CLEMENTE The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero

Roberto Clemente graced baseball diamonds until his death in 1972. The author's research is complete--it is as much about race and personalities as it is about baseball--but never bogs down the story. Such a rich biography requires a narrator who understands pace. Taking on the loping gait of a home-run trot, Jonathan Davis steadily makes the listener a fan, free to watch and listen as Clemente runs, hits, and throws his way to greatness. Using a consistent soft Spanish accent for Clemente, Davis creates an image of Number 21 as a loyal, oversensitive man whose "unpredictable temperament" is driven by pride to be the best. By the end, the listener has taken in a tremendous nine-inning game. M.B. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/ SEP 07]