Roberto Clemente - Clemente Quotes

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Roberto Clemente aches. That's a good sign. "It has to happen," says the MVP. "If it doesn't, that means you're not working hard enough. [...] I play when I ache. Sometimes I tell somebody I ache. I'm not complaining. I'm just telling 'em how I feel."

Roberto Clemente
"If they are hurt, they are hurt and should not be expected to play," said the Pirates' super star, who last week in Philadelphia said he would not play in the All-Star game because of a painful neck injury. Detroit's Al Kaline and Dick McAuliffe, and Boston's Rico Petrocelli requested to be left off the All-Star team because of injuries. [...] Clemente said the pain in his neck has eased following treatment at the Logan College Chripractic Center in St. Louis last weekend. "If I still felt like I did a week ago in St. Louis, I would not be here tonight."

Roberto Clemente
"I hit it good and thought it was going over the wall when it left my bat," he observed. Clemente also said this is the fifth time he has hit a ball that was within inches of clearing the fence at the 436-foot sign—two against the Dodgers and two against the Braves.

Roberto Clemente
Clemente had his left shoulder treated by his friend, Arturo Garcia, in San Juan. "There is some tissue in my shoulder that is flat and it should be round," Clemente said. "That man (Garcia) has helped me. He helped my right shoulder last year. I have great faith in that man."

Roberto Clemente
Although still hitting the ball hard, Clemente claims he won't be at his best until he plays in mid-summer weather. "I no play so gut yet," he tried to explain recently. "Me like hot weather, veree hot. I no run fast cold weather. No get warm in cold. No get warm, no play gut. You see." Clemente likes Forbes Field because of the spacious playing area in right field but has developed a strong dislike for Ebbets Field and the Polo Grounds since he can't fathom the way the balls ricochet off the walls there.

Roberto Clemente
That's what I like about the World Series. It gives me a chance to talk with lots of writers, a chance for them to understand me better than in the past. When Roberto Clemente is mentioned, he is always mentioned with injuries. They say I'm moody, selfish, temperamental. That's not the real me. I was born with a serious face. If you know my life, if you know me well by taking the time to learn to know me, then you'll understand me. Most places I go, people say "smile." I don't like that. I don't believe in being a hypocrite. If the occasion is for smiling, I will be smiling. I'm a very happy person.

Roberto Clemente
"If I don't have trouble with my stomach I think I can be up among the leading hitters in the league again this year. When I am bothered with my stomach," Clemente said, "it leaves me weak. Then instead of just swinging to meet the ball I begin over-swinging and it messes me up." Clemente's trouble has been described as a nervous stomach. "Funny thing," he said, "I am bothered more when I go home than when I'm in the States. I'm seriously thinking about spending the next winter in Pittsburgh."

Roberto Clemente
If you think you've seen the best of Roberto Clemente so far in a Pirate uniform, wait until the weather is more to his liking—very hot.. "I no play so gut yet," the Puerto Rican star tried to explain yesterday. "Me like hot weather, veree hot. I no run fast cold weather. No get warm in cold. No get warm, no play gut. You see." Clemente likes Forbes Field and Connie Mack Stadium the best of all the parks he's played in but has a strong dislike for Ebbets Field and the Polo Grounds because of the crazy bounces the balls take as they ricochet off the walls.

Roberto Clemente
The Pirate rightfielder seems a bit miffed because the new owners of the Santurce team in the Puerto Rican league upped and sold him [to San Juan] when they bought the team this season. "I didn't like the trade," Clemente explained. "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."

Roberto Clemente
Som' co-lored people I understand saying "Clemente, he do not like co-lored people. This is not the truth at all. Look at me. Look at my skin. I am not of the white people. I hav' color the skin. That is the first theeing I straighten out. I like all the people, both co-lored and white; and since I am co-lored myself, I would be seely hate myself. Thees' people tell me I don't like colored people. Well, I use this time to tell deeferent. I like myself, so I also like the people who are like me.

Roberto Clemente