Blass here recalls a specific debt he owes Roberto:
“I hope somebody has the film of a catch he made a few years ago in Houston. He was playing in right center and Bob Watson hit one down the line. Robby went into the wall – not just running but leaping into it – and made a catch that saved the game." [11]
Blass is referring here to Clemente’s legendary June 15th, 1971 game-saving catch which received, not for the first time in Clemente's career, a standing ovation from the opposing team's hometown fans for the favor he'd just done them – i.e. denying their team a dramatic come-from-behind victory. UPI's Darrell Mack dubbed it the "greatest catch in the history of the Astrodome." [12] It came in the bottom of the eighth with a runner on first. That runner was future HOFer Joe Morgan and he recalls the scene:
"With two out in the eighth and Pittsburgh leading 1-0, I was on first with our left fielder Bob Watson at the plate. Clemente was playing medium deep in right center field when Bob hit a laser beam toward the right field corner. It looked as though the ball would strike just above the yellow home run line, which was 'only' 10 feet above the ground. Most right fielders would have positioned themselves to play off the wall a ball hit that high, that far, and that fast. Clemente, who was 36 at the time, wasn’t having any of that. He galloped at full stride into the corner, leaped, and caught the drive while crashing into the fence..."
Since Morgan, running on contact on the play, had to be at least halfway between second and third by the time the catch was made and, thus, almost certainly could not – and, indeed, should not – have seen the catch itself, the remainder of this narrative will be pieced together from the various beat writers' accounts:
"Clemente absorbed the full impact of the crash against the boards with his left shoulder, rebounded and crumpled to the ground." [13] "He suffered a bruised left ankle and his left elbow was also swollen. Blood spilled from a gash on the left knee. Clemente slumped on both knees, back to the infield..." [14]
"Bob Watson stood frozen at first base… staring into the corner with an expression that suggested that he was having trouble accepting what he’d just witnessed. He was still standing there, motionless, when applause rolled from the crowd in waves, breaking on the distant fences.." [15]
"Stunned for a moment, Clemente nevertheless regained his feet without assistance. The crowd stood and cheered, and his teammates arose from the dugout to rush out and congratulate him. When he stepped to the plate in the top of the ninth, he received another standing ovation." [16]
The hapless victim himself, Bob Watson, was philosophical about the whole thing:
“At least, I got robbed by one of the best in the business. It’s like if you were a trainman in the old days and Jesse James held you up. You know you’ve been robbed by the best highwayman in the business.” [17]
For Houston manager Harry Walker (who'd managed Pittsburgh for two and a half seasons starting in 1965), Clemente's catch was one of a kind. Speaking with Phil Musick after Clemente's death, he remained adament:
“It was the best I’d ever seen. He took it full flight."
This basically reiterates Walker's initial reaction, recorded by UPI's Darrell Mack:
"Houston manager Harry Walker, who’ has been in baseball 54 years, and coach Buddy Hancken, who has been in baseball 36 years, both said it was the greatest catch they had ever seen. 'I never saw one like that off the wall,' Walker said. 'He hit it wide open. He never slowed up. I don’t see how he could keep the ball in his glove. The thing that makes him so great is that he does it all in a jam,” Walker said. “He’s one of the best clutch players in the game.””
Pirate broadcaster (and Clemente's ex-teammate) Nellie King caught up with Clemente after the game and here offers his slightly sanitized account:
I’m sitting with him on the bus going back to the hotel, and I said, ‘Roberto, I’ve seen you make a lot of good catches, but that’s the greatest I’ve seen you make.' And he said, 'Nellie, I want to tell you something. If the ball is in the park and the game is on the line, I will catch the bleeping ball.'" [18]
For teammate Bill Mazeroski and manager Danny Murtaugh, who'd been with Clemente far too long to so easily assign victory to any one of his large and ever-expanding pool of worthy 'greatest catch' candidates, the current contender for that title harkened back to a similarly pivotal – and painful – play executed almost 11 years earlier, likewise in the midst of a successful Pirate pennant drive.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Roberto_Clemente's_'Toolbox':_The_Glove#cite_note-16
