Roberto Clemente

Roberto Clemente (born August 18, 1934, Carolina, Puerto Rico—died December 31, 1972, San Juan) was a professional baseball player who was an idol in his native Puerto Rico and one of the first Latin American baseball stars in the United States (see also Sidebar: Latin Americans in Major League Baseball).

Clemente was originally signed to a professional contract by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1954. He was given a $10,000 bonus—very high by the standards of the times—but was sent to the minor leagues for the 1954 season. Because of a major league rule that stipulated that any player given a bonus of more that $4,000 had to be kept on the major league roster for his entire first season or be subject to a draft from other clubs, the Dodgers lost Clemente. Pittsburgh, which had finished last in the National League in 1954, selected him; Clemente made his major league debut on April 1, 1955, and spent his entire career with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

For 18 seasons Clemente delighted fans with his hitting ability, daring base running, and strong throwing arm. His outstanding arm was perhaps his greatest physical asset. He won 12 Gold Gloves, the award given to the best fielding player in each position in the league. Baseball’s most talented outfielders are still compared to Clemente. He was also a very good hitter, winning four National League batting titles while compiling a lifetime average of .317. In 1972 Clemente got his 3,000th base hit on his very last at bat as a player. At the time, only 10 other players had reached this mark.

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While Clemente amassed a mountain of impressive statistics during his career, he was often mocked by the print media in the United States for his heavy Spanish accent. As an Afro-Latino, Clemente was also subjected to the double discrimination of being a foreigner and being Black in a racially segregated society. Although the media tried to call him “Bob” or “Bobby” and many of his baseball cards use “Bob,” Clemente explicitly rejected those nicknames, stating in no uncertain terms that his name was Roberto. There was also confusion over the correct form of his surname. For 27 years the plaque at the National Baseball Hall of Fame read “Roberto Walker Clemente,” mistakenly placing his mother’s maiden name before his father’s surname. Only in 2000 was it changed to its proper Latin American form, Roberto Clemente Walker.

Perhaps equally as important as Clemente’s accomplishments on the field was his role as an advocate for equitable treatment of Latin baseball players, in which he took great pride. Near the end of his career, Clemente commented, “My greatest satisfaction comes from helping to erase the old opinion about Latin Americans and Blacks.” A close friend of Clemente’s, Spanish-language sportscaster Luis Mayoral, added, “Roberto Clemente was to Latinos what Jackie Robinson was to Black baseball players. He spoke up for Latinos; he was the first one to speak out.”

In the offseason, Clemente returned to his homeland, playing winter baseball in the Puerto Rican League, providing baseball clinics to young players, and spending time with his family. He headed relief efforts in Puerto Rico after a massive earthquake hit Nicaragua in late December 1972. When Clemente received reports that the Nicaraguan army had stolen relief supplies meant for the people, he decided to accompany the next supply plane. Shortly after takeoff from the San Juan airport on December 31, 1972, the plane crashed, killing Clemente and the four crew members. The Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, waived the rule requiring a five-year wait after retirement (or death) before a player could be elected to the Hall, and in July 1973 Clemente was the first player born in Latin America to be inducted into the national baseball shrine. The award presented annually to a Major League Baseball player for exemplary sportsmanship and community service was renamed the Roberto Clemente Award in 1973.