Clemente: Inner circle of the elite, or on his way?

[clydepepper]

Originally Posted by pclpads

Nobody, but nobody ever or now had / has the arm that RC had. Just a lazer shot for runners foolish enough to try stretching a double into a triple. Had he played another 4 years, I think he would now be the all time hits leader.

+1

...and his power numbers were somewhat suppressed by playing half his games...for many years in the cavernous Forbes field. I say somewhat suppressed because Clemente wasn't a pull-power hitter, but a slash, line-drive type.

I was so thankful to watch his diamond art-work in the '71 Series!

Not every truly great player has gaudy stats, though 3,000 hits is pretty damn gaudy!

The circumstances of his death left us wanting more...

[Baseball Rarities]

Originally Posted by clydepepper

...and his power numbers were somewhat suppressed by playing half his games...for many years in the cavernous Forbes field. I say somewhat suppressed because Clemente wasn't a pull-power hitter, but a slash, line-drive type.

Unfortunately, I never saw him play, but looking at his lifetime splits, his slugging percentage was actually higher at home than on the road - .488 vs .463. He did hit more home runs on the road though - 138 vs 102.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Looking at his stats from the hindsight of the sabremetric era, he really walked very little which is probably why Bill James ranked him so low in his 2002 book (70th or something all time).