Roberto Clemente - People Quotes

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I really don't know if I cried. If I did, it was tears not of pain, but of the sentiments my people are made of.

Roberto Clemente
They call my people 'Spics' in New York. These are poor people struggling to make a living and should be treated like people and not animals.

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
When I put on my uniform, I feel I am the proudest man on earth. The players should pay the people to come and see us play.

Roberto Clemente
Good public relations. When I was a rookie in 1955, I was lonesome and had no place to go. So I didn't mind staying to sign autographs. I have found people treat you like you treat them.

Roberto Clemente
If we have respect for our fathers and we have respect for our children, we will have a better life. I watched on TV when America sent men to the moon, and there were a lot of people whose names weren't given who helped make it possible. You don't have the names of those who run the computers and other things. But they worked together and this is what you have to have... Chinese, American, Jewish, black and white, people working side by side.

This is what you have to do to make this a better life. When you can give opportunity to everybody, we won't have to wait to die to get to heaven. We are going to have heaven on earth.

Roberto Clemente
The Latin American player doesn't get the recognition he deserves. Neither does the Negro player, unless he does something spectacular, like Willie Mays. We have self-satisfaction, yes. But after the season is over, nobody cares about us. Zoilo Versalles was the Most Valuable Player in the American League, but how many times has he been asked to make appearances at dinners or meetings during the winter? Juan Marichal is one of the greatest pitchers in the game, but does he get invited to banquets? … I am an American citizen … but some people act like they think I live in the jungle someplace. This is a matter of sports, of a man's ability and his accomplishments. What matters what language he speaks best?

Roberto Clemente
Many people tell me I wanna play like Weelie. I no play like Mays. From little boy up, I always play like thees. I always wanna run fast, to throw long and heet far.

Roberto Clemente
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.

Roberto Clemente
My greatest satisfaction comes from helping to erase the old opinion about Latin American and black ballplayers. People had the wrong opinion. They never questioned our ability but they considered us inferior in our station of life. Simply because many of us were poor, we were thought to be low class. Even our integrity was questioned. I don't blame the fans for that; I blame the writers. They made it look like we were something different entirely from the white players. We're not. We're the same.

Roberto Clemente
I tell you, I'd be lucky to hit.280 in New York. There are too many people in New York, and if you don't want to be a bad guy, you must go to all the dinners and meetings. How could I concentrate on baseball? I have so many good friends in New York that it is hard to turn them down. But it is that way every place on the road. I tell the hotel that I will not be disturb,[sic] but people find me anyway.

Roberto Clemente
I sent eleven people there. All of them have families in Puerto Rico. The least I can do is be with them tonight.

Roberto Clemente
I want to thank my teammates for being a bunch of swell guys. I want to thank Branch Rickey for giving me the opportunity of playing baseball. Most of all I want to thank the people of Pittsburgh whose encouragement helped me win this award. They deserve the best.

Roberto Clemente
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.

Roberto Clemente
A lot of my countrymen are here tonight, and I don't really know whether I love you more or them more, but I do know this: you people in Pittsburgh are the greatest fans in the world!

Roberto Clemente
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.

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