Episode 1: Phil Dorsey

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome Bieng Benidos. The Talking 21 podcast. [00:00:04] Speaker B: When Martin Luther King started doing what he did, he changed the whole system. [00:00:12] Speaker A: The official podcast dedicated to the extraordinary life. [00:00:16] Speaker B: When I was a little kid, I want to be a baseball player. This is something that I think about the more I think about. I convinced that God want me to play baseball. [00:00:27] Speaker A: Of the legendary 21 Proverto Clemente Walker. Proverto, welcome, Bieng Benidos. I'm Danny Torres, and thanks for joining me on the talking 21 podcast. The official podcast dedicated to the extraordinary life and legacy of the legendary 21 Provelto Clemente Walker. Well, it's official. The day has arrived, and it's opening night for this inaugural podcast show. Episode one is finally here, and I'm super excited. And before I introduce our very first guest, I am a big believer in giving the ultimate shout outs 100% credit and kudos to those on the other side who make talking 21 happen on a weekly basis. My man, my brother Raz Guevara and his partner Jerry. Guys, thank you so very much. We have a special guest lined up for our talking 21 listeners, and I'm thrilled to be your host for the next hour as I plan to discuss, delve into, and deliver to our talking 21 listeners fascinating stories, tidbits, and even interesting guests, some who have never spoken on a podcast before, who are connected to the late Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder that you'll only hear exclusively on this podcast, talking 21. And our first guest is Mr. Phil S. Dorsey, a Pittsburgh native who currently resides in Townsend, Maryland. He's the president, creator of the Box, a 24 hours streaming, soulful, eclectic jazz radio station. And Phil has a very interesting story. And that story heads to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he had the unique opportunity for over an 18 year period to get to know the great Roberto Clemente, his dad's best friend. Saludos, Phil. Welcome, Phil Dorsey, and welcome to the Talking 21 podcast. First of all, it's great to once again have an opportunity to speak with you. You know, the topic is someone that was near and dear to your family, specifically your father, but you had an opportunity to get to know him very well. Please share with our listeners your connection with the great one. And how old were you when Roberto entered your life? [00:03:11] Speaker C: Thanks, Danny, for having me. I really appreciate it. A lot of things can be committed to Roberto's life and his career and his humanity. So my dad met Roberto in 1955, shortly after he came up from the minor leagues. And he was introduced by. He was in the army reserves, and he was a sergeant of a pitcher at the time who played for the Pirates named Bob friend. And Bob friend knew my dad liked baseball and he invited him to, I think, an early season game of 55 to introduce him to Roberto because there wasn't any other minorities on the team. And he knew that Roberto needed a connection to get acclimated to the States and the Pittsburgh and the minority community, for lack of a better words, because there weren't any hispanic people that he knew of at the time or my dad knew of at the time to introduce him to. So that was 1955. I was two years old. [00:04:27] Speaker A: Phil, for those of us who weren't fortunate to see Roberto Clemente play in person, boy, I wish I did. I know you were in right field. Often had an opportunity to see him up close. Give me a sense of Roberto the ball player. I don't think you could really make any comparison. Yes, possibly a player like Vladimir Guerrero, Dave Parker, Daryl Strawberry, but Roberto was Roberto. So give me the full breakdown of Roberto the baseball player that you saw up close in Pittsburgh at Three River. [00:05:00] Speaker C: Stadium at, you know, a little bit of history of the time. There's so few video clips of Roberto doing the things that he did so well, hitting and running and catching and throwing. Because the history of videotape at the time was it was so expensive that the tv stations would film a game highlights or record a game and then show the highlights the next day. And then if there was another game the next day, they would record right over that game. So a lot of the stuff that Roberto did wasn't caught on film. It wasn't memorat remained forever. So you're kind of seeing a few clips that somehow made it out and was saved. But that being said, I was at the ballpark almost most summers after school ended, after I started school, and I would go there with my dad and Roberto to go to the games because that was something to do, because there was nothing else for me to do as a kid. I probably started