WEBVTT - The Amazing Roberto Clemente 0:00:01.120 --> 0:00:03.520 Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of five 0:00:03.600 --> 0:00:20.880 Heart Radios How Stuff Works. M Hey, welcome to the podcast. 0:00:20.960 --> 0:00:24.599 I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles W. Chuck Bryan over there, 0:00:24.640 --> 0:00:28.600 and Jerry too. God I mentioned Jerry, and this is 0:00:28.800 --> 0:00:37.200 Stuff Today. You should know. I'm surprised you picked this topic. Why. 0:00:38.720 --> 0:00:40.920 I just I don't recognize you as a baseball guy. 0:00:41.960 --> 0:00:49.560 Oh man. Probably the first thing I was ever truly 0:00:49.720 --> 0:00:53.840 into was baseball cards, like getting the newest edition of 0:00:53.880 --> 0:00:57.360 like the Beckett's Price Guide. It was like one of 0:00:57.400 --> 0:01:00.680 my like the highlights of my month when whenever. Really yeah, 0:01:00.720 --> 0:01:02.880 for a few years I was super into baseball cards. 0:01:03.040 --> 0:01:04.800 It was funny. It is like I would still I'd 0:01:04.840 --> 0:01:07.080 watch baseball here there, but it was baseball cards in 0:01:07.120 --> 0:01:10.520 particular I really cared about. But yeah, I didn't really 0:01:10.520 --> 0:01:13.759 watch baseball. No, not really interesting, but I really loved 0:01:13.800 --> 0:01:16.560 baseball cards. Like. I wasn't like, oh I hate baseball, 0:01:16.600 --> 0:01:19.320 but I love baseball cards. I wasn't like complicating complex 0:01:19.400 --> 0:01:22.759 like that. It was just I didn't watch I liked 0:01:22.760 --> 0:01:25.640 baseball courts cards more than I liked baseball itself. That's 0:01:25.640 --> 0:01:31.479 all I got. You were you a Roberto Clemente fan. Well, 0:01:31.520 --> 0:01:35.440 I mean he was. He was playing his final years 0:01:35.480 --> 0:01:38.839 when I was being born, so I was not a fan. 0:01:38.959 --> 0:01:42.360 But I grew up obviously a Braves fan. But the 0:01:43.000 --> 0:01:45.680 in the mid nineteen seventies when I first started being 0:01:45.680 --> 0:01:49.520 a baseball fan, the Pittsburgh Pirates uh had a couple 0:01:49.520 --> 0:01:53.760 of really good teams, and he was, um, he was 0:01:53.800 --> 0:01:57.560 not long gone before those years, so his aura was 0:01:57.600 --> 0:02:01.360 still sort of ever present when I first started watching 0:02:02.000 --> 0:02:05.480 baseball and the Pirates when they had those great, awful 0:02:07.040 --> 0:02:11.160 uh stovetop flat caps. Oh I love those things. But yeah, 0:02:11.320 --> 0:02:14.200 on their own, just as an article of fashion, their horrid, 0:02:14.880 --> 0:02:18.839 But they were so unique and different too, you know. Yeah, 0:02:18.840 --> 0:02:23.000 I mean they were. They rank among the worst uniforms, 0:02:23.040 --> 0:02:26.680 but you know, they're just very seventies. So yeah, they 0:02:26.720 --> 0:02:28.960 are super seventies. I think that's why I love I 0:02:29.040 --> 0:02:31.000 love them that at the seven. I think they were 0:02:31.000 --> 0:02:33.440 a throwback to the old old days. So that was 0:02:33.480 --> 0:02:36.880 the original person. But yeah, I don't think they like 0:02:36.960 --> 0:02:39.080 invented those caps. I think like some of the early 0:02:39.080 --> 0:02:40.880 baseball caps might have been flat like that. I might 0:02:40.880 --> 0:02:43.560 be wrong. I did not know that. Um. I think 0:02:43.600 --> 0:02:47.040 the Astros had the best seventies uniform of all, though 0:02:48.000 --> 0:02:50.360 they rank as one of the worst two. Oh, you're crazy, 0:02:50.600 --> 0:02:54.640 you have terrible tastes. I'm just talking about if you 0:02:54.720 --> 0:02:57.360 look up articles like worst Baseball Uniforms, ever, those are 0:02:57.360 --> 0:03:00.000 the ones that are listed. Okay, well, then you're not crazy. 