Photo of the Day Wednesday January 29, 2014 One heck of a catch...Clemente style!

A few days ago I posted a photo that featured Willie Mays making an incredible catch off the bat of Jackie Robinson in Ebbetts field but today I wanted to feature a player that played in the shadows of Mays, Mantle and Snider, Roberto Clemente. Playing in Pittsburgh, it is easy to see why Clemente did not receive the publicity that he deserved as Pittsburgh is not exactly a media capitol. Clemente was every bit a great player as the others from his era as he possessed an incredible arm and base running insticts that you just cannot teach. I personally saw him play right field at Wrigley Field in the late 60's and saw him gin down a runner at home with a one hop throw from the far right field corner. Clemente would go on to gather 3000 hits, be a 15 time All Star, win a National League and World Series MVP award and win 11 gold gloves before his life tragically ended in a plane crash while bring aid to earthquake torn Nicaragua.

One interesting thing about Clemente is that he was originally drafted by the Dodgers who sent him to Montreal as his first stop in professional baseball. Clyse Sukeforth, the Dodger scout that signed Jackie Robinson was now a scout for the Pirates and knew the Dodger farm system like the back of his hand. He saw that Clemente was not being used properly and arranged for the Pirates to draft him in the 1954 rookie draft. One can only imagine how many World Series victories the Dodgers would have had by adding Clemente in right field and making him one of the legendary Boys of Summer.

I hope you enjoy today's photo of the day!



And a few more nice shots!!

Nice pics, thanks for the share

Thank you for sharing!!!