going there when I was six years old and I would sit in one area in the Forbes field at the time along the right base line between first base and the right field line. And there was a player's entrance right between that. So I could sit there and see the ball players come in. So that's where I would sit. I wouldn't really have an assigned seat and it depended upon who was there. And I knew the ushers and my dad would have me sit there and ushers would get me a seat wherever there was one at. And if I had to move, I had to move it. It didn't matter to me anyhow. That's what I did. And I saw Roberto do so many amazing things that weren't caught on film, to my knowledge, besides throwing somebody out at first or third or home plate or something like that. He would pick off people trying trotting the first base, just on thinking they had an easy single. He would try to throw them out at first base if they were just meandering to first base. So he wasn't against catching unaware players off guard as far as trying to surprise them into thinking that they had an easy hit or an easy out or an extra base hit or something like that, because he would do whatever he could to try to put that person out or score a run or stretch a single into a double or catch somebody sleeping and turning the game around. And he did that so many times that I saw through my summers of maybe 25 to 30 games a summer at the ballpark when the Pirates were in town, just being there, just hanging out, eating popcorn, and filling up on watching a game. [00:08:22] Speaker A: Phil, outside the ballpark, I mean, let's be honest, certainly Roberto stopped by your home on Broad street and was a regular visitor. Share your recollections on how you saw Roberto. And, hey, let's be honest, sitting in the backseat of Clemente's cadillac, what that must have been like. Please share those thoughts. [00:08:44] Speaker C: Before we lived on Broad street, we lived on Shakespeare street, and that was just a house we rented. And he would come there, especially when he was kind of under the radar. So he would be there in our neighborhood, and my neighborhood friends would know his car when it came there. So they would try to show up to get autographs and stuff, but only a few. Only a few kids that I knew personally that would come there, and he would sign autographs or give them whatever he had to give them, whatever, but mostly autographs or balls or something like that. But he was there, and he was my dad's best friend. They were best friends. So that would be the place they would hang out when he wasn't playing ball or he wasn't staying in his room that he rented at Stanley Garland's house. That was a friend of my coworker, my dad, who had a new house that he had some extra space, and he rented out a room to Roberto. And Roberto stayed there, I think, from maybe 55 through maybe 60. But I may be wrong along that. Wow, still very young. So it would be a way for him to get away from there and hang out with us, and my parents would entertain. And as other latin players or the black players came, they would find their way to the house and hang out there too for cocktails or whatever. [00:10:23] Speaker A: Any particular. Other players, other pirate players that you can recall that would stop by your dad's home with Roberto. [00:10:32] Speaker C: Willie Stargill, Sanguian, Rennie Stennett. Let's see. [00:10:42] Speaker A: Doc Ellis. [00:10:44] Speaker C: Doc, I think Doc came by also. Vic Davilio. [00:10:49] Speaker A: Yes. Vic. Venezuelan player. [00:10:52] Speaker C: Yeah. And my dad told me one time he put gasoline in his shoes. Tommy told him to put gasolines in his shoes and he would run faster. [00:11:02] Speaker A: So. [00:11:05] Speaker C: He was on base. He stole second base, but he was like dancing around because his feet were on fire and he couldn't stay on the base. And I think he got tagged out because he couldn't stay on the base. [00:11:18] Speaker A: That's a pretty funny story. [00:11:20] Speaker C: So this stuff comes back and it's been a long time. [00:11:23] Speaker A: Something that you shared with me years ago, Phil, I want to say possibly like 15 years ago, because we'd been friends a long time when you lived in Jersey and now the many years there in Maryland, but you shared. It's a pretty heartfelt story because I remember when you shared it with me, just looking at the expression on your face that you can recall when Roberto basically handed your father some money. And if you could share for our listeners exactly what was the reasoning behind the money that Clemente gave to your dad? [00:11:57] Speaker C: My dad was trying to buy his first house, his only house, actually. I think the house costs, the one on Broad Street. I think the house was on sale for. This is 1967 66 67. He bought the