Donn Clendenon
Donn Clendenon was born in Neosho, Missouri, United States on July 15th, 1935 and is the Baseball Player. At the age of 70, Donn Clendenon biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, and networth are available.
At 70 years old, Donn Clendenon has this physical status:
Donn Alvin Clendenon (July 15, 1935 – September 17, 2005) was an American professional baseball player.
From 1961 to 1972, he played in Major League Baseball as a first baseman.
He is best known for winning the 1969 World Series Most Valuable Player Award as a member of the New York Mets.
Early life
Claude Clendenon, his father, died of leukemia six months after he was born in Neosho, Missouri. Claude Clendenon, a mathematics and psychology professor and chairman of Langston University, an all-black school in Langston, Oklahoma, was a mathematics and psychology professor and chairman of the mathematics department. Helen Clendenon's mother, Helen, was highly impressed with her son's academic accomplishments. When Clendenon's mother married former Negro league baseball player Nish Williams, he was six years old. Clendenon's new stepfather decided he wanted to turn his stepson into a baseball player, in addition to academic excellence. Williams spent nearly every baseball team that Clendenon played on, including his college squad at Morehouse College in Atlanta, and his semi-pro career with the Atlanta Black Crackers. Clendenon received pointers from several of Williams' Negro leagues, including Jackie Robinson, Satchel Paige, Roy Campanella, and Don Newcombe.
Major League Baseball career
Clendenon made his major league debut with Pittsburgh in 1961 as a September call-up after five seasons in the minor leagues. Clendenon batted.3032 in eighty games to finish second in National League Rookie of the Year voting to Chicago Cubs second baseman Ken Hubbs in his rookie season, 1962.
The Pirates cut first baseman Dick Stuart to the Boston Red Sox to open a position for Clendenon following the 1962 season. With 15 home runs and 57 RBI, he responded by batting.275. In 1965 and 1966, Clendenon served in 96 and 96 respectively, and he later became a member of Pittsburgh's renowned "Lumber Company" (although the word "Lumber Company was not used until the 1970s), as well as Willie Stargell and Roberto Clemente. He held second place in 1963 and 1964, and third in 1965, earning his reputation as a "free swinger."
With first base prospect Al Oliver awaiting in the wings, the Pirates left Clendenon unprotected for the 1968 Major League Baseball expansion draft, and the Montreal Expos selected him. The Expos traded Clendenon and Jess Alou to the Houston Astros in 1969, but Clendenon refused to report to the Astros. Harry Walker had been hired as their new manager in 1968. Clendenon had played under Walker in Pittsburgh, but Clendenon considered Walker to be a bigote. He threatened to leave rather than play for the Astros rather than play for the Astros.
Commissioner Bowie Kuhn ordered the trade to proceed, requiring the Expos to provide additional compensation. Clendenon first appeared at the Expo on April 19, 1969. When the Expos sold him to the New York Mets on June 15, 1969, in exchange for Steve Renko, Kevin Collins, and two minor leaguers, he was batting.240 with four home runs and 14 RBI.
In the newly aligned National League East, the Mets were in second place, nine games behind Leo Durocher's Chicago Cubs, when they purchased Clendenon. With Ed Kranepool at first base, Clendenon's numbers with the Mets did not rise immediately over those with the Expos. Clendenon's batting average began to rise, though Clendenon's home run against the San Francisco Giants on August 30 gave the Mets the 3–2 win.
When the Cubs took to Shea Stadium for a two-game set on September 8, the Mets were 2+12 games behind Chicago. With Clendenon hitting a two-run home run in the Mets' 7–1 victory on the ninth, the Mets swept the field to move within 1 12 games of first place.
The Mets won their next six games in a row (10 in total), leaping 3+1 2 games over the Cubs. Clendenon swung the big bat against the St. Louis Cardinals on September 24, securing the NL East for the first time. Overall, they won 38 of their last 49 games and finished with 100 victories over the second-place Cubs.
Clendenon did not appear in the Atlanta Braves' 1969 National League Championship Series three-game sweep. Clendenon appeared in four of the five games but skipped only Game 3. In Game 1, he went 2 for 4 on Game 1, marking the Mets' first run in their 4–1 loss. In game two, he scored a fourth-inning home run in game two and a second-inning home run in game four, giving the Mets a lead in both games.
In Game 5, the Orioles were up 3–0 when Cleon Jones led off the sixth inning. Dave McNally appeared to strike Jones in the foot with a pitch, but home plate umpire Lou DiMuro ruled that the ball had missed Jones. Gil Hodges, Mets's manager, emerged from the dugout to protest, and DiMuro was shown a shoe-polish smudge on the ball. DiMuro's call was changed and Jones was awarded the first base. To pull the Mets within a run, Clendenon clocked them with a two-run home run. The Mets eventually won the game 5–3, bringing an improvable World Series victory over the heavily favored Orioles.
Clendenon batted.357 (5 for 14) with three home runs and four RBI, earning the accolade of World Series MVP. His three home runs remain tied for the most home runs in a five-game series, with Ryan Howard equaling it in the 2008 World Series.
Clendenon set a Mets record by driving in seven runs with two three-run homers and a sacrifice fly on July 28, 1970. At the time of play that day, the Mets were in second place, one game behind the Pirates. However, they sputtered from there, finishing the season in third place and six games behind the division champion Pirates. Clendenon batted.288 with 22 home runs on the season, and tied for the Mets' single-season RBI record of 97 runs.
Ed Kranepool spent a year with the Mets in 1970 after being demoted to the Tidewater Tides. Clendenon was the odd man out, and he was released by the Mets at the end of the 1971 season with first base prospect Mike Jorgensen and John Milner both waiting.
Clendenon played for the St. Louis Cardinals for the 1972 season, but he saw little playing time behind Matty Alou. He was released on August 7 with a.191 batting average, four home runs, and just nine RBIs. The Cardinals dealt Alou to the Oakland Athletics in three weeks after Clendenon's release and spent the remainder of the season with a revolving door at first base.