Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero (61 page)

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

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.

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.

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,
363
n

Angell, Roger,
264

Anson, Cap,
278

Aparicio, Luis,
177

Aponte Martínez, Archbishop Luis,
349

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

Ashburn, Richie,
106

Atlanta Braves,
229
,
236
,
237
,
305

Avilés, Libertario,
195

Ayala, José,
332

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

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
,
373
n