house for like $21,000. [00:12:17] Speaker A: Wow. 21, 21. [00:12:19] Speaker C: Yeah, just think about that. I didn't even think that. That may have been the thing. It was $21,000. [00:12:25] Speaker A: You said it. I didn't. You said it. I didn't. [00:12:28] Speaker C: Well, at the time, the federal government would draw red lines around neighborhoods that they wouldn't give reasonable loans or any loans to maybe major metropolitan areas. So it may have been redline, I don't know. But the down payment on the house for my dad had to be $5,000. So Roberto gave him that money. I don't know if he gave him the whole amount or whatever, but he gave him 5000 for the down payment and he may need some other money for other closing costs and things like that. [00:13:06] Speaker A: Here it is. Roberto helps your dad out with purchasing that home on Broad street. But once again, traveling in the backseat of that cadillac, I would love to know or would have loved to have been there, to have seen the expression of the neighborhood kid seeing you get out of this cadillac and the great Roberto Clemente in a passenger seat coming mean again, Phil, you must have been a pretty popular kid in the neighborhood just simply by that. And I know one of the things you also mentioned is about using a Clemente bat to play a little baseball in front of your home. So if you could kind of share a little bit about what your standing was in a neighborhood with the other children and the other friends of yours that lived in a neighborhood. [00:13:49] Speaker C: Yeah, I had a lot of bats that he gave me to use that I played ball with that, you know, just banging them and smashing them and using them for street ball because nobody knew what the future would hold as far as the value of. [00:14:02] Speaker A: No, wait a minute. Wait a me. You're telling me Phil Dorsey had not one, not two, but possibly five, six Roberto Clemente bats that you basically just. All right, so let's do the math, Phil, one Clemente bat. Do you realize in an auction how much a Clemente bat goes for these days? Just to give you an idea, possibly five figures. So, Phil, could you just imagine if those bats were still in that home of yours right now, right behind us, that you're showing us a bat? And I guess back then, like, everybody in the weren't thinking that I'm going to hold on to this bat because one day it's going to be worth something. [00:14:45] Speaker C: Yeah, no, I held onto my baseball cards and my comic books and stuff like that. But no, not baseball stuff because it was disposable at the time. But the other question you had about the notoriety and popularity and, you know me, to this day, I never really played it up. I never really played it up. I mean, I had people that would ask after somebody else may have told them, and I would say, yeah, but I wouldn't dwell on it. I wouldn't try to use it like, well, he's over my house all the time and blah, blah, blah. I could go to any game I want. That wasn't my style, and it wasn't then and it's not now. I would say I was more interested in people who wanted to be friends because they wanted to be my friend for personality. That was. And I kind of learned that from my dad because my dad did that with people that wanted to meet Roberto, that he would kind of be the gatekeeper and the bullshit identifier with Roberto to tell him, this person is, I don't trust him, or he's making up stuff, or he wants your attention, your money, your fame. And it's not going to benefit anybody but himself or herself, whatever. And I ran into that and I just backed away because I didn't want to get involved in somebody's scheme to meet a baseball player, a famous baseball player. I just was like, if you want to be my friend or we have something in common that's, you know, don't use me to try to get to them. Roberta and my dad were friends because, like I mentioned that they had the same thought process and they were very strong, you know, they were also friends because they had a lot in common as far as their likes and their dislikes and their bullshit antennas that would come up when they would see somebody trying to sell them a bill of goods or Roberto Bill of goods and whatever. And my dad was older than Roberto, so he kind of maybe considered him kind of his older brother looking out for me as know, new in town type thing. And that was the way it know, he drove Roberto around in his car. But a lot of times Roberto would be driving my dad around because whatever's going on, depending on where they were, you know, my dad would drive so Roberto could jump and run into the stadium without having to go and park the car and have to walk through the crowd. And when people started to got more adamant about autographs and clinging and all that stuff. So a lot of times my dad would drive