Gone But Not Forgotten

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What ever happened to one of the greatest baseball players there ever was? In my opinion! I’m speaking about the player known as “the pride of Puerto Rico,” Roberto Clemente. My first experience with him was when he began to play for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1954. My Dad and Mom both followed the Pittsburgh Pirates. We would go up to Pittsburgh on a regular basis and go to the games whenever we could. We only lived about 90 miles from Pittsburgh, in West Virginia, so it wasn’t a long trip. My mother had a high school friend who lived in Pittsburgh and sometimes we would spend the night with her and her husband. Roberto Clemente was my Dad’s favorite player. Roberto had some health problems. He had been in a car accident and hurt his back and was sometimes in too much pain to play and there were always rumors that he was quitting. But, in 1958, the year before I got married, he rebounded and led the National League in assists. He personally scored 69 hits and drove in 50 runs. Pittsburgh placed second with 84 wins, the highest it had been since the early 1940s. In 1959, Roberto had to have surgery to remove bone chips from his elbow and only played 105 games. In 1960, the Pirates won the pennant and ended up winning the World Series, beating the New York Yankees. Although he had a brilliant career, he was mostly ignored by sportswriters and others who would not vote for him for several awards. Finally though, in 1966, his old enemies, the Baseball Writers of America voted him MVP. There was no way the press could continue to ignore him. In 1967, he signed a baseball contract for $100,000. Despite several injuries, Roberto Clemente continued to excel in the game of baseball. In 1971, the Pittsburgh Pirates again won the World Series against the Baltimore Orioles. In 1972, he became the FIRST player in baseball history to get 3000 hits. In December of 1972, an earthquake hit Nicaragua and Roberto decided to fly there with supplies. He was always trying to help others. The plane exploded minutes after take-off and sent the airplane into the ocean. Only his briefcase was found. The entire Pirates team went to Puerto Rico for the funeral. Every year, at Three Rivers Stadium, a night was dedicated to Roberto Clemente. In 1973, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, the first Hispanic to receive that honor. In 1984, The U.S. Postal Service issued a Roberto Clemente stamp, the first Hispanic player to appear on such a stamp. Today, Roberto Clements’s Sports Center sits on the land he bought, just a few miles from San Juan’s airport. The director of this huge complex is Roberto Clemente, Jr. My memory of him was refreshed as I wrote this post for you to read. What a great player and humanitarian he was. Everyone should know about him. He died December 31st, 1972. The Photo PNC Park in Pittsburgh, PA