0:03:00.040 --> 0:03:03.640 But whoever is writing those articles is crazy. I assume 0:03:03.680 --> 0:03:08.520 you're talking about the Orange Shooting Star. Yeah, with like 0:03:08.600 --> 0:03:13.919 red and blue, it's very pretty Okay, Okay, So anyway, 0:03:14.000 --> 0:03:18.680 we're not talking about fashion or uniforms or anything like that. 0:03:18.760 --> 0:03:21.520 Although this is not at all surprising that we even 0:03:21.520 --> 0:03:24.799 started on this. We're talking about one particular player who 0:03:24.800 --> 0:03:28.760 wore that funny looking Pirates hat, Roberto Clemente, who was 0:03:29.880 --> 0:03:33.520 so well, then what are we even doing that came 0:03:33.560 --> 0:03:36.440 along after him? What's the point of even doing this episode? 0:03:36.440 --> 0:03:39.000 Then if he never wore a hat. I'm just I'm 0:03:39.000 --> 0:03:42.080 just trying to get keep Pittsburgh people from emailing us. 0:03:42.200 --> 0:03:45.320 And then I appreciate that, Chuck, I appreciate it. Um. 0:03:45.360 --> 0:03:48.920 So we're we are talking about a Pittsburgh pirate, Roberto Clemente, 0:03:49.000 --> 0:03:52.240 and I knew like I knew of him. I was 0:03:52.280 --> 0:03:54.000 aware of him. I knew that he's one of the 0:03:54.040 --> 0:03:57.880 all time grades hadn't seen many plays of his, but um, 0:03:58.240 --> 0:04:01.360 like you can't. You can't be into baseball and not 0:04:01.440 --> 0:04:04.280 know about Roberto Clemente. But I definitely didn't know nearly 0:04:04.320 --> 0:04:07.560 as much about him as I do now. Um, thanks 0:04:07.600 --> 0:04:11.320 to this help from Rous, who apparently was raised to 0:04:11.360 --> 0:04:14.040 Pittsburgh Pirates fans, so he had plenty of good things 0:04:14.040 --> 0:04:17.320 to say about Roberto Clemente. Yeah, I think maybe we 0:04:17.320 --> 0:04:19.400 should take off a few of these career stats just 0:04:19.440 --> 0:04:22.760 to give you an idea of who we're talking about here. Uh, 0:04:22.920 --> 0:04:26.920 lifetime batting average of three seventeen, which if you if 0:04:27.000 --> 0:04:30.400 you don't know anything about baseball and you think a 0:04:30.480 --> 0:04:35.080 success rate oft is terrible. It is in almost everything 0:04:35.120 --> 0:04:37.800 else in life, but in baseball, that means you're a 0:04:37.800 --> 0:04:40.160 Hall of Famer. That's how hard it is to hit 0:04:40.160 --> 0:04:42.240 a baseball, right, I was gonna say, it really goes 0:04:42.279 --> 0:04:45.240 to show how difficult hitting baseball's in the major leagues are. 0:04:45.320 --> 0:04:47.839 You know, Yeah, you hit three out of ten and 0:04:47.880 --> 0:04:50.360 you're great. I think I've said that before on the show. 0:04:50.400 --> 0:04:54.640 But he got twelve gold gloves in the right field, Uh, 0:04:54.760 --> 0:04:57.040 led the league in and batting the National League. That 0:04:57.120 --> 0:05:01.400 is four different times, two World Series Champion Chips, m 0:05:01.480 --> 0:05:04.760 v P nine MVP of the World Series, and seventy 0:05:04.800 --> 0:05:07.440 one where hebett at four or fourteen, which is just 0:05:07.600 --> 0:05:12.719 crazy good. I think sixteen time All Star just really 0:05:13.400 --> 0:05:17.800 just an amazing career um and obviously instant Hall of 0:05:17.800 --> 0:05:20.359 Fame career. Yeah, and he was really well known for 0:05:20.480 --> 0:05:23.320 his arm, like he would throw people out at home 0:05:23.440 --> 0:05:26.320 from right field, from the outfield, he could throw without 0:05:26.360 --> 0:05:28.599 a bounce, He could throw all the way in and 0:05:28.640 --> 0:05:31.120 beat a runner to third or to home, which is 0:05:31.240 --> 0:05:32.920 just amazing, and it was one of the things that 0:05:33.000 --> 0:05:36.800 really got people excited about him and watching him play. 0:05:36.839 --> 0:05:40.160 But like, if you look at just his stats, especially 0:05:40.160 --> 0:05:43.800 taken individually, like he was a great player and one 0:05:43.800 --> 0:05:47.200 of the all time grades, but statistically speaking, it doesn't 0:05:47.240 --> 0:05:49.680 necessarily show up, like there's plenty of people who have 0:05:49.760 --> 0:05:52.280 better stats. But one of the things