by Amaury Pi Gonzalez
photo credit: psacard.com 1964 Topps giant Pittsburgh Pirates Roberto Clemente
Where were you on December 31, 1972? Where you born yet? This was the day one of the real legends of baseball died at the young age of 38 years as he was on a DC-3 airplane loaded with relief effort on a mercy mission from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Managua, Nicaragua, just days after Nicaragua’s biggest earthquake took place not far from Managua,(the capital)on December 23,1972. This monster shake caused over 6,000 deaths, 20,000 wounded and 250,000 left homeless. The plane Clemente chartered,filled with aid disappeared north of San Juan, Puerto Rico, Five people were killed in the crash, including Clemente, whose body was never recovered. He spent his off-season in his native Puerto Rico, where he played and managed in the Puerto Rico national league.
Born in 1934, Clemente was a track and field star and Olympic hopeful before deciding to turn his attention to baseball, a national passion in his native Puerto Rico. He was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1954 and was given a bonus of $10,000–an impressive amount for the time. Due to a league rule forcing major league clubs to keep any player paid more than $4,000 on their roster for an entire season–or risk him being drafted by rival teams–Clemente was signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates after the Dodgers relegated him to the minor league Montreal Canadiens. But why did Clemente charter that plane? After he learned that the carriers by earlier relief planes had not reach its intended recipients he decided to accompany the next one himself. The plane that crashed was found to have a history of mechanical problems, and was carrying too much weight.
Roberto Clemente’s heart was much bigger than his great baseball persona on the field, and his Hall of Fame performance with the Pittsburgh Pirates, he is the most famous #21 in the history of the game, and to this day, young kids that play baseball from Puerto Rico, want to wear his #21. Throughout the years Puerto Rican stars in the maior leagues, like Ruben Sierra and Candido(Candy)Maldonado, has wore that famous #21. A number that Major League Baseball should also retire, like the #42 of Jackie Robinson. Clemente was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1973, becoming the first Latin American and Caribbean player to be enshrined. His untimely death established the precedent that, as an alternative to the five-year retirement period, a player who has been deceased for at least six months is eligible for entry into the Hall of Fame.
Retiring #21 for all 30 major league teams, would be a home run for the new Commissioner. When Roberto Clemente played, most of the teams didn’t even have one Hispanic player. Today some of the biggest names in the game are born in Latin America, and many teams did not have a minority playing. Clemente’s first)pf his total 18 seasons)was 1955, less than 10 years since the first black player put a uniform(Jackie Robinson, Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947). Clemente remains the most historical of all players born in Latin America; no, he was not the first Hispanic to play in the major leagues, but he was definitely the first impact player born in Latin America.
He barely spoke English, and that made his life very tough, he was often misquoted by the print media, something he detested, because he was a honorable and a very proud family Clemente enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve after the 1958 season and spent six months on active duty at Parris Island, South Carolina and Camp LeJeune, North Carolina. He served until 1964 and was inducted into the Marine Corps Sports Hall of Fame in 2003. When I was writing for El Mundo News of Oakland, inn the early 1970’s, I covered games at Candlestick Park when the Giants hosted the Pirates. Although it was not the 1940’s racism in baseball was very much around. I could never forget during one game at Candlestick Park, after Clemente struck out at the plate, a Pittsburgh reporter shouted in the press box: “sending him back in a banana boat!”. To this day, I do not know if this was meant to be funny, but to me it sounded very racist, even if it was a sarcastic remark. Clemente was not famous for striking out; as a matter of mathematical fact, he came to the plate on 9,454 occasions, and struck out only 1,230 times. In other words he struck out 68.5 times per season. Contact, great hitter, that is how he finished with a career .317 average.
Almost poetic, Clemente’s last hit, was his 3,000 hit of his career. At Three Rivers Stadium against Mets lefty Jon Matlack a 22-year old rookie, who gave the double against the left field cement wall, and Clemente’s 3,000 hit. At the time, Roberto was the 11th major league player to reach the plateau and the first ever Latin American player to do so. His last hit September 30, 1972, his last day on this earth (3 months later), December 31, 1972. That historical 3,000 hit is in Spanish in the Hall of Fame, at Cooperstown, New York with the call by legendary Cuban-born announcer, good friend and Hall of Fame member, Rafael “Felo”Ramirez, at 92 years old, until this 2015 season still the Spanish play by play announcer for the Miami Marlins. Felo is also in The Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum Hall of Fame.
This Thursday December 31, 2015, it will be 43 years since Roberto (El Cometa de Carolina, trans The Carolina Comet) born in Carolina, Puerto Rico August 19, 1934 died on that plane crash. If you saw Roberto Clemente play, it was not only about his talent, but his style, running the bases like a gazele, playing right field with one the best arms ever seen,his dedication to the game and to other human being, you have to agree, he was indeed One of A Kind.
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