He reacts to many things bitterly, this pleasant, smiling young man, who is 32 years old, married now, with two sons, a sports hero here and back home in Puerto Rico. Clemente reacts to things bitterly because he is an honest man, and a feeling one. Baseball has become a game of automatons performing in mechanical ways. Scoreboards now tell you when to cheer. The words "Go-go-go" light up, and you obediently recite, "Go-go-go." A bugle sounds, and reflexively you murmur, "Charge!" Roberto Clemente is a throwback, as are many of his Latin cohorts-which means he has his flaws. Anger can twist him almost helpless with rage. But it has also made him not only a leader of men-automatons are poor leaders-but also a spokesman for his people. He spoke out, during 1966, in an Associated Press dispatch of August 23... (Arnold Hano)

He reacts to many things bitterly, this pleasant, smiling young man, who is 32 years old, married now, with two sons, a sports hero here and back home in Puerto Rico. Clemente reacts to things bitterly because he is an honest man, and a feeling one. Baseball has become a game of automatons performing in mechanical ways. Scoreboards now tell you when to cheer. The words "Go-go-go" light up, and you obediently recite, "Go-go-go." A bugle sounds, and reflexively you murmur, "Charge!" Roberto Clemente is a throwback, as are many of his Latin cohorts-which means he has his flaws. Anger can twist him almost helpless with rage. But it has also made him not only a leader of men-automatons are poor leaders-but also a spokesman for his people. He spoke out, during 1966, in an Associated Press dispatch of August 23...

Arnold Hano

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