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Roberto Clemente Quotes
1934–1972 United States
Roberto Enrique Clemente Walker (August 18, 1934 – December 31, 1972) was a Puerto Rican Major League baseball player from 1955 through 1972, exclusively with the Pittsburgh Pirates. A posthumous inductee to the National Baseball Hall of Fame (following his fatal plane crash on December 31, 1972, en route to deliver aid to earthquake victims in Nicaragua), Clemente became both the first Latin American and the first Caribbean player to be enshrined.
United States Baptists Baseball players Random Roberto Clemente quote
92 quotes
Roberto Clemente doesn't care too much for New York. Says there are too many people and everybody is in too much of a hurry. He had one ride on the subway with Felipe Montemayor as his guide and they got lost.
I don't know. I don't know. I want to be happy because I have never hit three home runs in one game. But how can I be happy when we lose?
Everybody, they say Roberto just swings the bat and hits the ball. I work hard. No one works harder than I do. People think things come easy to me. They don't.
We are on the field doing what we love to do. They have to work in the mill or other places eight hours a day, and work much harder than us and they pay their way in.
I couldn't stand the pain. All the doctors said there was nothing wrong with my spine because there was nothing they could see. But the chiropractors said they thought they could help and they did.
I was too aggressive. I should not have been so foolish. I am a craftsman in baseball. I look like rookie.
The first thing the average white Latin American player does when he comes to the States is associate with other whites. He doesn't want to be seen with Latin Negroes, even from his own country, because he's afraid people might think he's colored.
We must all live together and work together no matter what race or nationality. If you have an opportunity to accomplish something that will make things better for someone coming behind you, and you don't do that, you are wasting your time on this earth.
I didn't like the trade. Santurce is close to my home town and I like the fans there. They good to me and cheer me all the time. I may not go back. I may work in Pittsburgh.
I could always hit a home run, but if I try to do that all the time, maybe I not hit over .300. I am more valuable to my team hitting .330, .340, than I am swinging for home runs.
Writers used to say, "You don't drive in 100 runs," but they forget I played for the worst team in baseball from 1955 to 1960. I didn't drive in runs because there was no one to drive in.
I would have to say myself, but it would not look good for me to say it. I just have confidence I am the best because I believe in myself. If I had to pick another player, it would be Hank Aaron. He does everything so well.
Clendenon isn't like he was last year. If he comes back again, I'll start punching the ball again. But I've been taking a good cut and swinging hard.
I had offers from Dodgers, Giants and Braves. Braves offer same amount as Dodgers but I have many friends on Brooklyn team. I feel more at home there and I sign.
During the winter I feel real bad. I lost 18 pounds but I’ve picked my weight back up a little since then. I don’t feel too strong and sometimes when I run I get short of breath. Sometime I feel good and sometime I don’t feel like playing ball at all.
I owe a lot to the opportunities I have had. I think we have a great country, and the day that all people of all races have equal opportunity to be useful to their community, we're going to have a better country.
They pick us for sixth and seventh place. But if we fight, we are going to make it to the top. Myself, when I think I can do one thing and some one else thinks the opposite, I have to prove to the world that I can.
We play too many games with too much traveling. We should stay in one city longer and have a day off now and then. It would be beneficial for the teams, keep them in top physical shape more.
I won't play ball in the winter. I gonna rest. If the pain is still there, I won't come back to spring training. I don't want to play the way I play now. I can't do nothing. That's like I steal money from the club.
They always say we need someone to hit home runs. We got some guys who can now. I don’t care for home runs. I showed ’em I could do it when I hit 23 in 1961. Home runs aren’t that important, though. Not to me, anyway.