that made Roberto 0:05:52.360 --> 0:05:55.240 clement Is such an amazing baseball player is he was 0:05:55.279 --> 0:05:59.200 one of the true what are called complete players or 0:05:59.240 --> 0:06:02.120 a five to a player where he could run, he 0:06:02.160 --> 0:06:06.840 could throw, he could bat, he could field, and like 0:06:06.880 --> 0:06:09.320 I keep I keep forgetting what the fifth one is, 0:06:09.400 --> 0:06:11.719 but he could he could like sell cracker Jack's in 0:06:11.720 --> 0:06:16.000 the stand like nobody's business as well. You've got an 0:06:16.000 --> 0:06:18.080 actual baseball guy on the other end of the call here, 0:06:18.120 --> 0:06:23.960 you know who me? Oh, okay, well, Mr baseball guy, 0:06:23.960 --> 0:06:26.360 if it's not selling cracker jacks, what's the fifth tool? 0:06:27.240 --> 0:06:29.919 Use me at your disposal. It's a hit for power 0:06:29.920 --> 0:06:32.320 and hit for average. So there's two hittings. That's the 0:06:32.600 --> 0:06:36.279 Oh well, whoever knows that? Nobody knows that you can't 0:06:36.320 --> 0:06:41.240 just use the same thing twice and call it five tools. Well, no, 0:06:41.400 --> 0:06:43.440 you can, because a lot of players can have a 0:06:43.480 --> 0:06:46.560 big boomstick, but they bat like two thirty. But if 0:06:46.600 --> 0:06:49.040 you can hit for average and hit for power, that's 0:06:49.040 --> 0:06:52.000 a big big deal. And if you can make the 0:06:52.040 --> 0:06:55.120 most exciting playing baseball to me, which is a right 0:06:55.200 --> 0:06:59.000 field to third base assist, then uh, I mean, there's 0:06:59.040 --> 0:07:01.720 nothing more thrilling to me. It's really amazing to see. 0:07:01.760 --> 0:07:04.159 For sure. It definitely more than even home plate for 0:07:04.200 --> 0:07:06.839 some reason, probably because it's further one of the other 0:07:06.839 --> 0:07:09.480 things that I think people loved about Roberto Clemente, and 0:07:09.520 --> 0:07:11.920 I think that made him such a true baseball player 0:07:11.960 --> 0:07:14.160 In a lot of people's eyes, at least in mind. 0:07:14.280 --> 0:07:17.080 But he was very well known for going after pitches 0:07:17.200 --> 0:07:19.640 that other people would have taken as a ball, clear 0:07:19.720 --> 0:07:24.320 balls well high and outside high and inside low and whatever. 0:07:24.760 --> 0:07:26.440 And he would go after him, and he would hit 0:07:26.520 --> 0:07:28.679 him a lot of the time, which is one reason 0:07:28.720 --> 0:07:30.800 why his batting average was so high, because he would 0:07:30.840 --> 0:07:34.400 go after those pitches that other people, um would just 0:07:34.480 --> 0:07:37.440 let go by, and then in hitting them, he would 0:07:37.480 --> 0:07:41.240 send him into places where you wouldn't expect him. Being 0:07:41.240 --> 0:07:43.640 a right handed bat or two hit so he could 0:07:43.640 --> 0:07:46.880 get to base pretty pretty um frequently too. He also 0:07:46.960 --> 0:07:48.920 was a fast runner, but he ran like he was 0:07:49.000 --> 0:07:52.640 out of his mind completely. Yeah, it's it's pretty fun 0:07:52.640 --> 0:07:57.040 to see him run. He would hit pitch outs, which, 0:07:57.160 --> 0:07:59.360 if you, like I said, if you don't know baseball, 0:07:59.440 --> 0:08:02.520 pitch out is when uh, there's somebody on first base 0:08:03.400 --> 0:08:07.720 and the catcher signals to the picture right before they 0:08:07.760 --> 0:08:11.120 throw that the gown first is gonna steal second, so 0:08:11.160 --> 0:08:14.720 they throw it completely out of the strikes. The catcher 0:08:14.760 --> 0:08:17.440 can stand up and catch it to make the throat 0:08:17.440 --> 0:08:19.000 a second and that's called the pitch out. It's not 0:08:19.240 --> 0:08:21.560 not even a real pitch. And he would swing and 0:08:21.640 --> 0:08:24.240 hit pitch outs, which is that's awesome. No one does that. 0:08:24.320 --> 0:08:26.800 It's unheard of. It's crazy. Yeah, that is crazy. So 0:08:27.400 --> 0:08:29.680 it suffice to say that