Roberto Clemente

There is a Famous quote, "Only the good die young". This is particularly true when you look at Roberto Clemente's life. Roberto Walker Clemente was born on August 8, 1934 in Carolina, Puerto Rico. Roberto was the youngest of seven children. His father Melchor supported his family by harvesting sugercane. Although the clemente Family was poor,they were better off than most Puerto Rican families

As a child, baseball was Roberto's favorite hobby. He could always be found having a catch with his friends or hitting tin cans with a stick. Roberto was first discovered at the age of 14 by Roberto Marin. Marin managed a team in a local baseball league and invited Clemente to join the team. Well-known Puerto Rican teams soon discovered Roberto. On October 9, 1952 Roberto Clemente signed his first major league contract with the Santurce Cangrejeros of the Puerto Rican league. In 1954, Clemente signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers for $5000 a year and a $10,000 bonus. After spending the 1954 season in the minor leagues Clemente was purchased by the Pittsburgh Pirates. Pittsburgh knew Clemente belonged in the majors.

Roberto, being both black and of Hispanic roots, suffered much racial prejudice early in his career. One way he overcame this by showing the world his tremendous skill as a baseball player. In 1958 Clemente tied a major league record by hitting three triples in one game. In 1961 he was selected to his first All-Star game and batted .351 for the year. He also won his first of twelve Golden Glove awards. Clemente became the first Puerto Rican to win the MVP award in 1966 when he batted .317 with 29 home runs. In 1971 he led the Pirates to world championship by batting .414 in the World Series and being named series MVP.

Clemente had many other talents among other things he was a poet, a musician, a ceramic artist, a chiropractor and, above all, a gentle humanitarian. His wife Vera once said, "He would rather be late for a meeting with the Governor than pass by a stranger who needed help with a tire". The desire to help others led to his death. On December 31, 1972 he insisted on flying to Nicaragua to deliver supplies to victims of an earthquake. For whatever reason, engine trouble, an overload of cargo, the prop driven DC-7 in which he was traveling crashed into the Caribbean soon after takeoff. The Pirate team, the city of Pittsburgh, the island of Puerto Rico felt a tremendous loss. But as a Pittsburgh nun wrote in a letter to Vera, "He fell into the water so that his spirit could be carried in the ocean to more places".

The group has defined a hero as someone who had a goal that may be reached by taking risks, having patience, and determination. Above all our hero's talent in their field and concern for others makes them a unique role model. It is clear to me that Roberto Clemente's determination to become an outstanding baseball player, and his care and concern for others meets all of our definitions of a hero. He was actually a man of ordinary size, 5ft. 11in., and 175lbs. But he wielded a large bat of 36 ounces and a profoundly important influence that is felt even today, some 22years after his plane plunged into the sea.