Most
fans have Roberto Clemente’s 3,000th MLB hit etched in their memory.
But when was his last hit
in Puerto Rico’s Winter League? Let’s go back to the 1970-71 season. Roberto signed a contract to manage the San
Juan Senators. On December 21, 1970—during the Christmas dinner at a [San
Juan] Metropolitan Area restaurant
sponsored by the Puerto Rico Professional Baseball League—it was
announced that the San Juan Senators activated Roberto Clemente and he soon
would take the field to help his team. A league trade was mentioned during this
dinner. Mayagüez and Caguas had made a trade: the [Mayagüez] Indians obtained
Rusty Torres, Neftalí Mora and Juan Veintidós in exchange for Ramón «Mon»
Hernández and Ángel Luis Alcaraz. The date of these announcements caught
my attention. The [number] 21 followed Roberto.
Clemente was notified the
next day by League President, Guigo Otero Suro, Esq., that he was suspended for
seven days due to an on-field incident between him (Clemente) and umpire John
Ross in the December 19, 1970 game versus the arch-rival Santurce Crabbers.
This delayed Clemente being activated. Veteran coach Nino Escalera would be the
club’s interim manager.
Clemente made his debut on
January 12, 1971, against Santurce, after his suspensión was lifted. He
was retired as a pinch-hitter. On January 16, the Senators faced the Indians,
and Clemente wrote his name in the line-up, hitting fith. The RHP Juan
Veintidós was the opposing starter.
Veintidós, the
six-foot, 180-pound native of Cayey, Puerto Rico, was signed by Nino Escalera
for the New York Mets at age 17. He had
pitched in the 1970 Instructional League. Prior to that, he saw action with
Pompano Beach of the Class A Florida State League. He was 12-11 with a 2.44
ERA; had 134 strikeouts; and walked 88 in 134 IP. Per Héctor Valle, his Mayagüez
catcher, Veintidós was «very effective, had a lot of courage, and threw
many strikes. His repertoire consisted of a fastball, curve and change-up. He
was a hurler with good control.”
Line-ups were announced
via the customary loudspeakers. Veintidós would have the opportunity to face
the best Latin American/Caribbean player of the moment. The young hurler saw Roberto
approach the batter’s box, after doing his accustomed head movements. Roberto
got comfortable on the outer part of the batter’s box, as was his habit, and
there was Veintidós looking at Clemente. A lot went through the pitcher’s
mind. “I recall it was a Saturday afternoon at Hiram Bithorn Stadium,” said
Veintidós. “The first time facing a hitter of Roberto’s caliber—one of my
idols—is something one never forgets. I wanted to pitch well and get him out.”
Veintidós handled Clemente
in his first at-bat. Clemente then made his second plate appearance in
the home fourth inning. Veintidós, who had an air of confidence after having
dominated Clemente in his prior at-bat, committed a mistake. “I threw him a
fastball,” recalled Veintidós. “He hit a speeding bullet that went past Chito
Ríos, our third baseman, and reached second.”
This was Clemente’s last
regular season hit in Puerto Rico, number 621 (21 repeating itself). I was
curious to see how Veintidós would feel in learning about this historic and
unpublished [until now] ítem. When I posed this question, there was a brief
silence, like a fraction of a second, followed by a sincere reply: “I did not
know this was Clemente’s last [regular season] hit in Puerto Rico,” affirmed
Veintidós. “It caught me by surprise. It is a privilege for me.”
Twenty months later,
September 30, 1972, Clemente connected his 3,000th and final MLB hit off Jon
Matlack. And to follow up on the historical parallels, it was also a double,
and Veintidós—as well as Matlack—were with the New York Mets organization.
*Thanks to Juan Veintidós and
Héctor Valle for their time and insights in our interviews. Ditto for Héctor
Marrero and Héctor L. Ortiz, who put me in touch with Juan Veintidós.
*Juan Veintidós photo courtesy of Héctor Marrero.
*Special thanks to author and
historian, Tom Van Hyning, for his assistance.
Jorge Colón-Delgado
Escritor • Cineasta • Historiador del Béisbol • Recipiente Premio Eduardo Valero 2026 (SABR Latino), nació en Santurce, Puerto Rico. Durante las últimas cuatro décadas se ha dedicado a investigar y escribir sobre la historia del béisbol.
