I recently purchased this image. The seller reported that it is a photo of Clemente driving his 3000th hit. I asked him about its origin and how he could be certain that the photo depicted the moment he attributed to it. He responded,” I was there with my father (who took the photo) on the day of the 3,000th hit. I probably have the original 35mm slide, along with others”. I am communicating with the seller to purchase the slides in question.
I recently read the book Miracle Ball: My Hunt for the Shot Heard 'Round the World
http://www.amazon.com/Miracle-Ball-H.../dp/0307452697 and was fascinated by the attempt to find the famous ball through the use of photographic studies. It is a great read. Nonetheless, the book inspired me to see if I could match this photo to the event it supposedly records.
The first photos show how the image arrived in the mail. It was professionally framed at a custom frame shop in Pittsburgh. The frame is vintage. When I removed the 5X7 image I found that it had been secured with an adhesive to a backing board. Due to this I cannot see the reverse. Although I cannot be certain, judging by the frame’s construction and the apparent age of the print it seems to be an image produced in the 1970’s. The frame was professionally constructed and I believe that the effort taken to present it indicates that the owner believed it to be of significane. I called the number of the frame shop and found that it is no longer in business.
I scanned the image and made no changes to it. I searched online for photos and videos from that day for comparable images. Unfortunately I could find no similar images taken from the third baseline. It appears that all comparable were shot from the first baseline. The video I found was also from that angle and overhead. I made screen captures of the available video. The screen captures are below for comparison. I place arrows on some of them to identify similarities without an explanation because I would like your assessments. The only thing that isn't consistent is that in the video Stargell is wearing a batting glove on his right hand. That glove does not appear in the photo. It would have been unusual for him to wear batting gloves so he may have removed it prior to the at bat? Nonetheless, based on what I have found I tend to believe that the photo I purchased does capture the moment of his 3000th hit. Do you agree? I know that my perception is biased due to ownership. The video I primarily used was imbedded in interesting story regarding the bat Clemente used that day
http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/page...o-clemente-bat