Author Topic: 40 Years Ago - Clemente died in a Plane Crash  (Read 712 times)

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Offline mitlen

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  • We had 'em all the way.
Re: 40 Years Ago - Clemente died in a Plane Crash
« Reply #1: December 31, 2012, 02:46:58 PM »
New Year's eve 1972 or early 1973, I was at a club in Aliquippa, PA with a guy I knew from my college days.   We stumbled out onto Franklin AVE.    I was carrying a copy of "Talking Book" by Stevie Wonder that I had just acquired through some sort of give away.    This was long before all news all the time.   It was probably the first time we stopped for more than 5 minutes the whole night.   The buzz on the street was amazing, "Did ya hear?"    "Clemente died in a plane crash."   To this day, when he and I talk about New Year's, we talk about that night.


Re: 40 Years Ago - Clemente died in a Plane Crash
« Reply #2: January 12, 2013, 10:33:56 PM »
I read the fantastic book Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero by David Maraniss and as I read the final chapters leading up to his death and what was behind it I just got more pissed. Horrible way to lose one of the greatest ballplayers and humans we've ever seen.

Offline welch

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  • The Sweetest Right Handed Swing in 1950s Baseball
Re: 40 Years Ago - Clemente died in a Plane Crash
« Reply #3: January 19, 2013, 11:18:23 PM »
The 1960 Pirates had a great OF, with Skinner in LF and Virdon in CF, but Clemente was wildly great in RF.