If you pitch me inside, I will hit the fucking ball to Harrisburg. - Roberto Clemente

I listened to the San Juan games on the radio and my idol was Monte Irvin, because he not only was a good hitter but had a very good arm. Even my friends called me Monte Irvin as a nickname. I never thought I’d be good enough to play pro ball. I always felt you had to be like Superman to play professionally. But in 1952, at age 17, I signed a contract with Santurce. My bonus? It was $500 and one glove. They also paid me $30 a week. Two years later – when I was 19 – there were eight or nine big league teams after me and I signed with the Dodgers for a $10,000 bonus. This was a big day in my life.

Blass, if you pitch me inside, I will hit forty-three home runs a year, thirty-seven of them off you!

I sick, I have nervous stomach. I can hardly eat. I'm taking lot of vitamins and I'm getting stronger. But I still sick. [...] Clemente said he's been bothered by stomach trouble since last August. During the winter I feel real bad. I lost 18 pounds but I've picked my weight back up a little since then. I don't feel too strong and sometimes when I run I get short of breath. Sometime I feel good and sometime I don't feel like playing ball at all. [...] If I get a little stronger, I hit with more power and I help the club more.