Roberto Clemente is one of 0:08:29.720 --> 0:08:32.760 the great baseball players of all time because he had 0:08:32.800 --> 0:08:35.480 it all. But it was also, it turns out, but 0:08:35.640 --> 0:08:37.839 really great human being in a lot of ways too. 0:08:38.160 --> 0:08:41.600 He was an activist for civil rights during the civil 0:08:41.679 --> 0:08:45.040 rights era um and he was also a humanitarian as 0:08:45.080 --> 0:08:48.160 we'll see, like he really cared about other people and 0:08:48.280 --> 0:08:52.040 especially the plight of people who were less fortunate than 0:08:52.120 --> 0:08:56.160 him because he came from less fortunate circumstances to begin with, 0:08:56.600 --> 0:08:59.319 and he never forgot it. Like he was genuinely one 0:08:59.360 --> 0:09:02.680 of those guys who never let his fame get to 0:09:02.720 --> 0:09:05.040 his head. In the ways that he let his fame 0:09:05.120 --> 0:09:08.040 get to his head was in say animosity towards the 0:09:08.080 --> 0:09:10.960 sporting press or or saying like, you guys aren't giving 0:09:10.960 --> 0:09:13.439 me enough credit for being what a great player I am. 0:09:13.480 --> 0:09:15.400 That was separate. That was different when it came to 0:09:15.440 --> 0:09:19.000 people outside of baseball, just everyday people he was He 0:09:19.160 --> 0:09:23.880 was friends with those people throughout his whole career in life. Yes, 0:09:24.080 --> 0:09:26.920 and that is why Major League Baseball has honored him 0:09:26.920 --> 0:09:30.520 with the Roberto Clemente Award every year, which is given 0:09:30.559 --> 0:09:34.559 to the player that they feel best represents the humanitarian 0:09:34.800 --> 0:09:39.120 and humanitarian and philanthropic side of the game or outside 0:09:39.160 --> 0:09:41.840 the game rather. So quite quite an honor to have 0:09:41.840 --> 0:09:44.960 an award named after you. So I think we should 0:09:45.000 --> 0:09:47.080 take a break and then maybe go back to the 0:09:47.120 --> 0:10:19.400 beginning where and when he was born? Right after this? Alrighty, So, 0:10:19.720 --> 0:10:22.320 clement A was born in Puerto Rico. He's born in 0:10:22.360 --> 0:10:26.800 a little town called Carolina or Carolina, and it was 0:10:27.000 --> 0:10:31.320 sugarcane territory, sugarcane plantations, and his dad he was actually 0:10:31.360 --> 0:10:35.120 born Roberto Clemente Walker. His mother's maiden name was Walker 0:10:35.800 --> 0:10:38.520 and his father's name was clement A, so he used 0:10:38.559 --> 0:10:41.880 both until he got into baseball. And he was born 0:10:41.920 --> 0:10:44.880 in the middle of the Great Depression. Uh, the youngest 0:10:44.960 --> 0:10:49.880 of seven kids. Very tough way to be born into life, 0:10:50.160 --> 0:10:52.200 it was. But I mean, like if you're you know, 0:10:52.360 --> 0:10:54.559 if you come from a farming family, it makes sense, 0:10:54.840 --> 0:10:57.880 you know, oh, to have a lot of kids. Yeah, sure, 0:10:58.559 --> 0:11:00.400 And plus you have a lot of people with as 0:11:00.400 --> 0:11:04.719 you're growing up too. That is very true. So UM 0:11:04.920 --> 0:11:08.360 he his father was actually a foreman on a sugarcane plantation. 0:11:08.920 --> 0:11:13.840 UM and his mom was a huge influence in his life. 0:11:13.880 --> 0:11:16.120 I get the impression slightly more of an influence than 0:11:16.679 --> 0:11:19.480 his father was even But one of the things that 0:11:19.640 --> 0:11:21.720 um she had hoped for her son was that he 0:11:21.760 --> 0:11:25.160 would become uh, he would study engineering. I'm not sure why, 0:11:25.200 --> 0:11:28.040 but she wanted him to become an engineer, and he said, yeah, 0:11:28.160 --> 0:11:31.040 I really like playing baseball, like to the point where 0:11:31.480 --> 0:11:34.840 he and his brothers and his friends would make baseballs 0:11:34.840 --> 0:11:38.160 out of whatever was handy, Like they would put like 0:11:38.280 --> 0:11:41.480 stones in a sock, they would wad up paper tape, 0:11:41.480 --> 0:11:43.800 whatever they could get their hands on, and use whatever 0:11:43.840 --> 0:11:45.760 they could for a bat, and they would play baseball. 