed Society for American Baseball Research, home to the sport’s insatiable band of intellectuals, has graciously made more and more of its reports available on the Web.

  BOOKS

  Baldassaro, Lawrence, The American Game, Carbondale, Ill.: Southern Illinois University Press, 2002.

  Barretto, Nestor and Jorge Carbonell, Home: A Celebration of Roberto Clemente’s Spirit and Passion, San Juan: Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, 2002.

  Brosnan, Jim, The Long Season, New York: Harper & Row, 1960.

  Carrion, Arturo Morales, Puerto Rico: A Political and Cultural History, New York: Norton, 1983.

  Chamorro, Pedro, Richter 7, Managua, Nicaragua: Ediciones El Pez y la Serpenta, 1981.

  Christine, Bill, Roberto! Pittsburgh: Stadia Sports Publishing, 1973.

  Cope, Myron, Broken Cigars, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1968.

  ———, Double Yoi!, Pittsburgh: Sports Publishing LLC, 2002.

  Cruz Baez, Angel David, Atlas Puerto Rico, Miami: Cuban American National Council, 1997.

  Einstein, Charles, Willie’s Time, New York: Lippincott, 1979.

  Gonzalez Echevarria, Roberto, The Pride of Havana, New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

  Halberstam, David, October 1964, New York: Villard Books, 1994.

  Kerrane, Kevin, Dollar Sign on the Muscle, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1984.

  Lorant, Stefan, Pittsburgh: The Story of an American City, Derrydale Press, 1999.

  Mann, Arthur, Branch Rickey: American in Action, New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1957.

  Markesun, Bruce, Roberto Clemente: The Great One, Pittsburgh: Sports Publishing LLC, 2001.

  Marsh, Irving T., Best Sports Stories of 1961, New York: Dutton, 1961.

  Morales Carrion, Arturo, Puerto Rico: A Political and Cultural History, New York: Norton, 1983.

  Musick, Phil, Reflections on Roberto, Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh Associates, 1994.

  ———, Who Was Roberto? Garden City, N.Y.: Associated Features, 1974.

  O’Brien, Jim, Remember Roberto, Pittsburgh: James O’Brien Publishing, 1994.

  Pittsburgh Pirates 1956, New York: Big League Books, 1956.

  Pittsburgh Pirates 1957, New York: Big League Books, 1957.

  Pittsburgh Pirates 1958, New York: Big League Books, 1958.

  Pittsburgh Pirates 1959, New York: Big League Books, 1959.

  Rickey, Branch, and John J. Monteleone, Branch Rickey’s Little Blue Book, New York: Macmillan, 1995.

  Robinson, Jackie, I Never Had It Made, New York: Putnam, 1972.

  Rodriguez-Mayoral, Luis, Aun Eschucha Las Ovaciones, Carolina, P.R.: Ciudad Deportiva, 1987.

  Shribman, David, Sports Town, Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 2004.

  Speiser, Stuart M., Lawsuit, New York: Horizon Press, 1980.

  Thomas, Clarke M., Front-Page Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2005.

  Van Hyning, Thomas E., The Santurce Crabbers, Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, 1999.

  Wagenheim, Kal, Clemente! New York: Praeger, 1973.

  ———, Puerto Rico: A Profile, New York: Praeger, 1970.

  Wendel, Tim, The New Face of Baseball, New York: HarperCollins, 2003.

  MAGAZINE ARTICLES

  Caceres, M. I., The Unforgettable Roberto Clemente, Reader’s Digest, July 1973, 113–117.

  Cohn, Howard, Roberto Clemente’s Problem, Sport, May 1962, 54–56.

  Cope, Myron, Aches and Pains and Three Batting Titles, Sports Illustrated, March 7, 1966, 76–80.

  Feldman, Jay, Clemente Went to Bat for All Latino Players, Smithsonian, September 1993, 128–136.
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  Mazeroski, Bill, My 16 Years with Roberto Clemente, Sport, November 1971, 60–63.

  Milagros González, Lydia, Este Silencio, San Juan: Instituto Cultura Puertorriqueña, 1998.

  Sanguillen, Manny, Manny Sanguillen Remembers Roberto Clemente, Baseball Digest, May 1973, 40–42.

  Ways, C. R., Nobody Does Anything Better than Me in Baseball, Says Roberto Clemente, New York Times Magazine, April 9, 1972, 38–48.

  Steve Wulf, Arriba Roberto, Sports Illustrated, December 29, 1992, 114–128.

  Index

  Aaron, Henry, 2, 79, 92, 97, 100, 139, 155, 207, 226, 236, 258, 278

  Abrams, Al, 67, 69, 70, 118, 156–57, 159, 178, 179, 191–93

  Achenbach, Hart, 303

  Adcock, Joe, 92, 100

  All-Star games, 107, 155–57, 177–79, 227, 236–37, 242, 258, 276–77, 346

  Allen, Mel, 134

  Allen, Richie, 217, 230

  Alley, Gene, 209, 226

  Alomar, Sandy, 184

  Alou, Felipe, 77, 100, 184

  Alou, Jesus, 77, 184

  Alou, Matty, 77, 172, 184, 206, 209, 226, 238

  Alston, Walter, 42, 44, 177

  Altman, George, 155

  Alvis, Max, 228, 232

  American League, 33, 36, 56, 96, 97, 105, 111, 145, 153–55, 157, 160, 177–78, 229, 242

  Amor, Vicente, 57

  Amoros, Sandy, 38, 42–43, 45–48, 50–51, 363n

  Angell, Roger, 264

  Anson, Cap, 278

  Aparicio, Luis, 177

  Aponte Martínez, Archbishop Luis, 349

  Arroyo, Luis, 118, 122, 143, 160, 161, 361n

  Ashburn, Richie, 106

  Atlanta Braves, 229, 236, 237, 305

  Avilés, Libertario, 195

  Ayala, José, 332

  Baker, Gene, 96–97, 116, 136, 147, 252, 367n

  Baltimore Orioles, 210, 228, 229, 233, 241–51, 253–63

  Banks, Ernie, 79, 97, 140, 226

  Banos, Les, 214, 216, 221, 305, 350

  Barretto, Nestor, 353

  Bartirome, Tony, 64, 176, 213–16, 223, 236, 240, 250, 259–60, 350, 373n

  Baseball Writers’ Association of America, 79, 342–43

  Bavasi, Buzzie, 37, 44, 51

  Belanger, Mark, 245, 260, 262

  Belcore, Ralph, 109

  Beltran, Carlos, 354

  Benack, Benny, 93, 102, 109, 125

  Bench, Johnny, 284

 

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