Roberto Clemente, “Punch and Judy Hitter”

Yeah, he really did say that.

Some dude over on Xwitter really did declare Roberto Clemente to be a “Punch and Judy hitter.” He also said Clemente wasn’t a “real threat up there in clutch situations.”

If you peruse the rest of that thread, it’s not clear whether or not James is serious. At one point he said Clemente was “no Sammy Sosa,” and claimed that it was Sosa, not Clemente, who was the best defensive right fielder ever. Throw in the whole “he only got to 3,000 hits because he hung around so long” business and I have to guess that James is pulling our collective legs. I mean, it’s possible the cheese has slipped off his cracker, but it seems more likely that he’s outrage posting for clicks.

Still, he never lets the mask slip, and I’m in the habit taking people seriously unless they tell us otherwise, so I’m going to operate on the assumption that James isn’t a fan of Clemente’s body of work. That places him decidedly outside the mainstream of baseball thought, but there’s no law against that. Which means I’m going to investigate his claims and see if they have any merit.