Quick Hits - Happy Birthday Roberto Clemente

My nifty daily baseball calendar says that today is Roberto Clemente’s birthday.  A quick check of the internets says that is the case!  And not only his birthday, this would have been his 80^th birthday.  While I could go on and on about Roberto Clemente, and may do so in the future, I wanted to focus on his 1968 season.  Why?  I’m glad you asked!

Clemente was a fifteen-time All Star.  He made both All Star games in 1960 – 1962, when they had two All Star games, then he made it each year 1963 – 1967.  After a hiatus in the 1968 midsummer classic, he then made the squad 1969 – 1972.  I found it hard to believe that anyone would have been better than Clemente in 1968, at least two different players, if you include bench players.  Before we take a look at his absence in ’68, let’s take a look at who DID make the team.

Clemente was solely a right fielder for the Pirates in 1968.  The starter for the NL All Stars that year in right field was Hank Aaron.  OK, that’s fine.  As of the All Star break in 1968, Aaron sat at 499 career home runs at the age of 34.  However, if you look at his stats that season, you might ask if he really deserved to be the starter.  The day before the All Star break, he was hitting a season low .231, although he did have 12 doubles, four triples, 16 home runs, 45 RBIs and 12 stolen bases.  He also had only made one error in 81 games in right field.  I would say that Aaron was probably a deserving pick, but his numbers were just soft enough that you could have a discussion over whether he should have been a starter.

Mays scoring the winning run in the '68 All Star Game.

Given the fact that Clemente had only played in 16 games in center field in the 1960’s, we won’t even consider the fact that he could have played there, although the standards in the modern All Star game are surely a great deal looser than they were back then if you look at some of the guys they run out there now in center.  But if you really want to know who the starting center fielder was, it was Willie Mays, and even at the age of 37, he hit leadoff for the NL squad.  As of the All Star Break in ’68, Mays was hitting .271 with eight doubles, five triples, 12 home runs, 39 RBIs and five stolen bases.  He already had 569 career home runs at the time, and at that point in the season, he had only committed three errors in center field.  Mays was actually a replacement; more on that in a little while.

Let’s look at left field.  The St. Louis Cardinals’ Curt Flood was the starter.  Really?  Sure, he had some good seasons, and ’68 was the last of his three All Star games, but was he better than Clemente?  As of the All Star break, he was hitting .316 with eight doubles, three triples, five home runs, 37 RBIs and eight stolen bases.  Those numbers are solid for sure, but it seems like Clemente could put up the same numbers without really trying.  Flood played every game in center field for the Cardinals, and up to that point, he had only made five errors there.

Let’s look at the non-starter/backup outfielders for the 1968 NL All Stars – Felipe Alou, Matty Alou, Pete Rose and Billy Williams.

Felipe Alou tied for the lead in the National League in hits in 1968.  Through the All Star break, he was hitting .307 with 16 doubles, three triples, seven home runs, 27 RBIs and six stolen bases.  Playing solely as a center fielder for the Atlanta Braves, he had only committed four errors to that point in the season.

Felipe’s brother Matty would finish with the sixth most hits in the National League in 1968, playing alongside Clemente in Pittsburgh.  At the All Star break, Matty Alou was hitting .344 with 14 doubles, a triple, 23 RBIs and eight stolen bases.  Playing all of his games in center field in ’68, he had not made a single error though that point in the season.

Pete Rose was the player Felipe Alou was tied with for the NL hits leader in 1968.  Through the All Star break, he was hitting .329 with 22 doubles, two triples, five home runs and 31 RBIs, with two stolen bases.  Actually elected as a starter, he missed three weeks , including the All Star game, with a broken thumb, having not played a game between July 6^th and July 27^th.  He played all but a handful of games in right field for the Cincinnati Reds, and had only committed three errors to that point.  Willie Mays was his replacement for the game.

Billy Williams led the NL in total bases in 1968.  Through the All Star break, he was hitting .274 with 17 doubles, six triples, eight home runs, 40 RBIs and three stolen bases.  Spending about three quarters of his time in left field, where he only had committed one error to that point in the season – although he had also committed two in right field, and he would commit six more in left field after the All Star break.

Now that we know everyone else’s statistics, let’s look at how Clemente was doing that season.

As of the All Star break in 1968, Clemente was only batting .245 with eight doubles, seven triples, 10 home runs, 30 RBIs and two stolen bases.  Being snubbed a position in the All Star game seemingly lit a fire under him, as for the rest of the season, he hit .347 with 10 doubles, five triples, eight home runs and 27 RBIs.  Playing solely in right field, up to that point, he had only committed four errors in the outfield.  He would only commit two more the rest of the season.

I’m guessing that they could have found a place for Clemente in 1968 if they really wanted to.  Hank Aaron was the starting center fielder for the NL All Stars in 1967, despite only playing 11 games in center field for the Braves that year.  As it stands, Mays turned out to be the offensive hero of the 1968 contest, getting a leadoff single in the first inning, advancing to second on a throwing error on a pickoff move by Luis Tiant, advancing to third on a wild pitch on ball four to Curt Flood, and scoring when Willie McCovey grounded into a double play.  That was the only run of the game for either team, as both sides combined for eight hits and six walks with 20 strikeouts under the lights in the futuristic Houston Astrodome.

1968 also happened to be the only year in a 13 year period where he didn’t finish in the top 20 in the NL MVP voting.  He did, however, win a Gold Glove award that year, which was in the middle of a string of 12 consecutive awards for him.  Clemente was a true class act, and he died helping others at a much-too-young age 38 on New Years Eve, 1972.  I hope today, on his birthday, he squares on up on the diamond in the sky.