0:11:46.120 --> 0:11:49.240 And then as they got a little older and started 0:11:49.280 --> 0:11:52.040 to start playing in school, they had actual equipment to 0:11:52.080 --> 0:11:55.160 play with and they would just play constantly. I read 0:11:55.280 --> 0:11:57.840 he had ten home runs once in a game that 0:11:57.920 --> 0:12:01.400 started at eleven am and ended after six because they 0:12:01.440 --> 0:12:03.920 just kept playing and playing and playing like that's all 0:12:04.000 --> 0:12:06.320 he wanted to do was play baseball. And one of 0:12:06.320 --> 0:12:08.680 the reasons why is because he was really really good 0:12:08.679 --> 0:12:11.760 at it. From a very young age. Yeah, I think 0:12:11.880 --> 0:12:16.000 the UM I have a theory about Caribbean players that 0:12:16.120 --> 0:12:20.800 they developed so well because so many of them don't 0:12:20.840 --> 0:12:23.720 have the right gear growing up, and especially back then, 0:12:24.440 --> 0:12:26.160 because if you're out there with a broomstick and a 0:12:26.160 --> 0:12:29.000 bottle cap, imagine what that does for your hand eye 0:12:29.000 --> 0:12:31.599 coordination to when you have like a real barrel of 0:12:31.640 --> 0:12:34.920 a baseball bat and a baseball Like it's no wonder 0:12:34.960 --> 0:12:37.240 that he could hit anything if you're growing up hitting 0:12:37.240 --> 0:12:40.600 bottle caps. And this wasn't just him, so many Dominican 0:12:40.679 --> 0:12:44.200 and Puerto Rican and Cuban um and now just all 0:12:44.240 --> 0:12:46.640 over the place. Uh, in the Caribbean players are coming 0:12:46.720 --> 0:12:49.920 up and they I think they make do with less 0:12:50.600 --> 0:12:53.920 as children and that really really hones their skills in 0:12:53.960 --> 0:12:57.120 ways that UM And you know, there's a baseball problem 0:12:57.120 --> 0:13:00.480 in America period like that far or far fewer kids 0:13:00.480 --> 0:13:02.920 are growing up playing baseball now and there's far fewer 0:13:02.960 --> 0:13:06.080 American baseball players now as a result. So one of 0:13:06.120 --> 0:13:09.160 the reason Chucky is super into baseball was because the 0:13:09.200 --> 0:13:11.880 whole island of Puerto Rico was into baseball at the time, 0:13:11.960 --> 0:13:15.520 like it had been exported a couple of decades before 0:13:15.559 --> 0:13:19.360 he was born. From Cuba to Puerto Rico. And then 0:13:19.400 --> 0:13:23.040 also by the time he was playing UM, the Puerto 0:13:23.120 --> 0:13:27.760 Rican UM baseball leagues had really developed into something substantial 0:13:28.440 --> 0:13:31.480 and they played their season in the winner. So if 0:13:31.520 --> 0:13:35.360 you were an American ballplayer, UM, you could play in 0:13:35.400 --> 0:13:39.120 your off season down in the Caribbean is specifically in 0:13:39.160 --> 0:13:41.360 Puerto Rico, among other places. But Puerto Rico is a 0:13:41.440 --> 0:13:45.000 really attractive place to play because they were so into it. 0:13:45.240 --> 0:13:48.559 There were so many teams and so many good players 0:13:48.600 --> 0:13:52.240 already down there. But one of the yeah, but one 0:13:52.240 --> 0:13:55.640 of the ways that it developed was from especially necro 0:13:55.760 --> 0:13:58.120 league players making their way down there in the off 0:13:58.120 --> 0:14:02.400 season to play UM. I've leave. Roberto Clemente actually played 0:14:02.400 --> 0:14:06.600 a season with Willie Mays himself, and Willie Mays had 0:14:06.600 --> 0:14:10.760 just led the New York Giants to the to win 0:14:10.800 --> 0:14:13.040 the World Series, and a couple of months later he 0:14:13.080 --> 0:14:15.480 was down in Puerto Rico playing during the winter the 0:14:15.520 --> 0:14:18.120 Winter leagues, because that's just what you did when you 0:14:18.160 --> 0:14:20.280 really wanted to play baseball, you go down to the 0:14:20.280 --> 0:14:24.600 