Donn Clendenon (#375)

Donn Clendenon had a 12-year career as a first baseman, spending the first 2/3 of his career with the Pirates, before moving on to other teams, including the 1969 Miracle Mets, where he was named the World Series MVP.

Donn was signed by the Pirates in 1957, and played five seasons in the minors as a first baseman and outfielder. He also pitched two games in 1957.

Clendenon made his major-league debut in September 1961. In 1962, Donn made 41 starts at first base (mostly in August and September) and 17 starts in left field. He finished 2nd in NL Rookie of the Year voting to Cubs’ 2nd baseman Ken Hubbs (19 votes to 1 vote).

After the 1962 season, the Pirates traded their long-time first-sacker Dick Stuart to the Red Sox for catcher Jim Pagliaroni, paving the way for Clendenon to play fulltime at 1B. He started 146 games there in 1963, and never played another position for the Bucs (save for 2 innings at 3rd base in 1965).

Donn was the Pirates’ regular 1st baseman for the next 6 years, hitting between 12 and 28 homers per season, but also leading the NL in strikeouts in ’63 and ’68.

With young first basemen like Al Oliver and Bob Robertson waiting in the wings, Clendenon was left exposed to the expansion draft after the 1968 season, and was selected by the Montreal Expos with the 11th pick. Three months later, he was flipped to the Astros with Jesus Alou for Rusty Staub. When Clendenon refused to report to the Astros (word is that he didn’t like ex-Pirates’ and current Astros’ manager Harry Walker), the Expos kept Staub and Clendenon, and sent pitchers Jack Billingham and Skip Guinn to complete the deal.

Topps issued 2 cards for Clendenon that year (both #208), in a forerunner to their "traded" subsets that would begin in 1972.


After a brief holdout, Clendenon rejoined the Expos in mid-April, then was traded to the Mets in mid-June for pitcher Steve Renko and 3rd baseman Kevin Collins. Talk about a lucky break! Donn went from an expansion team to the eventual World Champions. He alternated at 1st base with Ed Kranepool for the remainder of the season, and although he didn’t play in the NLCS, he hit .357 (5 for 14) with 3 homers and 4 RBI in 4 World Series games, and was named the Series MVP.

In 1970, Donn started 96 games at first base, with outfielder Art Shamsky starting another 55 (Kranepool missed several months). This would be Donn’s last season as a regular. Kranepool returned in 1971 and started 2/3 of the games, leaving 1/3 for Clendenon.

Donn was released by the Mets after the ’71 season, and was picked up by the Cardinals that December. He only started 31 games in his final season, mostly from May to July. His last game was on August 5th, and he drew his release 2 days later.

After his playing career, Clendenon earned a law degree and practiced law in Ohio. Later in life he battled drug addiction and leukemia. He passed away in September 2005 at age 70.