Posted on 09/30/2019 8:13:40 AM PDT by fugazi
On Sept. 30, 1972, Roberto Clemente passed Honus Wagner for most games ever played by a Pittsburgh Pirate, but the fans in Three Rivers Stadium witnessed a much more important milestone that day. Pitching for Yogi Berra's New York Mets was Jon Matlack, a lefthander that won 15 games that year and would be awarded the National League Rookie of the Year. He struck out Clemente in the first inning, but Clemente smoked a double off the leftfield wall in the fourth -- hit number 3,000.
At that point, Clemente was just the 11th player to reach the 3,000-hit milestone. He is pulled from the game afterwards for a pinch hitter, fellow future Hall-of-Famer Bill Mazeroski. It will be Clemente's last regular season at-bat of his career; he is killed in a plane crash while delivering aid to victims of an earthquake in Nicaragua after the Cincinnati Reds eliminate the Pirates from the playoffs.
On this same date in 1927, the New York Yankees were about to close out what many argue is the best season in Major League Baseball history. Fans packed "The House that Ruth Built" to see the Bambino break baseball's homerun record -- which he set in 1921. Ruth was absolutely on fire, having hit 16 home runs just in the month of September, hitting numbers 58 and 59 the day before.
To put in perspective how impressive Ruth's 1927 season was: the Babe hit more home runs by himself than 12 out of 16 teams did. He finished the year hitting .356, drove in 165 runs, and led the league in walks with 137.
Washington Senator pitcher Tom Zachary walked Ruth in the first inning on four pitches. He then
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I believe I saw the other day that Sept 30 was also the last at bat for The Great Ted Williams
A home run. Not surprising
What was surprising was it was 1960 I thought he played awhile after that
Thanks for posting. Great memories of Roberto (I can still picture his unique swing). That guy could hit anything. The best bad ball hitter the game has ever seen. A simpler time.
I remember where I was and what I was doing when the news came on the radio about Roberto Clemente’s death.
What gets lost in the fog of time is that prior to Ruth, the home run wasn’t considered an offensive weapon. They believed it tactically superior to keep the ball in play (to keep men on base and pressure on the pitcher) and nobody swung for the fence. When Ruth hit 29 dingers in 1919, he was breaking a record that had stood since 1884!!!
Two years later he hit 59.
It doesn’t matter how many homers players who came after Ruth might hit, it still doesn’t compare to his accomplishments being the first player to use the long ball as a tactical weapon, MORE THAN doubling the home run record in the process.
Records come and go but it’s unlikely anyone will ever have as great an impact on the way baseball is played, and George Herman Ruth will always be the Sultan of Swat.
Ruth was the greatest baseball player who ever lived.
He was the best left-handed pitcher in the American League, at a time when pitching dominated the game.
Then he became the greatest slugger ever seen, by an incalculable margin.
He also stole home 10 times in his career, a feat few modern players can match.
The Sultan of Swat indeed!
Most of the picture that people see if Ruth are from the twilight of his career. When he was coming up & at his career height he was a moose!
Well look at the size of some of those ball parks back then. They weren’t the Little League Fields they play on today. So going for a home run wasn’t good strategy
Another interesting thing about Ruth, before 1930 there was no foul pole. So even on balls over the fence, it was where the ball landed whether it was call fair or foul. Think of all the hook shots of today that wrap around the foul pole. Ruth might have 75 to 100 more career home runs if the foul pole was always around.
“if Ruth” should be “of Ruth”!
Sure wish we could edit posts!
Imagine what Roberto Clemente stats would be if he was not in that plane crash.
FTA: Ruth’s 1927 season was: the Babe hit more home runs by himself than 12 out of 16 teams did. He finished the year hitting .356, drove in 165 runs, and led the league in walks with 137.
Babe Ruth did all this on a diet of hot dogs and beer and hookers.
Way back when, the ball was kept in play while it got mushy. No replacement just because there was a nick or a scuff.
Ruth was a pitcher, so he wasn’t taught to swing for contact like other hitters.
Finally, Ruth was one of the first hitters to use a knob at the end of the bat. It gave him more leverage than others.
Can't deny that but today's players are bigger, faster and have off season training regimens that the Ruth's of that day never had.
In other words, the players of that time, along with the NFL players of that time, would never achieve the same greatness today.........
Clemente was the best I ever saw. Others have better stats, but Clemente was hurt by playing much of his career in cavernous Forbes Field (456 ft to straightaway CF IIRC). He would be top 10 all time had he played in a normal park.
I can still picture him, dragging his butt to the plate like every bone in his body hurt, twitching his neck and setting up in the very back of the batter’s box, and ripping a low and away pitch into the right center gap.....or sliding into a catch in RF, popping up and throwing a strike to home plate to throw out some fool that tried to run on him.
July 25, 1956 Roberto Clemente hit an inside the ball park, grand slam, walk off, homerun.
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