Caribbean in the wintertime. Yeah, it's something that still happens, 0:14:24.640 --> 0:14:27.840 and it's mainly what you see now as players younger 0:14:27.880 --> 0:14:30.960 players play winter ball in Puerto Rico too. Uh, just 0:14:31.000 --> 0:14:33.200 hone their skills and to get better. It's not something 0:14:33.200 --> 0:14:35.720 you see a lot of veterans doing. Um. That's why 0:14:35.720 --> 0:14:38.160 it's pretty remarkable and I think shows the love of 0:14:38.200 --> 0:14:40.680 his country in the game that clement A played winter 0:14:40.760 --> 0:14:43.160 ball like every year through his career. Yeah. One of 0:14:43.200 --> 0:14:45.120 the reasons I saw that he did that was because 0:14:45.120 --> 0:14:47.080 he knew that most of the people who lived in 0:14:47.120 --> 0:14:49.560 Puerto Rico wouldn't be able to afford to go up 0:14:49.600 --> 0:14:51.640 to the States to watch him play, and he wanted 0:14:51.680 --> 0:14:53.720 to for them to be able to see him play, 0:14:53.760 --> 0:14:56.400 so he played every year. Another thing, it was, like 0:14:56.440 --> 0:14:59.080 you were saying, some of those younger players hone their 0:14:59.160 --> 0:15:03.920 skills UM down there. He kept his skills honed by 0:15:03.960 --> 0:15:06.800 playing winner ball like, he kept his swing loose, and 0:15:07.080 --> 0:15:10.760 he he didn't fall out of um shape ever, because 0:15:10.760 --> 0:15:16.920 he played baseball basically year round for eighteen twenty years. Yeah. 0:15:16.960 --> 0:15:19.680 So by the time he hits fourteen, he's recruited to 0:15:19.760 --> 0:15:23.840 play UM softball, which is a little weird, but it 0:15:23.880 --> 0:15:26.680 was a competitive softball team, uh, and then eventually an 0:15:26.680 --> 0:15:30.000 amateur baseball team and was making I think like forty 0:15:30.000 --> 0:15:34.240 bucks a week at seventeen playing amateur baseball in Puerto Rico. 0:15:34.520 --> 0:15:38.320 And this was, uh, you know, this was a time 0:15:38.360 --> 0:15:42.600 where you didn't have baseball scouts combing the Caribbean for 0:15:42.600 --> 0:15:45.880 the next new young talent. It was, it was it 0:15:45.920 --> 0:15:48.600 was a very new idea to go to the Caribbean 0:15:48.600 --> 0:15:51.680 defined players, and not a lot of teams. I mean, 0:15:51.720 --> 0:15:53.400 most teams were doing it a little bit, but they 0:15:53.400 --> 0:15:55.600 didn't have the robust scouting programs down there like they 0:15:55.640 --> 0:16:00.400 do now. And they sent, uh the Dodgers of Brooklyn 0:16:00.440 --> 0:16:04.040 Dodgers who very famously broke the color barrier um with 0:16:04.120 --> 0:16:08.000 Jackie Robinson and forty seven sent a scout name Al 0:16:08.080 --> 0:16:13.040 Kimpanis who went down to Puerto Rico saw nineteen year 0:16:13.080 --> 0:16:17.560 old Roberto Clemente in n and said, this guy is 0:16:17.760 --> 0:16:21.440 a five tool dynamo and we need we need to 0:16:21.480 --> 0:16:23.920 get him up here as fast as we can. And 0:16:23.960 --> 0:16:26.800 it wasn't I mean, that was actually kind of um 0:16:26.840 --> 0:16:31.320 insightful of him because it wasn't readily obvious, especially very 0:16:31.320 --> 0:16:34.400 early in his career. Um when he was playing with 0:16:34.480 --> 0:16:37.920 the UH where they called the Kendra Harris the crabbers 0:16:38.640 --> 0:16:41.520 um that he was just gonna be one of the 0:16:41.520 --> 0:16:45.080 all time greats because he swung at lots of pitches 0:16:45.120 --> 0:16:47.520 that other people wouldn't have swung at. He ran like 0:16:47.560 --> 0:16:51.800 he was crazy. Um, he was still finding his his skills. 