I never think about that before the season. Toward the end of the year I start thinking about it. Not before. I did it last year by just meeting the … - Roberto Clemente
" "I never think about that before the season. Toward the end of the year I start thinking about it. Not before. I did it last year by just meeting the ball, he said. I didn't swing hard at all. I think I'm going to do the same thing this year. We have two good hitters behind me now and I don't have to swing so hard. He means Donn Clendenon and Willie Stargell. The two hit a total of 41 homers to Clemente's 10 last year. They always say we need someone to hit home runs. We got some guys who can now. I don't care for home runs. I showed 'em I could do it when I hit 23 in 1961. Home runs aren't that important, though. Not to me, anyway.
About Roberto Clemente
Roberto Enrique Clemente Walker (August 18, 1934 – December 31, 1972) was a Puerto Rican Major League baseball player from 1955 through 1972, exclusively with the Pittsburgh Pirates. A posthumous inductee to the National Baseball Hall of Fame (following his fatal plane crash on December 31, 1972, en route to deliver aid to earthquake victims in Nicaragua), Clemente became both the first Latin American and the first Caribbean player to be enshrined. The National League's Most Valuable Player in 1966, as well as the 1971 World Series MVP, Clemente was also a 4-time NL batting champion, 12-time Gold Glove winner, and 12-time All-Star.
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Additional quotes by Roberto Clemente
Listen, I shouldn't even be playing. I showed up at spring training and I told the ball club about my accident. I said my shoulder had been damaged and the ballclub said "Sh-h-h, don't talk so loud. Somebody might hear you; Now, don't tell anybody about this." They said, "I don't want to know about it." Well, I tell you, it hurts me to swing a bat and, when I know it is going to hurt, it bothers me mentally and I do not swing the same and I wince when I think of hitting the ball. I should be home, not here in the dugout, because [sic] I would rather play even if I am crippled than to sit and watch a game.