Roberto for that reason. But they became friends. They trusted each other. My dad had Roberto Silver bats and awards and cash and cars and all this stuff that Roberto trusted him with. And my dad just did it. He was his friend and he was his confidant and he would do whatever it took for Roberto to be successful on the field and happy in life. And Roberto took care of him and by extension, our family and stuff like that. Like I said, I was the oldest son and I was the person to go to. And if you ever see pictures of my dad, I'm much fairer skinned and my mother was very fair skinned and my dad was very dark skinned. So there were incidents, know two dark skinned men with a light skinned little boy with blonde hair going somewhere in a Cadillac or Lincoln. And I could say Danny mentioned I was a car guy. I remember every car that Roberto had when he was in Pittsburgh and the color and the model. I remember them all. I can't even remember all the cars I had, but I remember all Roberto's cars because they were dynamic back then for riding around in a Ford or a Chevy or something like. [00:19:48] Speaker A: Know, something that just came to my mind immediately, Phil. And I'm actually laughing to myself because here it is. You said Roberto grabbed your hand when you were crossing the street. But yet Phil Dorsey. And that's why I started smirking right now. And I think you're smirking also. You actually had the opportunity to give Roberto a massage, something that Roberto was known for, that he knew every part of his body from actually suffering from a car accident many years ago when he was alive, of course. And there were all these kinks of him getting himself prepared, whether it was the pirate trainer, having to give him a massage, a workout to his body. But Roberto was able to kind of figure out and put his body in tune to play each and every day. [00:20:40] Speaker C: My dad had a bad back also. So as a captive teenager or child, I was stuck in a house, and Roberto and my dad would be there. And then I would give my dad massages, laying on the floor and walk on his back, know, put my elbow and his spine and his shoulders and stuff. And he taught me how to do it because I didn't know what I was. I was, I was giving them to my dad. And Roberta came over several times and was complaining about this. Get Phil to give you a massage. Lay down on the floor there, Roberto, Robbie, and I'd be like, do I have to? I got things I got to do. Like what? I got to finish my comic book or something like that. So anyhow, I did give him a lot of massages on his neck. He had this habit, and you may ever see a video of it, but he could snap his neck on his own. He would just twist his head really quick and snap his neck. And you hear all these bones crack. And I would go like, oh, but he could do that. And he would do that when a lot of times when he walked up to the plate, he would kind of snap his neck before he started batting. He knew how to tune his body, as you mentioned, he knew how to tune as much as he could. [00:22:08] Speaker A: Phil, prior to Clemente's passing, on October eigth, 1972, Roberto sat down with the Pittsburgh sports reporter Sam Nova. It would be Clemente's only sit down interview. I actually interviewed Sam in 2009, and he credits your father for bringing Clemente to the studio. Just imagine, Phil, if your dad wasn't able to drive Clemente to the studio, we truly would have never had this historic sit down for us now today to truly experience. What were Clemente's innermost thoughts? [00:22:46] Speaker C: My dad was a master sergeant in the army, so that came with him being that taught him being very strong willed and being able to stand up to people, no matter who they were and what their size was. And Roberta was very strong willed. So, you know, it would be a. You know, it would be. They had that in common. And I don't know what happened as far as they had their varying opinions about stuff, and they would take each other's advice about things. And my dad was Roberto's entree into Pittsburgh and the black neighborhood that was there to support him because there was nobody else there to support him. There was still segregation going on in the city and in the. You know, he had to go to places that accepted he was. Pittsburgh is a very friendly city. People are very friendly. And if he tries. He was a handsome guy and friendly, and he would talk to everybody. So my dad would take him to get haircuts, and me and the three of us would go get haircuts or take me to the movies at times when they went to see, he said he liked swashbuckler films like Earl Flyn and those type of adventure films. So I would go see that, too, and get amped up on sugar and stuff. But just being. Hanging out with my dad and his friend and I mentioned this, too. Roberta was like