Roberto Clemente

The famous baseball player, Roberto Clemente Walker was born in Carolina, Puerto Rico in 1934. After excelling in sports throughout his childhood, Clemente began to play professionally at age 17 with the Santurce Crabbers, a team of the Puerto Rican Baseball League (National Baseball Hall of Fame). One year later, he was noticed by teams in the United States and was drafted on to the Brooklyn Dodgers. During his first season with the team, the Dodgers tried to put him on their minor league team, however they had violated a rule within the league stating that no minor league player could make more than $4,000 a season, and Clemente had been given $10,000 (National Baseball Hall of Fame). Instead of moving him up to their major-league team, the Dodgers let the Pittsburgh Pirates draft him.

Clemente spent the entire rest of his career with the Pirates, helping them make the World Series twice, winning 12 Golden Gloves awards for his fielding, and four National League batting titles. By his very last game, he had reached 3,000 base hits, a record that only 10 other players had ever reached (Encyclopaedia Britannica). Even with his success, however, Clemente faced a lot of discrimination within baseball and society as a whole because he was black and also viewed as a foreigner despite his U.S. citizenship. The media also often criticized his Spanish accent and usually referred to him as “Bob” or “Bobby” despite Clemente’s insistence on being called Roberto.

Clemente was very involved in both supporting Puerto Rico and creating a better image for minorities in the U.S. as well. Towards the end of his career, Clemente stated that although he was proud of his accomplishments on the field, the work that gave him the most pride was “helping to erase the old opinion about Latin Americans and blacks,” (Encyclopaedia Britannica). During the major league’s off-season, Clemente always returned to Puerto Rico to play for local teams and teach baseball to young players. After a powerful earthquake struck Nicaragua in 1972, he also helped lead relief efforts there, which ultimately resulted in his death when his plane crashed as they were delivering supplies in Nicaragua (Encyclopaedia Britannica).

After his death, the Baseball Hall of Fame waived that rule that players must be deceased for at least five years before elected to the Hall and immediately elected Clemente, making him the first Latin American player to receive the honor. Major League Baseball also created an award named after him in 1973 that is given annually to a player showing both great sportsmanship and community service (Encyclopaedia Britannica).

Works Cited

Iooss, Walter. 1971 World Series. Photograph. Sports Illustrated. Accessed April 23, 2020. https://www.si.com/mlb/2014/08/18/classic-si-photos-roberto-clemente.

“Roberto Clemente.” National Baseball Hall of Fame. National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Accessed April 23, 2020. https://baseballhall.org/hall-of-famers/clemente-roberto.

“Roberto Clemente, American Baseball Player.” Encyclopaedia Britannica. Accessed April 23, 2020. https://www.britannica.com/topic/National-League.