0:16:51.880 --> 0:16:54.600 But to be able to see how great he was 0:16:54.640 --> 0:16:57.280 going to be UM at that young stage, I mean, 0:16:57.280 --> 0:16:59.680 that's a that's a credit to that. What was his name, 0:16:59.720 --> 0:17:04.359 camp Annis is um I for talent, Yeah, yeah. And 0:17:04.400 --> 0:17:06.960 he went on to be a lifelong baseball executive I 0:17:07.000 --> 0:17:11.280 think retired uh in shame for some like uh racial 0:17:11.280 --> 0:17:15.120 statements he made, but longtime baseball guy. But the Dodgers 0:17:15.119 --> 0:17:18.280 got Clemente. And there was a thing there was a 0:17:18.320 --> 0:17:23.920 rule back then from seven nineteen sixty five that they 0:17:23.920 --> 0:17:26.320 got rid of UH in sixty five for a very 0:17:26.320 --> 0:17:28.679 good reason. That was a little bit weird if you're 0:17:28.720 --> 0:17:31.800 a baseball fan today because it's so different now. But 0:17:31.840 --> 0:17:35.919 the rule was that if you were UH player that 0:17:35.960 --> 0:17:38.359 was signed for more than four thousand dollars as a 0:17:38.440 --> 0:17:41.080 signing bonus, then you had to be on a major 0:17:41.160 --> 0:17:45.920 league baseball roster for two full seasons UH and if 0:17:45.960 --> 0:17:48.119 you weren't, then you would become part of the rookie 0:17:48.200 --> 0:17:51.880 draft and clement A was signed for I think ten 0:17:51.960 --> 0:17:55.159 thousand dollars and I'm not sure why they signed him 0:17:55.200 --> 0:17:57.879 for that much. Maybe he wouldn't have gone for less, 0:17:58.000 --> 0:18:00.440 but it was not a great move. But because this 0:18:00.520 --> 0:18:03.800 meant that the Dodgers had to either take him to 0:18:03.840 --> 0:18:07.560 the major leagues for two full seasons, which was not 0:18:07.680 --> 0:18:09.840 a good call because most players in baseball start out 0:18:09.840 --> 0:18:11.720 in the minor leagues. In fact, all do. No one 0:18:11.920 --> 0:18:14.320 makes that jump straight to the major leagues, even if 0:18:14.320 --> 0:18:16.600 it's just like a cursory half season or so, but 0:18:16.640 --> 0:18:20.159 that's even really rare. But they they kept him in 0:18:20.200 --> 0:18:23.560 the minor leagues and their plan was to hide him 0:18:23.840 --> 0:18:26.080 and literally it would he would go like two months 0:18:26.119 --> 0:18:29.400 between starts because they didn't want they wanted to get 0:18:29.440 --> 0:18:32.680 those two seasons out of the way because after those 0:18:32.720 --> 0:18:34.639 two years, you could send someone to the minor leagues. 0:18:35.000 --> 0:18:38.400 But it didn't work. Um people saw him play and 0:18:38.440 --> 0:18:41.240 even though he didn't get to play much in the 0:18:41.280 --> 0:18:45.680 Pittsburgh Pirates really homed in on him right away. So yeah, 0:18:45.880 --> 0:18:49.840 the Pittsburgh Pirates were um lead. I think their GM 0:18:49.960 --> 0:18:52.440 was branch Rickey, who was the guy who had scouted 0:18:52.520 --> 0:18:55.840 Jackie Robinson and got him onto the Dodgers. Now he 0:18:55.880 --> 0:18:58.760 worked for the Pirates, so he ended up getting his 0:18:58.800 --> 0:19:02.440 hands on Roberto clement Inte and brought him to the Pirates. 0:19:02.600 --> 0:19:06.480 And so apparently when they found out, or when Clemente 0:19:06.520 --> 0:19:08.480 found out that he had been drafted by the Pirates, 0:19:08.560 --> 0:19:10.400 he was down in Puerto Rico, and he said later 0:19:10.440 --> 0:19:13.520 on that he had he didn't really know where Pittsburgh was. 0:19:13.920 --> 0:19:16.000 He he had been excited to play for New York 0:19:16.000 --> 0:19:18.240 because there's a big Puerto Rican community in New York, 0:19:18.280 --> 0:19:20.760 and all of a sudden he sent off to Pittsburgh, 0:19:20.840 --> 0:19:23.960 doesn't know where it is and doesn't really know anybody. 0:19:24.000 --> 0:19:28.200 So this is kind of his his entree into UM America. 