The late great Pittsburgh Pirate Roberto Clemente (21) doffs his cap after hitting a double for his 3,000 career hit at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh against the New York Mets pitcher Jon Matlack on the last day of the season September 30, 1972 which would be his last career hit he would die three months later in a plane crash. (pinterest file photo)

MLB: Time to Retire No.21

That’s Amaury News and Commentary

By Amaury Pi-González

In 1997 Major League Baseball retired Jackie Robinson No.42, it was the first uniform retired in history. Robinson recognized as a historical figure in American sports as the first African-American to play in the major leagues. There are “Retire #21” banners at PNC Park seen in Pittsburgh today, that is regarding the wishes of Pirates fans to have Roberto Clemente’s number retired by Major League Baseball

In 1973, the Pirates retired “El Cometa de Carolina” number 21. One year after Clemente disappeared with the DC-3 chartered plane he was taking to Nicaragua to help the victims of that country’s earthquake. In 1998 the Pirates sold the naming rights to locally based PNC Financial Services, PNC Park.

However, public sentiment in Pittsburgh remained to name the new baseball park after Roberto Clemente, but that was not possible. In 1998 the 6th street bridge, which crosses the Allegheny River in downtown Pittsburgh was renamed the Roberto Clemente Bridge.

To my knowledge, Roberto Clemente is the only player in history to have a bridge dedicated to his name. Makes sense in Pittsburgh a city with three rivers, the Allegheny, Monongahela and the Ohio River. There is little doubt that in Pittsburgh Roberto Clemente was always respected and to date he is one of the city’s heroes.

Although the first Hispanic/Latino ballplayer to play in professional baseball in the US was Esteban Bellán (Cuba) in 1871 with the Troy Haymakers of the old National Association, today the National League. Orestes (Minnie) Miñoso (Cuba) was the first Black Latino player in 1949 with the Cleveland Indians.

But it was Roberto Clemente the very first impact player from Latin America, a Hall of Fame player, who played his whole career of 18 years with the Pittsburgh Pirates (1955-1972). Roberto Clemente was the first Hispanic/Latino baseball player inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, NY.

The Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum and Hall of Fame (hhbmhof.com) was founded in 1999 and Roberto Clemente was posthumously inducted in a ceremony where his widow Vera Clemente accepted the induction plaque.

There is a very good case to be made that Major League Baseball should retire No.21. Clemente’s exemplary life, which he gave in helping people from another country during a terrible natural disaster lives forever in the memory of baseball fans everywhere in the world, but especially in Puerto Rico and all of Latin America.

Hispanic/Latino player participation in the major leagues today is around 30 percent of all the players, in the United States. A country where Hispanics represent the largest minority between 18-20% of the population, approximately 60 million people. Spanish is the second most spoken language in the United States other than English.

Roberto Clemente as a player was often misquoted, many times made fun of his accent, when he said, quote: “Baseball has been very, very good to me” he said it because he was an honest and humble man, traits that politicians do not understand and rarely can relate to. During the years Clemente played, comedian Bill Dana had a routine that became famous and sort of a catchphrase, when he said in mangled English; “My name is….José….Jiménez”

The words equality, diversity are nice words but they ring hollow if there is no action, MLB retiring Roberto Clemente’s #21 is bound to happen, when? is the question. But there is little doubt that Roberto Clemente is a historic figure in baseball that represents the best of all of us. Time to retire No.21.

Note: The first number retired in history, by a major league team, was by the New York Yankees, No.4, Lou Gehrig on July 4, 1939, the day he made his famous; “Today I Consider Myself”….speech. Players numbers among all major league teams have been retired since then. There is a difference. Teams can retire the number of their players and they cannot be used by other players. But only Major League Baseball can retire a number for all 30 teams.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the vice president of the Major League Baseball Hispanic Heritage Hall of Fame Museum and does News and Commentary at http://www.sportsradioservice.com