“The economy has been tough on baseball here in Pittsburgh, so we had to cut salary,” said Huntington. “We really had no choice but to get rid of Nate McClouth, Adam LaRoche, Nyjer Morgan, Freddy Sanchez, Jack Wilson, Xavier Nady, John Grabow and Tom Gorzelanny. Moving the Roberto Clemente statue to the Nationals was simply the next logical move in the process.”
Nationals fans are excited to receive the statue of such a touted player.
“Any time you have the opportunity to acquire a Hall of Fame caliber hitter, you have to make that move,” said Nationals President Stan Kastan. “Here in Washington, the only jersey we have retired is Jackie Robinson. This will give us two players whose numbers we can fly atop the stadium, even though they never played for us.”
From the August 2009 issue by Drew Adams
