Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero (60 page)

They visited Caracas
:
Clemente family collection, travel documents: Int. Vera Clemente.

“I think the World Series”
:
Ramiro Martínez tape collection.

Clemente chose to live
:
Ints. Richie Hebner, Fernando González, Al Oliver.

Also hanging around was Roy Blount Jr.
:
C. R. Ways,
New York Times Magazine,
April 9, 1972.

In his letter to Vera
:
Duane Rieder collection, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The letter was handwritten on Pirate City stationery.

the 1972 team was even looser
:
Ints. Steve Blass, Tony Bartirome, Les Banos, Richie Hebner, Al Oliver, Nellie Briles.

“Hey, Roberto,” Sanguillen called out
:
Int. Fernando González.

“We stayed and we talked”
:
Int. Carolyn Rauch.

Barely half that many
: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh Press;
ints. Richie Hebner, Tony Bartirome, Steve Blass, Matino Clemente, Les Banos, Nellie Briles; Tom Seaver, Recollection at Hall of Fame gathering at National Geographic Society, Washington, D.C., February 2003.

The next morning at eleven
:
Account of Clemente’s three-thousandth hit drawn from ints. Ann Ranalli King, Steve Blass, Richie Hebner, Nellie Briles, Tony Bartirome, Les Banos, Roy McHugh, Chuck Goggin, Bill Nunn Jr.;
El Nueva Día,
(Luis Ramos);
Pittsburgh Press; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,
September 30, 1971 and October 1, 1971; Ramiro Martínez tape collection (Felo Martínez broadcasts). In explaining why Clemente was her favorite player, Ann Ranalli, who later married the sportswriter Peter King, said: “You never felt like he was playing a media game. He always seemed to be his own person, on and off the field, which was admirable. Pittsburgh was not a great baseball town,
nor particularly supportive of the team. I happened to be a fan and had more enthusiasm and he was the centerpiece of the games.”

the surest evidence that he intended
:
Int. Rex Bradley, Hillerich & Bradsby bat archives.

the night before he left
:
Int. Al Oliver.

13: TEMBLOR

Three days before Christmas
:
Nixon Presidential Papers, National Archives, Nicaragua file, Telegram, December 22, 1972. A stamp next to the White House logo says: Ambassador/ Hand-Carry/President. The telegram is addressed to Mr. Howard Hughes/Intercontinental/ Hotel/Managua, Nicaragua. It was copied to R. Woods/R. Price/J. Andrews/R. Ziegler/H. Klein.

Holiday revelers were out strolling
:
Account of first moments of earthquake drawn from int. Anthony Jilek; Nixon Presidential Papers, Nicaragua file, National Archives; Pedro Chamorro,
Richter 7
(translation, Patricia Rengal);
Washington Post, New York Times,
December 24, 1972; Nicholas Daniloff, UPI, Washington, D.C., December 23, 1972.

The Clementes, at their house
:
Ints. Vera Clemente, Ramiro Martínez, Osvaldo Gil.

The disaster relief effort was underway
:
Southern Command News, Quarry Heights, Canal Zone, January 5, 1973; Situation Report, Staff Communications Division, Department of the Army, Nicaragua, National Archives at College Park.

American soldiers arriving
:
Int. Gary Czabot.

the attention of President Nixon
:
President Nixon’s Daily Diary, Nixon Presidential Papers, National Archives, Washington, D.C. (NARA), December 23, 1972. The diary entries: 9:35—The President had breakfast; 11:07 The President talked with his senior White House physician, Major General Walter Tkach; 12:53 The President talked long distance with his Assistant for National Security Affairs, Henry A. Kissinger, in Washington, D.C.; 1:05 The President had lunch. The President watched the Oakland Raiders–Pittsburgh Steelers football game on television.

Fourth and ten
:
Ints. Myron Cope, Bill Nunn Jr., Les Banos;
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh Press,
December 24, 1971.

“I don’t know what”
:
Ints. Osvaldo Gil, Vera Clemente; Ramiro Martínez archive.