my second. He was. He was there to reprimand me or keep me in place or hold my hand when I crossed the street or make sure I was taken care of if I needed anything or I wanted something. If my dad wasn't around, he was there to make sure I was safe and nobody messed with me or he talked to me about being a better kid, and that reflected on who I am and who I became. Being the better person, being a better man, having a sense of humanity in me that I developed over time after seeing how it played out in somebody else's life that I really admire. [00:25:16] Speaker A: You know, Phil, you mentioned that Roberto was your second dad, and I wonder if you could kind of provide a little bit more detail on that dynamic. Here it is, Phil, it wasn't like you didn't have a father in your life. You had a father. You did mention he was a master sergeant, so I could kind of get a sense of maybe he was maybe stricter than Roberto. The personality that you did tell me there was somewhat similar, but here it is. You looked at Roberto as a second father. So if you could least provide a little bit more of that dynamic. Did you find maybe there was a softer side to Roberto because we all know Roberto had those huge hands. Did you find it where maybe Roberto, if maybe your dad scolded you or gave you a particular look. And then maybe Roberto would look at your father like, hey, come on, Phil. [00:26:09] Speaker C: Easy on know. As you're mentioning it now, I think it was a good cop, bad cop thing. My dad was a bad cop, and Roberta was a good know. My dad would threaten me to do something or not do something or whatever the scenario was. And Roberta would tell me to listen to my dad, listen to my mother, and you won't get in trouble and blah, blah, blah. But he was the milder side because my dad would never hit me. But he knew how to intimidate like hell with the master sergeant type thing. He could yell. He could scream. He was shorter to me as I got older, but he knew how to use his voice and his demeanor to threaten me. And I was always scared of him. Roberto would like, you don't want your dad to get mad at you anymore. You got to eat your vegetables or whatever it was. So that my dad wouldn't blow up at me and stuff like that. My dad was. And he could yell because that's what master sergeants do. Little short story. One time, my dad was yelling at me and my mother, know, Phil, don't yell at little Phil like that. And my dad was like, I'm not yelling. [00:27:41] Speaker B: This is yelling. [00:27:42] Speaker C: I'm yelling right now. This is how you know. And then I was like, okay, we're would. He knew how to raise octaves. And he would do that in front of Roberto to get somebody out of the way or reprimand me or my sister. And Roberto would, if he saw fit, would step in and try, know, convince me to follow the rules so that it wouldn't continue or I wouldn't get any more trouble. When Roberto lived in Penley apartments, he lived most of his career. He lived an apartment building a block from where my parents lived. After my parents bought the house on broad street. So he lived a block away. And that was convenient for them because my dad helped him, and he helped my dad and helped us. And he was nearby, if needed, for something that wasn't him driving across town. Because my dad still had a day job that he had to go to. So he did that. So one time in the summer, me and some of my friends were out in the street playing ball. And the streets were very narrow with cars parked on both sides. And there was one lane up the middle, and we're playing street ball with me and maybe four other kids in front of the house. And across the street was another house with three teenage girls living there. And the oldest one was probably about 18 or 19. Anyhow, some local boys had a crush on the oldest girl. And he would drive up and park right in the middle of the street, right in the middle of our game, and start beeping a horn, calling for Margie. Her name is Margie, I remember. So. And he was beeping a horn, and we're there playing a game, and he parks his car right in the middle of it and starts beeping a horn for Margie to come out. And she didn't come out. And I'm like, hey, dude, can you move your car? We're playing ball here. But I was a ten year old, so, hey, Mr. Could you move your car? We're playing ball. And the guy wanted to show off the guy that was driving. There was two other guys in a car besides the driver. And he got out the car and know, don't be talking to me this know, I'll grab, you know, wring your neck. And my dad was waiting in the doorway of our house for Roberto to pick him up to go to the ballpark. And when the guy got out and made a move towards me, my dad burst through the front door of the house. In a flash, before this guy could even turn around and see what