“He played a kind of baseball that none of us had ever seen before… As if it were a form of punishment for everyone else on the field.” – Roger Angell
Today throughout the Major Leagues, the life of the late, great Roberto Clemente was celebrated. Fittingly enough, as I write this, the Cleveland Indians nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award, Carlos Carrasco, is on the mound tonight playing the game as Clemente would have played it. With passion and heart.
The story of Roberto Clemente, however, goes beyond mere numbers.
Born Aug. 18, 1934, in Carolina, Puerto Rico, Clemente excelled in athletics as a youngster – and at the age of 17 was playing for the Santurce Crabbers of the Puerto Rican Baseball League. The Dodgers signed him the following year, and by 1954 he was playing for their Triple-A team in Montreal.
Clemente worked to find his stride during the next five seasons, battling injuries and a language barrier in a country where he was a citizen but had no home. But in 1960, the Pirates and Clemente came of age as the limber right fielder batted .312 with a team-high 94 RBI to lead the Pirates to the World Series. In the Fall Classic, Clemente hit .310 to help the Pirates defeat the Yankees in seven games.
In 1971, the 37-year-old Clemente led the Pirates back to the World Series, where Clemente hit .414 to power Pittsburgh to another world title en route to the Series’ Most Valuable Player Award.
Clemente recorded his 3,000th career hit late in the 1972 season, becoming just the 11th player to reach the milestone. Clemente and the Pirates won the NL East that year, but lost to the Reds in five games in the National League Championship Series.
On Dec. 31, 1972, Clemente boarded a small plane en route from Puerto Rico to Nicaragua to assist with earthquake relief. The heavily loaded plane crashed just off the Puerto Rican coast, and Clemente’s body was never recovered.
It is eerie that on the day baseball honors one of it’s greats, his Island, his people that he loved with all of his being, are suffering a devastating hurricane of which the magnitude of damage will be felt for months or even years to come.”Momen”, as he was affectionately nicknamed, would have undoubtedly been there to offer assistance.
He made the word superstar seem inadequate. He had an aura of royalty about him.
Roberto Clemente was not just a complete player, he was a complete human being.
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