Famous Pittsburghers:
Roberto Clemente (1934 - 1972)
“Anytime you have an opportunity to make things
better and you don’t,
then you are wasting your time on this Earth.” –
Roberto Clemente
Pittsburgh awoke to a big snow storm on New Year’s
Day in 1973. The news that greeted Pittsburghers
as they turned on their radios and televisions was
unbelievable. Tragically, their star Pirate
baseball player had been taken from them in the prime of
his life.
Roberto Clemente lost his life while trying to help
others. That morning is one Pittsburghers of the
70’s will never forget, remembering how hard it was to
shovel the new fallen snow through so many tears.
You see, Roberto Clemente was easily the most popular
sports figure in Pittsburgh at that time. Great
man that he was though, Roberto had very humble
beginnings.
Roberto Clemente was the youngest of seven children
and grew up in a poor household in Carolina, Puerto
Rico. It was in Puerto Rico that Roberto learned
to love everything about baseball.
Roberto’s major league career began with the Brooklyn
Dodgers in 1954. Clemente was not their star
player; in fact he did not play in a single game and was
soon returned to the minor leagues. Clemente,
despite being kept somewhat hidden, managed to catch the
eye of the Pirate’s general manager and was signed by
the Pirates on November 22, 1954, for a sum of $4,000.
The rule at that time was that any player who signed
with a professional team for $4,000 or more had to be
kept on the major league roster for that first season or
be available for drafting by other clubs.
Clemente went on to spend his entire career with the
Pittsburgh Pirates while wearing the number 21 on his
uniform.
Given a chance, Roberto Clemente soon proved himself
a star baseball player with a strong throwing arm and a
unique batting style. But times were not always
easy for Roberto. He had a heavy Spanish accent
and was discriminated against by some for being a
foreigner and for being black at a time when the country
was racially segregated. Despite that, Clemente
won 12 consecutive Gold Glove awards, earned the
National League MVP in 1966, won four batting titles,
was named the 1971 World Series MVP and reached his
3000th hit on his last game of the regular season in
1972.
Roberto Clemente was one of the greatest baseball
players to play right field and one of the best to ever
play the game. Pittsburgh was fortunate to have
Clemente on their roster for 18 seasons.
When Nicaragua was hit with a massive earthquake in
December 1972, Clemente decided to take relief supplies
to the stricken nation himself after learning the
Nicaraguan army was stealing supplies meant for the
people. Not long after takeoff from the San Juan
airport on December 31, 1972, the DC-7 plane carrying
the 38-year-old Clemente and four others, along with the
much-needed relief supplies, crashed into the Caribbean
Sea. Sadly, there were no survivors.
The five-year waiting period to be inducted into the
Baseball Hall of Fame was waived for Clemente only
months after his death, making him the first Latino
inductee. Clemente was not only a great ball
player and a humanitarian, but he was an inspiration for
a whole nation.
Today a bridge, one which becomes a pedestrian-only
bridge for Pirate home games and leads directly into PNC
Park, is named “The Roberto Clemente Bridge.”
September 18 is known as “Roberto Clemente Day” and
was first announced by the Major League Baseball
Commissioner, Bud Selig, in 2002. Even those who
were not alive at the time Clemente was a Pirate know
his great story.
Former MLB Commissioner Bowie Kuhn summed up Roberto
Clemente perfectly by saying, “He gave the term
‘complete’ a new meaning. He made the word
‘superstar’ seem inadequate. He had about him the
touch of royalty.” Roberto Clemente continues to
inspire people to this day. Clemente never forgot
where he came from and was always willing to help those
less fortunate than himself. Roberto Clemente is
another reason why Pittsburghers are so proud of their
great city.
Written by Diane Gliozzi
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