Steve Blass On Board With Retiring Clemente's '21'
PITTSBURGH (93-7 The FAN) - MLB Reporter Buster Olney has been asking if Roberto Clemente's number should be retired.
Chris Mueller of The Starkey and Mueller Show was very intrigued by this question and reached our to one of Clemente's former teammates in Steve Blass to get his thoughts.
"You know, why not? He was such a big influence on all the Latino players that have come and passed. Maybe not all of them, but a good percentage of them. And now, as the population of Latino players overtakes the number of African American players, it becomes more of an idea that I can very much accept."
Blass went on to call it an honor to be Roberto's teammate, and that if they decide to never retire his number, he'll still have all of his personal memories of the Pirates' Hall of Famer.
Blass went on to make it clear that even if the league doesn't retire his number, the Pirates have already taken their own measures to honor one of their all-time greats.
"If it comes down to cases and it's being seriously considered, it's not a Pittsburgh Pirate decision, we retired his number locally right away," Blass said.
You can check out the results of Chris Mueller's poll asking if Clemente's number should be retired here:
Click the audio link below to hear some of Blass' great stories about playing alongside Clemente.