0:19:28.240 --> 0:19:30.600 But it actually was even rougher than that, because first 0:19:30.680 --> 0:19:34.840 he started out I guess on Pittsburgh's UM minor league 0:19:34.840 --> 0:19:37.040 team or and that's what it was. It was in 0:19:37.119 --> 0:19:41.439 spring training down in Fort Myers Beach, Florida, UM, and 0:19:41.680 --> 0:19:46.240 he came face to face with the stark reality of 0:19:46.240 --> 0:19:51.440 of basically Jim Crow South in UM the fifties. The 0:19:52.080 --> 0:19:54.720 first thing when he got to America, and he he 0:19:54.920 --> 0:19:56.600 was one of the reasons I said earlier he was 0:19:56.600 --> 0:19:58.680 a civil rights actors because he did not take very 0:19:58.760 --> 0:20:02.440 kindly to that and wrestled and railed against it from 0:20:02.480 --> 0:20:08.680 the outset. Yeah, he didn't. He didn't have any uh, 0:20:08.960 --> 0:20:11.200 he didn't have any frame of reference for this, Like 0:20:11.280 --> 0:20:13.840 he came from Puerto Rico, where this wasn't a thing. 0:20:14.480 --> 0:20:18.880 He um was of African descent, so two Americans. He 0:20:18.960 --> 0:20:21.800 was a black man to him, he was Puerto Rican. 0:20:22.240 --> 0:20:24.840 He was caught between two worlds and didn't understand why 0:20:24.840 --> 0:20:27.000 he had to stay in a different hotel or eating 0:20:27.040 --> 0:20:30.800 a different restaurant than his white UH teammates. And so 0:20:30.960 --> 0:20:33.800 this really upset him. And what upset him even as 0:20:33.920 --> 0:20:38.359 much was how his other black teammates on the team 0:20:38.680 --> 0:20:41.800 understood it and just basically had to take it because 0:20:41.800 --> 0:20:43.639 they were afraid if they caused a ruckus that they 0:20:43.640 --> 0:20:46.040 would be sent back down to the minors. And he 0:20:46.119 --> 0:20:48.280 was just like, you shouldn't be deferential, like what is 0:20:48.320 --> 0:20:51.080 going on in this country? And he he would speak 0:20:51.119 --> 0:20:53.440 to the sporting press about this stuff, and the sporting 0:20:53.480 --> 0:20:58.480 press either would just ignores comments about that or actually, yes, 0:20:58.520 --> 0:21:00.560 they would ignore his comments about it and they would 0:21:00.600 --> 0:21:03.159 just talk about whatever he said about the game. But 0:21:03.280 --> 0:21:06.560 then to kind of heap um the sense that he 0:21:06.640 --> 0:21:10.160 was an outsider and an outsider that wasn't respected because 0:21:10.160 --> 0:21:12.159 he was looked down upon because of his race and 0:21:12.200 --> 0:21:17.240 his his um origin. Um. They would quote him phonetically 0:21:17.640 --> 0:21:21.000 in the press. So when he said, you know, um, 0:21:21.400 --> 0:21:23.600 I think he said there was a headline that famously 0:21:23.600 --> 0:21:27.639 said like I get a hit, I feel good, but 0:21:27.760 --> 0:21:31.520 they spelled it out like I get heat h E 0:21:31.520 --> 0:21:34.479 E T is how they spelled hit, I feel good. 0:21:35.320 --> 0:21:38.879 That was a headline in the Pittsburgh newspapers after a 0:21:38.960 --> 0:21:42.720 really big game. And he found that extremely demeaning. Uh, 0:21:42.760 --> 0:21:46.439 and it actually really kind of framed the way that 0:21:46.520 --> 0:21:51.280 he felt about America. Um. Yeah, it framed how he 0:21:51.320 --> 0:21:54.600 felt about America. And don't forget like Puerto Rico was, 0:21:55.040 --> 0:21:57.960 you know, by this time, it was an American territory 0:21:57.960 --> 0:22:01.119 have been for quite a while, so people in Puerto 0:22:01.200 --> 0:22:04.800 Rico had long considered themselves American. People in America didn't 0:22:04.840 --> 0:22:10.000 consider Puerto Ricans, they considered them ethnic, and they Roberto 0:22:10.040 --> 0:22:13.560 Clemento was treated just like any other person from Puerto Rico, 0:22:13.680 --> 0:22:17.919 which was not very well back then. Yeah, So his 0:22:18.000 --> 0:22:21.160 reputation started to develop as a loner. It's a very 0:22:21.200 --> 0:22:24.399 moody player. The Pirates were a really bad team. I 0:22:24.400 --> 0:22:27.800 don't think we mentioned that UM at the time, just terrible, 0:22:27.800 --> 0:22:30.480 like one of the worst teams in baseball. He didn't 0:22:30.520 --> 0:22:33.439 catch on in his first few years there either. I 0:22:33.440 --> 0:22:35.280 think in his first five seasons he only hit over 0:22:35.320 --> 0:22:37.840 three hundred one time, and a lot of this was 0:22:37.920 --> 0:22:41.360