President Nixon took breakfast at eight forty-five
:
President Nixon’s Daily Diary, Nixon Presidential Papers, Nicaragua file, NARA; Memorandum for Al Haig, Subject: Nicaragua Earthquake, National Security Council, NARA, December 24, 1972.

In San Juan, Clemente and Ruth Fernández
:
Ints. Vera Clemente, Osvaldo Gil, Ramiro Martínez; Ramiro Martínez tape collection.

Pedro Chamorro circled Managua
:
Pedro Chamorro,
Richter 7.

Clemente spent the day
:
Ints. Vera Clemente, Osvaldo Gil; Ramiro Martínez tape collection.

Howard Hughes, after refueling stops
: Times of London, New York Times, Miami Herald,
AP, December 24–26, 1971.

the greed of Somoza
:
Ints. Osvaldo Gil, Vera Clemente, Ramiro Martínez.

Bianca, then only twenty-two
:
Kurt Jacobsen, “A Conversation with Bianca Jagger, Human Rights Advocate,”
Logos Journal,
Fall 2003.

Once the plane touched down
:
Ints. Dr. Hart Achenbach, Dr. Frederick Zugibe; Hart Achenbach, M.D.,
Tales of the Curious Traveler.

President Nixon placed a call
:
Int. Maurice J. Williams; President Nixon’s Daily Diary, Nixon Presidential Papers, NARA.

Come with me
:
Ints. Les Banos, Orlando Cepeda, Chuck Goggin, Vera Clemente, Osvaldo Gil.

14: COCKROACH CORNER

you could buy anything for a song
:
Ints. Mike Pangia, Jon Hoffman, Stuart Speiser.

As practice runs go
:
Pangia memo, Pangia archive, Federal Aviation Administration, U.S. Department of Justice.

From the moment he came
:
National Transportation Safety Board Report, Douglas DC-7CF Accident, Aircraft Accident File Contents, San Juan, Puerto Rico, December 31, 1972.

Couric was such a stickler
:
Int. Bev Couric (wife of William Couric); National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), Aircraft Accident File.

Rivera went on the offensive
:
NTSB, Alexander P. Butterfield, FAA, vs. Arthur S. Rivera, Docket SE-1399.

The battle of wills
:
Ints. Stuart Speiser, Jon Hoffman, Mike Pangia; Speiser Brief (50 pp.), U.S. District Court; Lawsuit (p. 382); FAA Report of Investigation, May 11, 1970, Compliance and Security Office.

Usto E. Schulz
:
Schulz trial testimony: Vera Christina Zabala de Clemente et al., Plaintiff, vs. McDonnell Douglas Corp. et al., and other consolidated cases, Defendants. Transcript of trial heard before the Honorable Juan R. Torrulella, U.S. District Judge sitting in San Juan, Puerto Rico, November 1975.

that came to be known
:
Department of Transportation, FAA, Southern Region, September 25, 1972, Pangia archive.

Rivera enlisted two mechanics
:
NTSB Air Accident File, depositions of Rafael Delgado-Cintron and Francisco Matias.

the Clementes were consumed
:
Ints. Vera Clemente, Osvaldo Gil; Air Accident File, Delgado-Cintron deposition. U.S. District Court trial testimony, Vera Zabala de Clemente, November 1975.

The Clementes were met at the dock
:
Int. Vera Clemente;
San Juan Star,
December 30, 1972.

Roberto placed a call
:
Ints. Carolyn Rauch, Carol Brezovec (Bass), Vera Clemente.

Back at the airport
:
NTSB Air Accident File, Delgado-Cintron, Matias depositions.

15: DECEMBER 31

Vera Clemente stood in the kitchen
:
Int. Vera Clemente; lyrics of song by Trio Vegabajeño.

Jerry Hill, the pilot Arthur River recruited
:
Transcript of crash trial, testimony Delgado-Cintron, Matias, Vera Clemente; NTSB Air Accident File depositions.

The aircraft was already full
:
cargo manifest filed with FAA, San Juan, NTSB Air Accident File, Pangia archive.

