Roberto Clemente: A Towering Presence; Man and Ball Player

Story by Yinzer Crazy Contributor Roger l. McNamara

A Pause to Remember, and Reflect.   Amidst all the celebratory glee accompanying the End of Year Holiday Seasons it is well that we pause and reflect just a moment.  We approach a sad 50th anniversary, the December 31, 1972 passing of Roberto Clemente.  Then a mere 38 years of age and true to his lifelong character he left us in a plane crash while on an errand of mercy.

The Man.   The youngest of seven children born to Melchor Clemente and Luisa Walker, Roberto Clemente arrived in 1938 by way of Barrio San Anton in Puerto Rico. His formative years were largely devoted to, along with one or two siblings,  assisting  his Father at work in the neighboring sugar cane fields.  Keeping pace with academics he managed to be graduated by Julio Vizcarrondo Coronado High School, where the earliest flashes of gifted athleticism were on public display.  Track and Field prowess inclined him initially to a flirtation with an Olympics team, but it would not be long before he settled into the world of baseball.  Following a pair of successful campaigns in the Winter Ball Puerto Rican Professional Baseball League, Clemente caught the attention of the ever watchful Brooklyn Dodgers who named him, then age 16, their Number One 1954 draft selection, assigning him to the Montreal Royals AAA Affiliate.  Pittsburgh Pirate scouts of the day were not asleep at the switch, making Roberto Clemente their first selection in that year’s Rule 5 Draft.  Promotion to the Varsity quickly ensued, and an exemplary eighteen-year career with the Pirates was set to unfold.  Roberto was assigned to patrol the spacious right and right center field caverns of Forbes Field, the Bucs home through 1969.

A summary of his Major League exploits is presented below.  Along the way in 1958 Roberto enlisted in the United States Marine Corps, serving an honorable six off season years.  Both on baseball and military drill fields he was steadfastly Semper Fidelis.  Inductions into both the Marine Corps and Puerto Rican Veterans Hall of Fame would be two of many honors bestowed upon him posthumously.     

At the Plate.  Although of average physical size at 5’11” and a playing weight in the neighborhood of 175 pounds, Roberto could tear the cover off the ball.  A lifetime .317 batting average came with 240 home runs and 1,305 driven in.  10,212 plate appearances were slowed by a mere 1,230 KOs, or one in every 8.3 plate visits.  Ever quick of reflex and keen of eye, he is one of the few hitters of his or any time to swing at pitches bouncing in the dirt before reaching home.  These could all have been taken for a Ball, but Roberto often went after them in lacing another 2-base hit into a right center field gap.  His dozen All Star Games were stamped by MVP honors in 1996.  Four National League single season batting titles were joined by League MVP recognition in that splendid 1996 campaign.  The Pirates made it to a pair of World Series with #21 leading the charge.  A breakout in the Nationally televised 1971 matchup with heavily favored Baltimore Orioles was his to claim, as a .414 seven game average generated 22 total bases and Series Most Valuable Player honors.  No one could have known it at the time, but Clemente collected his regular season 3,000th safe hit in the team’s 1972 finale.

In the Field.   Through 5.108 fielding chances Roberto Clemente put in a remarkable .972 percentage.   He routinely led the National League in outfield assists, double plays issued from his glove and arm, range factor and fewest errors committed.  Some of these totals would have been higher save that opposing base runners caught on quickly in restricting any challenge to his powerful and accurate throwing arm.

A Tragic End.  On New Year’s Eve 1972 Roberto Clemente was busy delivering assistance cargo to Nicaragua, whose structures and people had recently sustained earthquake damage.  An overloaded and understaffed --- neither a flight engineer nor a co-pilot were on board ---  Douglas DC-7 crashed shortly after takeoff into the Atlantic Ocean off the Puerto Rican coast, ascribed to engine failure.  Clemente’s remains were never recovered, despite extensive search efforts conducted by the U.S. Coast Guard and another by Clemente’s teammate and close friend Manny Sanguillen. 

In life Clemente was a model human.  In death he was a model humanitarian.  May he continue to rest in Eternal Peace.