June 10, 1972: Roberto Clemente Breaks the Record for Games Played In Right Field

June 10, 1972: The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 2-1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Claude Osteen outpitches Luke Walker. Manny Mota singles Maury Wills home in the bottom of the 8th inning to win it. Frank Robinson, in his only season with the Dodgers, went 1-for-4.

The Pirates' only run comes in the 1st inning, when Roberto Clemente singles Bill Mazeroski home. They were the only players from the Bucs' 1960 World Series win to still be there when they won it again in 1971.

It was another step toward Clemente's march to 3,000 career hits. It was also the 2,251st game that Clemente had played in right field, setting a new major league record.

In the 1991 film City Slickers, 2 middle-aged men discuss "the greatest right fielder of our generation." Phil Berquist (played by Daniel Stern) says it's Henry Aaron. Bruno Kirby (Ed Furillo) says it's Clemente, citing his running and his throwing, but Phil dismisses this by citing Aaron's 755 home runs.

There were 2 other right fielders in that generation who made the Baseball Hall of Fame: The aforementioned Frank Robinson, and Al Kaline. Roger Maris hit 61 home runs in a season, and was the only right fielder to be defensively as good as Clemente. Rocky Colavito was a major slugger, and was the only right fielder, indeed outside of Willie Mays the only outfielder period, who had an arm on the same level as Clemente. But neither Maris nor Colavito has ever been elected to the Hall of Fame.

Clemente broke the record of a previous Pirate right fielder, Paul Waner. And, like Waner, he would reach 3,000 career hits -- but no more. He was still an active player at the end of the 1972 season, and, on December 31, trying to get relief supplies from his hometown of San Juan, Puerto Rico to earthquake-devastated Managua, Nicaragua, he was killed in a plane crash, only 38 years old.

Clemente had raised the record to 2,305 games. Waner remains 2nd on that list. The closest any player has come since is Aaron, with 2,174. Since their "generation," it's Tony Gwynn with 2,144. Clemente played a total of 2,433 games, which tied Honus Wagner for the most in Pirates' history. It was believed that his last game had surpassed Wagner by one, but a later check of the records showed it to be only tied. Perhaps it is fitting that they share it.

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June 10, 1972 was a Saturday. These other games were played in Major League Baseball:

* The New York Yankees beat the Kansas City Royals, 8-4 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium. Fritz Peterson went the distance for the win, while Tom Murphy didn't get an out in the 2nd inning. Bobby Murcer went 3-for-5 with 2 RBIs.

* The New York Mets beat the Houston Astros, 5-3 at Shea Stadium. Jerry Koosman outpitched Don Wilson. The newly-acquired Willie Mays did not play.

* The California Angels beat the Boston Red Sox, 7-3 at Fenway Park in Boston. Bob Oliver went 2-for-5 with a home run and 3 RBIs. Carl Yastrzemski went 1-for-4 with a walk.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 15-3 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Henry "Hank" Aaron hit a grand slam, the 649th home run of his career, surpassing Mays for 2nd on the all-time list. He was now 65 short of Babe Ruth's all-time record.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Minnesota Twins, 4-1 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Harmon Killebrew went 0-for-4. Rod Carew went 1-for-4.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Detroit Tigers, 5-2 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Dave Hamilton outpitched Mickey Lolich. Sal Bando and Joe Rudi hit home runs for the A's. Reggie Jackson went 1-for-3 with 2 RBIs. Al Kaline went 0-for-3.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 6-1 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Texas Rangers, 5-2 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Brooks Robinson went 3-for-4 with a home run and 3 RBIs.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the San Diego Padres, 5-2 at San Diego Stadium (later Jack Murphy Stadium and Qualcomm Stadium). Lou Brock went 2-for-5.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the San Francisco Giants, 4-2 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Fergie Jenkins outpitched Steve Stone. Ron Santo and Rick Monday hit home runs for the Cubs, and Bobby Bonds hit one for the Giants. Willie McCovey went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* And the Cincinnati Reds and the Montreal Expos were rained out at Jarry Park in Montreal. The game was made up on August 24. The Reds won, 6-0. Jack Billingham pitched a 6-0 shutout. Johnny Bench went 1-for-2 with a home run and 3 walks. Pete Rose went 1-for-4 with a walk.