Clemente was at home
:
Ints. Vera Clemente, Cristobal Colón; testimony, transcript, Vera Clemente, United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, civil numbers 778–73, 779–73, 999–73, 1000–73, 1096–73.

At 5
:30
P.M.,
according to FAA records:
Air Accident File, History of Flight; Pangia Memo, Pangia archive; transcript, George E. Mattern testimony, U.S. District Court.

Clemente handed him
:
NTSB, Statement of Interview with Rafael Delgado-Cintron. The mechanic was likely the last person outside the plane to see Clemente alive. “The stairs were already on the way [out] but he put it back and said good-bye to everybody and . . . Mr. Clemente
asked for a favor to call his wife and gave me the telephone [number]. Did you see where he was seated? Yes, he was seated on the bunk forward of the cargo.”

“San Juan tower, Douglas”
:
NTSB Air Accident File, Transcript of Air Traffic Control, December 31, 1972.

The plane didn’t seem
:
NTSB Air Accident File, Statement of Witness—Juan Reyes, Gilberto Quiles, Antonio Ríos, Rafael Delgado-Cintron, Dennis A. McHale, Gary Cleaveland.

The Rauches were delighted
:
Ints. Carolyn Rauch, Carol Brezovec (Bass), Vera Clemente.

Matino woke his father
:
Int. Matino Clemente, Carolyn Rauch, Carol Brezovec (Bass), Vera Clemente; testimony transcript, George E. Mattern, United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, civil numbers 778–73, 779–73, 999–73, 1000–73, 1096–73.

“It was quiet and sad”
:
Reaction to news of the crash drawn from Ints. Orlando Cepeda, Osvaldo Gil, Cristobal Colón, Juan Pizarro, Enrique Zorrilla, Diana Zorrilla, Eduardo Valero, Luis Olmo, Vic Power, Chuck Goggin, Steve Blass, Joe L. Brown, José Pagán, Ann Ranalli, Richard Santry, Nancy Golding, Bev Couric, Vera Clemente, Luis Clemente.

16: OUT OF THE SEA

a sequence of twenty telephone calls
:
Facility Accident Notification Record, January 1, 1973, Aircraft Ident N500AENTSB Air Accident File; Department of Transportation, U.S. Coast Guard Telecommunications Center, Sitrep 1, January 1, 1973.

“That night on which Roberto Clemente”
:
Elliott Castro,
Home: A Celebration of Roberto Clemente’s Spirit and Passion,
Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico.

Vera wavered between
:
Ints. Vera Clemente, Osvaldo Gil, Carolyn Rauch.

The effort that day was slowed
:
U.S. Coast Guard sitrep, January 1–2, 1973; AP, January 1, 1973;
San Juan Star, El Nuevo Día,
January 1–3, 1973; Ints. John Parker, Vincent Bogucki, Fernando González, Vera Clemente.

It was not mythmaking
: Newsday, AP, Pittsburgh Press, Chicago Tribune, New York Post,
January 3–4, 1973.

President Nixon mentioned
:
Account of the White House and Roberto Clemente drawn from President Nixon’s Daily Diary, Nixon Presidential Papers, NARA, Statement About the Death of Roberto Clemente;
Memorandum for the President from: Richard A. Moore, January 3, 1973; Memorandum for H. R. Haldeman from Richard A. Moore, January 3, 1973; Richard Reeves,
President Nixon: Alone at the White House.

By that hour in the choppy Atlantic
:
Instituto de Medicina Legal, Centro Medico Hospital, Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, Autopsy No. 31-ML-73.

Early the next morning
:
Ints. Richie Hebner, Al Oliver, Preston Pearson, Les Banos, Steve Blass, Vera Clemente, Ramiro Martínez, Eduardo Valero, Fernando González; transcript of press conference drawn from Ramiro Martínez tape collection.

By the end of that weekend
:
U.S. Coast Guard Telecommunications Center, Sitreps 5–6; NTSB Air Accident File; ints. Osvaldo Gil, Vic Power, Vera Clemente.