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Donn Alvin Clendenon (July 15, 1935 – September 17, 2005) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a first baseman from to . He is most notable for his performance during the 1969 World Series when he won the World Series Most Valuable Player Award by hitting three home runs to help lead the team known as the Miracle Mets to an upset victory over the Baltimore Orioles.
Morehouse College was and is one of the premier academic institutions for young African-American men. Just before Clendenon arrived in , the freshman class were assigned "Big Brothers" to help the students acclimate themselves to Morehouse and college life. Although the policy had ended when he arrived, a Morehouse graduate volunteered to be Clendenon's big brother; his name was Martin Luther King Jr.
Clendenon became a twelve-time letterman in football, basketball and baseball at Morehouse, and had received contract offers from both the Cleveland Browns and the Harlem Globetrotters. Clendenon, however, decided he wanted to teach, and began teaching fourth grade upon graduation. Williams convinced Clendenon to attend a Pittsburgh Pirates try-out camp in , and he signed with the team as an amateur free agent shortly afterwards.
Following the 1962 season, the Pirates traded first baseman Dick Stuart to the Boston Red Sox to open a position for Clendenon. He responded by batting .275 with 15 home runs and 57 RBI. Clendenon drove in 96 and 98 in and , respectively, and became a member of Pittsburgh's famed "Lumber Company" (although the term "Lumber Company was not actually used until the 1970s) along with Willie Stargell and Roberto Clemente. He also earned a reputation as a "free swinger" as he led the league in strikeouts in and , and finished second in 1966 and third in 1965.
Commissioner Bowie Kuhn forced the trade through, ordering the Expos to send additional compensation. Clendenon joined the Expos on April 19, 1969. He was batting .240 with four home runs and 14 RBI when the Expos dealt him to the New York Mets on June 15, 1969, in exchange for Steve Renko, Kevin Collins and two minor leaguers.
The Mets were games back of Chicago when the Cubs came to Shea Stadium for a two-game set on September 8. The Mets swept the set to move within game of first place, with Clendenon hitting a two-run home run in the Mets' 7–1 victory on the ninth.
The Mets won their next six in a row (10 total) to move games over the Cubs. On September 24, Clendenon swung the big bat against the St. Louis Cardinals with a three-run home run and a solo shot to clinch the NL East. Overall, they won 38 of their last 49 games, and finished with 100 wins against 62 losses, eight games over the second-place Cubs.
The Orioles were ahead 3–0 in Game 5 when Cleon Jones led off the sixth inning. Dave McNally appeared to hit Jones in the foot with a pitch; however, home plate umpire Lou DiMuro ruled that the ball had missed Jones. Mets manager Gil Hodges emerged from the dugout to argue, and showed DiMuro a shoe-polish smudge on the ball. DiMuro reversed his call, and awarded Jones first base. Clendenon followed with a two-run home run to pull the Mets within a run. The Mets eventually won the game, 5–3, to complete their improbable World Series victory over the heavily-favored Orioles.
For the series, Clendenon batted .357 (5 for 14) with three home runs and four RBI, and was named World Series MVP. His three home runs remained tied for most home runs in a five-game Series with Ryan Howard in the 2008 World Series and Steve Pearce in the 2018 World Series. This record lasted until the 2024 World Series when Freddie Freeman broke the record with 4 home runs in a five-game series.
After having been demoted to the Tidewater Tides in 1970, Ed Kranepool enjoyed a career year with the Mets in . With first base prospects Mike Jorgensen and John Milner also both waiting in the wings, Clendenon became the odd man out, and was released by the Mets at the end of the 1971 season.
Clendenon signed with the St. Louis Cardinals for the season, but saw very limited playing time behind Matty Alou. He was released on August 7 with a .191 batting average, four home runs and just nine RBIs. Three weeks after Clendenon's release, the Cardinals dealt Alou to the Oakland Athletics and spent the rest of the season with a revolving door at first base.
| Seasons | Games | at-bats | Runs | Hits | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | stolen base | BB | SO | HBP | Avg. | Slg. | OBP | Fld% |
| 12 | 1362 | 4648 | 594 | 1273 | 192 | 57 | 159 | 682 | 90 | 379 | 1140 | 21 | .274 | .442 | .328 | .987 |
He eventually entered a drug rehabilitation facility in Ogden, Utah, and during a physical examination in connection with his treatment, learned he had leukemia. That prompted his move to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in 1987, where he worked with Carlsen, Carter, Hoy & Eirenberg before becoming general counsel to the Interstate Audit Corporation. He also worked for many years as a chemical dependency counselor and was devoted to helping others in their recoveries. Clendenon died in Sioux Falls in 2005 at age 70 after a long bout with leukemia.
He was survived by his wife, Anne; his sons, Donn, Jr. and Val, his daughter, Donna Clendenon, and six grandsons. Shortly before his death, he was inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of fame.
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