En 2003 fue nombrado Historiador Oficial de la Liga de Béisbol Profesional de Puerto Rico, función que desempeñó hasta 2006 y que retomó desde 2018 hasta el presente bajo el nombre de Liga de Béisbol Profesional Roberto Clemente. En 2008 fue exaltado al Salón de la Fama del Deporte de Santurce como Escritor y Propulsor, y en 2017 al Salón de la Fama de Río Piedras. En el 2009, el Salón de la Fama del Béisbol en Cooperstown le otorgó un Pase Vitalicio por su contribución a la preservación de la historia del béisbol.
En 2016 fue reconocido como Mejor Periodista Deportivo de Internet del Área Metro y de Puerto Rico. Además, forma parte del Comité de Selección del Salón de la Fama de la Serie del Caribe.
Es autor de siete libros: *Camarero en punta* (1998), *La Maquinaria Perfecta* (2007), *Historia del Clásico del Caribe* (2009), *Pedrín Zorrilla: El Cangrejo Mayor* (2011), *75 años de Béisbol Profesional Boricua* (2014), *Dream Team del Béisbol Profesional Boricua* (2015) e *Historia de los Indios de Mayagüez* (2019). Cinco de sus libros sobre béisbol forman parte de la biblioteca del Salón de la Fama del Béisbol en Cooperstown.
El 15 de abril de 2022 fue seleccionado para integrar el comité “42 for 21”, cuyo propósito es recomendar jugadores, dirigentes, árbitros, ejecutivos y pioneros de las Ligas Negras para su consideración al Salón de la Fama del Béisbol.
En 2018 fue designado Historiador Oficial de la Liga de Béisbol Profesional Roberto Clemente, y en 2022 nombrado Coordinador General del Salón de la Fama del Béisbol Profesional Puertorriqueño.
En el ámbito audiovisual, es guionista, director y narrador de documentales históricos. Produjo y dirigió *Metamorfosis* (2019), sobre la historia de los hipódromos de Puerto Rico, presentado en el Hipódromo Camarero, donde también realizó la narración. Su más reciente trabajo, *El inicio del béisbol en Puerto Rico* (finalizado en 2025 y sometido al Puerto Rico Film Festival), explora los orígenes del deporte en la isla desde el primer partido documentado en 1898 en Santurce, entre Borinquen y Almendares.
Participó como escritor acreditado e historiador en pantalla en el documental premiado Béisbol: Legends of Puerto Rico (2023).
Su experiencia en medios incluye una sección deportiva en el periódico *El Nuevo Día*, así como labores en radio y televisión. También se desempeñó durante 16 años como Director de Prensa del Clásico del Caribe (Serie Hípica del Caribe / Confederación Hípica del Caribe), coordinando coberturas mediáticas de eventos internacionales.
Como divulgador digital, edita y mantiene tres plataformas dedicadas a la preservación histórica:
**safabpp.com** — Sitio oficial del Salón de la Fama del Béisbol Profesional Puertorriqueño (bilingüe).
**beisbol101.com** — Incluido como recurso de referencia en la Digital Library of Latin American and Caribbean Sports, iniciativa académica de la University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign para conectar fuentes históricas del deporte en América Latina y el Caribe.
**negroleaguerspuertorico.com** — Repositorio especializado sobre más de 217 jugadores de las Ligas Negras que participaron en Puerto Rico, con perfiles, anécdotas y testimonios de expertos como Gary Ashwill y Larry Lester (SABR). El sitio destaca el respeto y el “comfort level” que estos atletas encontraron en la isla durante la era de segregación en Estados Unidos.
Jorge Colón Delgado combina investigación rigurosa, escritura prolífica, producción audiovisual y gestión digital para preservar y difundir el patrimonio deportivo puertorriqueño y caribeño. Su trabajo conecta el béisbol boricua con las Ligas Negras, las Grandes Ligas y la Serie del Caribe, posicionándolo como un referente en la intersección de historia, cultura y deporte. Por eso fue reconocido con el Premio Eduardo Valero 2026 de SABR Latino por su destacada labor en la investigación, preservación y difusión de la historia del béisbol latinoamericano.
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