Roberto Clemente

Roberto Clemente posing in his Pirates uniform (http://www.biography.com/people/roberto-clemente-9 ())

"Felipe Alou, manager of the Montreal Expos and San Francisco Giants, said that Roberto was "the Jackie Robinson of the Latin.. He was the one who rose to the occasion" (Roberts 3). Rising to the occasion and doing the right thing to better the lives of others around him was the way Roberto Clemente lived his life. "A Puerto Rican national hero, Hall of Fame outfielder Roberto Clemente spent his sparkling 18-year baseball career with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He enchanted fans with his powerful throwing arm, graceful outfield defense, and superb hitting. Clemente won Gold Glove Awards, symbolizing defensive supremacy, every year from their inception in 1961 until his death in 1972. He also was elected to the National League All-Star team 12 times. Clemente was an outspoken advocate for Hispanic rights and a humanitarian. His untimely death came while he was leading a mission of mercy" (Roberto Clemente 2nd ed.). A hero must possess leadership and the ability to be a role model.That is because many people look up to them and want to be just like them. Roberto Clemente possesses leadership and what it takes to be a role model because of what he does for the people around him; therefore, he is a hero.

Roberto Clemente Helping Out a Young Player (http://www.robertoclemente.si.edu/english/virtual_ ())

Roberto Clemente was an inspiration because he came from a foreign country and overcame a lot of adversity and spoke out against the discrimination against latino people. With Roberto coming from another country, he got a lot of prejudice and discrimination but he knew how to react to it and people looked up to him because of that. "Clemente was outspoken about his perceptions of prejudice toward Hispanic players. "Latin American Negro ballplayers are treated today much like all Negroes were treated in baseball in the early days of the broken color barrier," he told Sport magazine. "They are subjected to prejudices and stamped with generalizations." One example of such prejudice, Clemente thought, was writers' frequent portrayals of him as a hypochondriac. Clemente often complained of health problems, including backaches, headaches, stomachaches, insomnia, tonsillitis, malaria, sore shoulders, and pulled muscles. Often before stepping into the batter's box, he would roll his shoulders and neck, trying to align his spine. He insisted that his injuries were as real as the pains suffered by Mickey Mantle, a contemporary white superstar. He pointed out that nobody accused the great Mantle of being a malingerer" (Clemente 2nd ed.). This supports my thesis because he had to go through so much adversity and overcame it by standing up for himself and other people who were discriminated. He did the right thing all the time which is why people looked up to him as an inspiration and a role model. "Clemente long had dreamed about developing a youth camp in his native Puerto Rico. After his death, Vera Clemente took the lead in developing the camp. Cuidad Deportiva Roberto Clemente was built on 304 acres of marshland donated by the Puerto Rican government. Over the years, its Raiders baseball academy developed a number of major league stars, including Juan Gonzalez, Roberto Alomar, Ivan Rodriguez, Sandy Alomar Jr., Benito Santiago, Carlos Baerga, Ruben Sierra, and Jose Guzman. Besides athletic facilities, it also has programs in drama, dance, music, folklore, and crafts. This camp is in keeping with Clemente's vision of a place where young people can follow their dreams" (Roberto Clemente 2nd ed.). Roberto was an inspiration because he became successful coming from a foreign country and even though he became famous, Roberto remembered to give back to the community that helped him get to the place he was at in life. "Clemente was our Jackie Robinson," said Puerto Rican journalist Luis Mayoral. "He was on a crusade to show the American public what an Hispanic man, a black Hispanic man, was capable of." Robinson had broken baseball's color bar in 1947 with the Dodgers. Clemente was not baseball's first Hispanic player-others such as Minnie Minoso preceded him-but he was the first to make a major impact on the game" (Roberto Clemente 2nd ed.). He was an inspiration because he made a major impact on baseball coming from a Hispanic background and doing things that no one could've ever imagined he would have accomplished. This evidence proves that Roberto Clemente was a true inspiration and overcame adversity to do the right thing and stand up for himself and his people.

Roberto Clemente spending time with a young fan (https://repeatingislands.com/2010/07/21/time-to-gi ())

Roberto Clemente was a hero especially towards people who lived in his home country of Puerto Rico because of what he did to help them and how he made their lives better. According to the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, "Clemente's philanthropy was not calculated to gain public or private recognition. He simply wanted to help people in need. For some, his generosity was financial; with others, he freely shared his chiropractic knowledge - learned as a result of his own back injury in 1954; and for many others, particularly children, Clemente's kindness came as free lessons in the game of baseball" (Beyond Baseball). The evidence supports my thesis because he was a hero to his whole country and his community and that he never wanted the public fame and he just simply wanted to help people in need. According to the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, "Clemente always cared about children. Despite his busy schedule, he made time to hold baseball clinics for kids, especially for those from low-income families. He dreamed of building a "Sports City" where Puerto Rican youth would have ready access to facilities, coaching, and encouragement in many sports. It was another way of working toward a Puerto Rico that was healthier, happier, and fairer" (Beyond Baseball). He made sure that he would give back to the kids of Puerto Rico the things in life that he didn't have when he was their age. He wanted the low-income children to be able to play baseball and be given the opportunity to play on a team. According to the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, "Clemente became known for his fierce ethnic pride and for his unusual capacity to bear a much larger identity-not just for Puerto Rico but for all of Latin America. It was a responsibility he embraced and carried with dignity and admirable grace. He didn't see himself as merely a representative of Latin America to the world through baseball. He saw his career in baseball as a way to help Latin Americans - especially underprivileged Puerto Ricans - make their lives better" (Beyond Baseball). Roberto Clemente had a lot of pride for his country and he knew he had to make the right decisions and show the people of America and the world, what type of people are from Puerto Rico. In conclusion, Roberto Clemente was truly a hero and role model for all the people in Puerto Rico because of how he went about his life and how well he represented his home country.

Quote by Clemente on Doing Your Part in Life (https://www.tumblr.com/search/roberto%20clemente ())

Roberto Clemente was a leader for all people and he knew what it took to be a role model for all young kids and the people of his home country. He did it by giving back to his community and country and also doing the right thing all the time. Throughout his entire life, Roberto Clemente always would put other people's needs in front of his because he was such a caring person and knew that he could change a lot of people's lives by doing the right thing and giving back to the community. He is an inspiration to everyone because, according to the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, "Clemente's philanthropy was not calculated to gain public or private recognition. He simply wanted to help people in need" (Beyond Baseball). Roberto inspires me because he shows how to be a good man, lead by example and be a good role model for the people around him. That's the type of person I aspire to be and work hard everyday to become. Roberto Clemente was said to have many similar traits to Jackie Robinson as he was compared to him in ways on and off the baseball diamond. Rising to the occasion and doing the right thing was part of how he went about his life and also how he wanted everyone else to be happy and at peace.

Works Cited

"Beyond Baseball: The Life of Roberto Clemente." Beyond Baseball: The Life of Roberto

Clemente. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Jan. 2017. <http://www.robertoclemente.si.edu/english/virtual_legacy.htm>.

"Roberto Clemente." Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd ed., vol. 19, Gale, 2004, pp.

70-72. Gale Virtual Reference Library, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=GVRL&sw=w&u=powa9245&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CCX3404707334&it=r&asid=5b5ed81f448103da024fd0636508ac39. Accessed 24 Jan. 2017.

 Roberts, Jerry. Roberto Clemente: Baseball Player. New York: Ferguson, 2006. Print.

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