was coming at him, my dad was on him and grabbed him by his neck and threw him over the hood of his car. Just one hand threw him over the hood of his car. And before he did that, he held him up in the air and threatened him. The guy was about maybe five inches taller than him, but he held him up in the air and then threw him. And then he reached in the car and took the kids keys out the car. And the other two kids in the car were, like, cowering because they didn't know what this mad black man was going to do. And then just at that point, Roberto pulled up behind him and got out his car with a baseball bat after he saw my dad throwing this kid over the car. And he's like, what's going on, Phil? And he threatened my son. I'm going to beat his ass if he threatens these. Because the guy was, like, ten years older than us. So I'm ten and he's like 20. What are you going to do to. That's totally wrong. So anyhow, he took the kids keys and they had to push the car down the street to park it because my dad wouldn't give them the keys back, so they had to push the car down the street to park it. And my dad told him, if you want your keys back? You have to call the. Roberta said, go ahead and do it. I don't care if I get to the park later. We got to resolve this. And Roberta, he was all suited up. My dad was all suited up. But they were ready to kick some ass. And the police came shortly after. And the police got out. And they got all big eyed. Because they recognized Roberto right away. And they were like, Mr. Clemente, Mr. Clemente, we're sorry. What happened? And the kids realized with the car, realized who he was at that point, too. And they were very apologetic and sorry and apologized to me, apologized to my dad, apologized to Roberto. And took a tongue lashing from the police. The police got autographs, and it was all good. And from that point on, that kid was always very courteous. Hi, Phil. How's your dad? How's your. Hi. Have you seen Roberto lately? Tell him I said, so that was it. And my dad did that at least one other time. For another neighbor that got threatened by some teenagers that were coming to see Margie, some other guys. He beat some other guy up that was threatening an older italian neighbor of ours. So he was just that way. That was it. But Roberto and him were eye to eye and shoulder to shoulder to defend me and do the right thing. [00:33:28] Speaker A: Everyone knows, sadly, what happened on December 31, 1972. Phil, what were your recollections of that tragic day for not only pirate history, baseball history, literally, our nation, the island of Puerto Rico. And let's be honest, the entire world lost. What ends up now that we call Roberto not only a great ball player, but a humanitarian. What are your recollections of December 31, 1972? [00:33:58] Speaker C: There was a whole bunch of rumors and misinformation and flashbacks. And this happened. This didn't happen. This is going on. That's going on. It was very blurry. And because it was the day after New Year's, I was at a party. I was at a party. I was partying. So next day I woke up. I wasn't drinking a whole lot. But next day I woke up. I wasn't up to speed as far as. And then having to deal with that. And that morning, one of the local tv channels came to our house. It had to be seven or 08:00 in the morning. To try to get exclusive with my dad about Roberto. And I think he had been up much earlier than that. And he was very upset. And like I said, that was the first time I ever saw him cry. And that was the last time I ever saw him cry. After my mother died, he probably cried but he never cried in front of me. He cried in front of us that day. That was his friend. And it lose him in such a tragic capacity, or it was overwhelming to him. I think they thought they would be friends for a very long time, which. 1520 years, almost 20 something years. Yeah, over 20 years. 18 years. 18 years. That was a long time. And all of somebody suddenly, in such a fashion, was very devastating. [00:35:51] Speaker A: One thing that I did hear, and I believe it might have been the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, that at that time, this airline company no longer exists, eastern airline. When they knew that your dad was Roberto Clemente's best friend in Pittsburgh, they actually made sure that when he traveled from Pittsburgh to Puerto Rico, that he traveled in first class alone. So he was able to basically be within his own thoughts, no distractions whatsoever, to be there to obviously support Mrs. Vera Clemente, who sadly has just passed away last November. And of course, the boys, who are very young, Roberto Jr. Luis and Enrique. And talking about Mrs. Clemente, I can recall in Newark, the Newark bears in 2004, and this was around the beginnings of when you and I met, that