Top 39 Quotes & Sayings by Roberto Clemente

Explore popular quotes and sayings by a Puerto Rican athlete Roberto Clemente.

Last updated on April 14, 2025.

Roberto Enrique Clemente Walker Sr was a Puerto Rican professional baseball right fielder who played 18 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Pittsburgh Pirates. After his early death, he was posthumously inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1973, becoming both the first Caribbean and the first Latin-American player to be enshrined. Because he died at a young age and had such a stellar career, the Hall of Fame changed its rules of eligibility. As an alternative to a player having to be retired for five years before eligibility, a player who has been deceased for at least six months is eligible for entry.

Puerto Rican - Athlete | August 18, 1934 - December 31, 1972

Source: Wikipedia

The first day that I get to Fort Myers, there was a newspaper down there. The newspaper said, 'Puerto Rican hot dog arrives in town.'

Roberto Clemente

To the people here, we are outsiders. Foreigners.

Roberto Clemente

My mother has the same kind of an arm, even today at 74. She could throw a ball from second base to home plate with something on it. I got my arm from my mother.

Roberto Clemente

The Dodgers told me a big bonus was no good, and they said other players would resent it. Better for me to take a small amount of money and work my way.

Roberto Clemente

If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming behind you, and you don't do that, you are wasting your time on this earth.

Roberto Clemente

Pitch me outside, I will hit .400. Pitch me inside, and you will not find the ball.

Roberto Clemente

I used to watch Monte Irvin play when I was a kid. I idolized him. I used to wait in front of the ballpark just for him to pass by so I could see him.

Roberto Clemente

I want to be remembered as a ballplayer who gave all I had to give.

Roberto Clemente

I am convinced that God wanted me to be a baseball player.

Roberto Clemente

If I would be happy, I would be a very bad ball player. With me, when I get mad, it puts energy in my body.

Roberto Clemente

It's not a bad ball if I can hit it.

Roberto Clemente

After I failed to win the Most Valuable Player Award in 1960, I made up my mind I'd win the batting title in 1961 for the first time.

Roberto Clemente

They said you'd really have to be something to be like Babe Ruth. But Babe Ruth was an American player. What we needed was a Puerto Rican player they could say that about, someone to look up to and try to equal.

Roberto Clemente

But some people act like they think I live in the jungle someplace.

Roberto Clemente

Look at my skin - I am not of the white people.

Roberto Clemente

I loved the game so much that even though our playing field was muddy and we had many trees on it, I used to play many hours every day.

Roberto Clemente

The farther away you writers stay, the better I like it. You know why? Because you're trying to create a bad image of me... you do it because I'm black and Puerto Rican, but I'm proud to be Puerto Rican.

Roberto Clemente

I wasn't ready for the majors when I joined the Pirates in 1955. I was too young and didn't know my way around.

Roberto Clemente

My father used to say, 'I want you to be a good man; I want you to learn how to work. And I want you to be a serious person.' I grew up with that in my mind.

Roberto Clemente

Baseball has been very good to me.

Roberto Clemente

I was born to play baseball.

Roberto Clemente

I couldn't ask for better teammates, and the Pirate fans are the greatest in baseball.

Roberto Clemente

I am more valuable to my team hitting .330 then swinging for home runs.

Roberto Clemente

I would like to get 3,000 hits.

Roberto Clemente

Brooklyn was a famous team. I wanted to play for the Dodgers.

Roberto Clemente

When I was a little kid, I wanted to be a baseball player. This is something I think about. The more I think about it, I'm convinced that God wanted me to play baseball.

Roberto Clemente

Why does everyone talk about the past? All that counts is tomorrow's game.

Roberto Clemente

There's no difference between me and you. You need something, a glove, a place to live, you let me know.

Roberto Clemente

I want to be remembered as a ballplayer who gave all he had to give.

Roberto Clemente

Nobody does anything better than me in baseball (said before the 1971 World Series).

Roberto Clemente

A country without idols is nothing.

Roberto Clemente

In a way, I was born twice. I was born in 1934 and again in 1955 when I came to Pittsburgh. I am thankful to say that I lived two lives.

Roberto Clemente

I would be lost without baseball. I don't think I could stand being away from it as long as I was alive.

Roberto Clemente

If I would be happy, I would be a bad ballplayer. With me, when I get mad, it puts energy in my body.

Roberto Clemente

If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming behind you, and you don’t do that, you are wasting your time on this Earth.

Roberto Clemente

A nation without heroes is nothing.

Roberto Clemente

I am from the poor people; I represent the poor people. I like workers. I like people that suffer because these people have a different approach to life from the people that have everything and don't know what suffering is.

Roberto Clemente

When I put on my uniform, I feel I am the proudest man on earth.

Roberto Clemente