So who was better ( Kaline or Clemente) ?

[SAllen2556]

Does anyone know if Clemente ever commented on when he would retire? He was certainly going strong in his later years, way more than Kaline was. He only played 102 games in 1972. Was he becoming injury prone?

It certainly appears from his stats that Clemente could have easily played another 4 or 5 years, which would have put him at about 5th all-time in hits upon retirement in, say, 1977.

Those extra years would have caught him up to Kaline in plate appearances, and at that point would have likely put him at over 500 doubles and 3400 hits.

[Mark17]

Originally Posted by SAllen2556

Does anyone know if Clemente ever commented on when he would retire?

Yes, and it will send shivers up your spine. He said, in June of 1970, that he wanted to play until he got 3,000 hits.

Hear it in his own words:

http://vendiamo.com/Miley/Clemente.wav

As we know, he died with exactly 3,000 base hits.

[packs]

Maybe an alternate take on things but I actually think Clemente's death hurt his overall collectability more than it enhanced it. Had Clemente lived, he would have seen the landscape of baseball change completely. Hispanic players are now a dominant force in Major League Baseball, particularly players from Puerto Rico and other surrounding islands.

It's my opinion and speculative (obviously) but I believe if Clemente had lived, his influence on today's game would be felt more and he would be closer to the make up of the league than he ended up being as a tragic hero.

I think he would be a Jackie Robinson-like figure if he had lived a full life and had enough time to comment on his experiences as the pioneer he was.

[Peter_Spaeth]

It is weird to think of certain players not having died young. Ruth easily could have lived well into the 1970s, and Gehrig well into the 1980s, for example. I mean, imagine Ruth being in the press box commenting on the 1975 WS, or Gehrig on the 1986 WS?

Was Clemente a guy who would have stayed involved with baseball, or would he have gone back home and lived an insular life?

[packs]

It truly is a shame. So many of the hurdles have been removed that a guy like Clemente, had he lived, would have really been able to tell his story. The language barrier is almost non-existent now. Spanish is a colloquial language in America today and has been for quite a while.

He would have been far less of an enigma had he lived another few decades. Not just because he would been alive, but also because the landscape of America has changed so much.

[Peter_Spaeth]

I've read interesting stories about Vic Power, who I guess was roughly a contemporary of Clemente and Puerto Rican, apparently as a very young man he was considered a prospective superstar but the Yankees wanted no part of him because he dated white women.