Mrs. Clemente was honored by the Newark bears. And there was an on field presentation, and I invited you to come. And I was there on the suite level, and Mrs. Clemente is walking, and she immediately spotted you. And she said, oh, my God, little Phil. And I could just only imagine. I'm sure we spoke about it afterwards. How many years had basically gone by from. When was the last time she saw you? Now, Phil, help me out. If this is 2004, Roberto passed in 72. Would you say it was that many years in between was the last time you had saw Mrs. Clemente? [00:37:30] Speaker C: I think I had seen her one time when she came to Pittsburgh for a ceremony after Roberto died, but that had to be 73, so it was a very long time. I had talked to her once on the phone. One time I called her to say hello when I got her number from someone. And I did talk to her, and we talked for a few minutes. At that time, she was back in Puerto Rico, and her English wasn't that, you know, we did talk, and she was very happy. I was very happy. She took my call and we talked for a while. It was very good to reconnect with her. Then seeing her in Newark was very special for me and Phil, in a. [00:38:08] Speaker A: Nutshell, how could you describe for our listeners Mrs. Vera Clemente? We heard so much about Roberto, but when you're talking Roberto, we have to talk about a little bit, at least about Mrs. Vera Clemente. [00:38:21] Speaker C: She was always very sweet, always very demure, always very strong willed. She was always a lady, very much, always a perfect lady. She was very sweet to me when I was young. I think when Roberto came into or she came into Roberto's life and they connected. I had to be maybe ten or eleven or something like that. And she was very respectful to me and my family and my mother and dad. And she was just that way. And she was very calm. She was about the business of supporting Roberto and taking care of her family. And after Roberta passed, she went on and was just as heroic as he was in real life, supporting his mission and her family and his ideals, and lived that to her last breath, living that legend of her husband and what he bought and how she personified it with herself and her family. [00:39:37] Speaker A: Well, you know, Phil, something happened that was rather historic in Pittsburgh at PNC park. And it was the first time ever that the entire Pittsburgh Pirate team, and the last time was when Roberto Clemente was still with us in 1972. So here it is in 2020, the entire Pittsburgh Pirate team, along with players throughout Major League baseball, select players, players that requested it with their respective teams. They wore the patch, they wore the uniform, 21, but the entire Pittsburgh Pirates team wore number 21, Phil Dorsey. Obviously, the talk once again now on social media, in the news is the movement that we all know as hashtag retire 21. If Phil Dorsey, someone that knew Roberto so well for the 18 years and you had to present to the commissioner of baseball, you're sitting at the commissioner's table, what would you pinpoint? We know Jackie Robertson's number is the only number that's retired. What can Phil Dorsey provide to discussion as to why that number should hang alongside 42? [00:40:49] Speaker C: I would probably say Roberta made the ultimate sacrifice using his fame, prestige, power, and determination to change the world. And nobody else has gone to that degree, to my knowledge, within major League Baseball, and that he should be honored, I would say if you wanted to make it happen or continue to get it in the public eyes, you can also do come with Black Lives Matter. You just say his name, keep saying his name. When the discussion comes up about baseball, say his name. They talk about the World Series. They talk about who's the tops and this and who's the tops in that. You got to say his name. Say his name. It's time to retire his number. Berto Clementi's number needs retired. And keep saying his name. That would be it. Simple. That's my suggestion. And that seems to be working and other things in life that's happening. Now and say his name. [00:41:56] Speaker A: Amen. Roberto Clemente, retired 21 well, once again, Phil Dorsey, it's just great that you were here on our inaugural episode, episode one, talking 21. Dedicated to the life and legacy of the great Roberto Clemente. So, Phil Dorsey, thank you so much for being a part of this. Literally, I could almost say historic episode, because we're looking forward for many to come. [00:42:22] Speaker C: Oh, thank you very much. Thank you for thinking of me. Thank you for considering me for this broadcast. And I'll do whatever I can to further, you know, say his name. [00:42:35] Speaker A: I love that. I love that. Say his name. Roberto Clemente. Walker Roverito. Glamour mano. Go to on that close.