and an even better person. His death was tragic.

As I recall, something on the order of 450 feet to the CF wall or more. If an outfielder was situated shallow enough, a deep line drive could roll to the wall, and it could require several seconds for the ball to be retrieved. Also, given distance it would have been difficult, if the fielder was not Roberto Clemente himself, to get the ball directly back to home plate in time to throw a batter running at full tilt out at the plate. In this instance, the batter/runner was faster than the relay.

For those who (like me) didn't know, a walk-off home run is a home run that end the game--it scores the winning run in the bottom of the ninth.

By the way, it can happen in extra innings too.

I grew up in a small town near Pittsburgh and I idolized Clemente. I was 9 and vividly recall my Mom telling me Roberto had died in a plane crash on New Years Eve. Worst start to a year i ever had. 😥😣

Next up, ARE YOU MY EVIL TWIN, OR AM I YOURS?

I have used those exact words regarding Roberto for almost 50 years. Except it was my dad who told me.

I saw Roberto throw out Johnny Bench trying to go 1st to 3rd on a team mate's single.

Clemente was maybe 5 feet from the warning track and he threw him out by 3 steps. That throw is burned into my baseball memory forever

I was a teenager. They were playing the Giants with Mays and McCovey. Clemente threw a frozen rope strike from the right field corner to third base to hold a runner to a double. As Bob Prince used to say "They will not run on Roberto Clemente's arm!". He was such a gifted baseball player and a wonderful human being.

BTW, I seem to recall that Willie McCovey hit a grand slam home run that is still going.

Fernando Tatís

Fernando Tatís became the only player to hit two grand slams in the same inning, when he attained the milestone, slugging two in the third inning for the St. Louis Cardinals on April 23, 1999. In achieving the feat, he also set a new major league record with eight runs batted in in a single inning.