365 Days of Roberto Clemente

[71buc]

On Sept 24, 1971 the Mets hosted the Bucs at Shea. That night Puerto Rican politicians, dignitaries, celebrities, and NY businessmen sponsored Roberto Clemente night. The Mets Spanish speaking radio station WADO 1280 hosted the event. They handed out a limited number of these buttons. The ticket stub is from that game. The photo of Roberto and Vera is a Type 1 from that day. Today I picked up this program. Judging by the contents they were given out to guests invited to attended a private dinner for Clemente held at the NY Commodore Hotel following the game. This is the first one I have actually seen. It consists of about 50 pages detailing Clementes prowess and social activism. I have to be believe they are pretty rare the fist page is an introduction from the Senator from Puerto Rico and is signed in ink. The only color images are on the front and back. I likely over paid for this item. But when you see something for the first time in 45 years of collecting you pull the trigger...and don’t tell your wife.

[Empty77]

I agree . . . don't tell the wife.

(if it can be helped; and besides, everyone already has enough on their minds these days)

[docpatlv]

Great pickup Mike! I haven’t seen that program before. Nice grouping of items. Not long ago I picked up my 3rd WADO pin. One of my favorite pin backs of Roberto.

[JollyElm]

I didn't scour the thread to see if it has been posted before (I gotta imagine someone beat me to it), but I stumbled upon a video of Roberto Clemente's last(?) interview and thought I would add it to the thread. I am only a couple of minutes in, but it's great seeing him speaking. Awesome really...and man, he still looked so young. The man never seemed to age.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFEH5nxSoKc


Edited to add: He pulled a 'Pretty Woman' at the furniture store 20 years before the movie came out!! That must've been the inspiration for Julia Roberts' character!!!!

[quitcrab]

Picked up this booklet-Clemente is featured showing the youth of America how to Throw.

[quitcrab]

RC1.jpg

[docpatlv]

Originally Posted by quitcrab

Picked up this booklet-Clemente is featured showing the youth of America how to Throw.

Cool booklet. He did have one heck of an arm.

[JollyElm]

There was something, perhaps unnoticed by most, rather interesting in the video I posted, and I forgot to mention it. The interviewer repeatedly (respectfully) addresses Clemente as Roberto. And when he mentions how the press skipped over his 3,000th hit, he says something to the effect of, "Roberto Clemente only got a line or two in the magazine," etc. But at times when they're chatting, he unhesitatingly calls him "Bobby." They were clearly friends, or friendly towards each other. The demeanor between the two, the body language, etc., shows warmth, if not affection. These days (in hindsight), people love to bring up how 'racist' it was that he was called 'Bob' on many of his baseball cards (those same people just ignore the fact that a gazillion other players of all colors named Robert or William were called 'Bob' or 'Bill' on their cards, as that's clearly the accepted American shorthand for those names.) But if the people around him were using 'Bobby' when they conversed, then you have to wonder if that specifically ever really was as big an issue as some would have you believe.

(Please, for the love of God, no one start a friggin' argument about this. I'm just noting something that has puzzled me the last couple of years since I first heard that particular claim. While growing up, not once did I ever hear that 'Bob' Clemente was a racist thing.)

On a side note, I did a quick ebay search for "1964 Topps Bob" and came up with this long list of other (baseball) players who had the name 'Bob' or 'Bobby' on their cards that year. Surely, some of these 33 players went by Robert (or some other name) in their everyday lives, right??

Bob Allen
Bob Allison
Bob Aspromonte
Bob Bailey
Bobby Bolin
Bob Bruce
Bob Buhl
Bob Chance
Bob Duliba
Bob Friend
Bob Gibson
Bob Heffner
Bob Hendley
Bob Johnson
Bob Kennedy
Bobby Knoop
Bob Lee
Bob Lillis
Bob Meyer
Bob Miller
Bob Perry
Bob Priddy
Bob Purkey
Bob Rodgers
Bob Sadowski
Bob Saverine
Bob Shaw
Bob Skinner
Bob Taylor
Bob Tiefenauer
Bob Tillman
Bob Uecker
Bob Veale

[docpatlv]

Originally Posted by JollyElm

I didn't scour the thread to see if it has been posted before (I gotta imagine someone beat me to it), but I stumbled upon a video of Roberto Clemente's last(?) interview and thought I would add it to the thread. I am only a couple of minutes in, but it's great seeing him speaking. Awesome really...and man, he still looked so young. The man never seemed to age.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFEH5nxSoKc


Edited to add: He pulled a 'Pretty Woman' at the furniture store 20 years before the movie came out!! That must've been the inspiration for Julia Roberts' character!!!!

Great interview, thanks for posting! Will show that to my kids.