Sep 29 2012 05:00 PM
| That only goes to show you that you can never trust the auction house . . . There is no way that they reached out and spoke to Kranepool about that so quickly. There's a photo of the umpire retrieving the ball and handing it to Clemente, so Eddie backing up the play is conclusively false, and that's not second base he's standing on. Regardless, it really is Ed and Roberto, and it really was signed by Ed. Beyond that, who the hell knows. (I think the mystery surrounding the picture now makes it even more interesting than if it were the spontaneous event itself!) --Diamond Dad, July 6, 2012 |
Apologies if this was already addressed somewhere along the way, but if it wasn't...
Was listening to Ed Randall's Talkin' Baseball on the FAN today. His consecutive guests were the author of a book about Roberto Clemente's 3,000th hit (or the author's relationship to it -- he wound up with Roberto's bat), Kevin Guilfoile, and the Mets' second greatest-hit amasser, Ed Kranepool. And between these interviews I learned what happened 40 years ago, on Friday night, September 29, 1972 -- the night Tom Seaver won his 20th game -- when Roberto Clemente stepped up in the first inning one shy of his milestone.
This from UPI:
| Clemente toyed with reaching the coveted 3,000 hit mark but failed when a disputed call in the first inning went against the Pirates. The close ruling came when Clemente hit a slow bouncer over Seaver's outstretched glove but second baseman Ken Boswell bobbled the ball and it was called an error. Boswell said, "I thought it was an error and had a better than average chance of getting him out." Clemente disagreed however. "There was no way he could get me, even if he came up with the ball cleanly." Roberto even preferred the error ruling. "I was lucky I didn't get it because I want no questions about number 3,000." |
Well, we had questions about that photo, but we seem to have an answer.
From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
| For a second or two in the first inning, the crowd wasn't sure if Clemente had gotten No. 3,000. With Vic Davalillo on first base and one out, Clemente bounced just over Seaver's glove. Second baseman Ken Boswell charged, seemed to have a good chance to [get] Clemente at first base, but fumbled the ball. Official Scorer Luke Quay of the McKeesport Daily News announced in the press box "Error Second Baseman...Error Boswell." But the people working the electric scoreboard one deck above the press box couldn't hear Quay's call over the microphone. Nothing was posted on the scoreboard and the fans began to cheer, as the ball was flipped to Met first baseman Ed Kranepool who flipped it to Clemente, who held it for a moment. The scoreboard finally lit up error. There were some boos because the fans wanted desperately to see Clemente reach 3,000 on this rain-threatening night. The boos didn't last long probably because most of the fans realized that Quay's decision was fair. |
In the meantime, as Guilfoile confirmed with Randall (though Kranepool didn't remember), a photograph of Kranepool handing the ball to Clemente was snapped commemorating the play that was No. 3,000 until it wasn't.
So there ya go.