Roberto Clemente Walker

(http://robertoclementefans.com/)

''Any time you have an opportunity to make a difference in this world and you don't, then you are wasting your time on Earth.'' That was a quote made from my hero. My hero is the first Latin American who was inducted in the baseball Hall of Fame. This man was generous, strong, and didn’t care about how other people made racial comments about him. His name is Roberto Clemente Walker.

Roberto was born on August 18, 1934 in Carolina, Puerto Rico and died on December 31, 1972. I think Roberto was brave by going on an airplane and donating food and supplies to people in need but the characteristic I admire most is his generosity. After an earthquake in Nicaragua he went to bring the earthquake victims food and other supplies. While going there he got in a plane accident and died. That was the second crash he was in. The first crash he was in was a car accident. He missed several baseball games after the car crash due to lower back problems. After the plane crash, his body was never found.

Roberto did the two things I couldn’t do in baseball: hit a homerun and win awards and trophies. Roberto played for the Pittsburgh Pirates for 17 seasons. Roberto was strong, hitting 240 home runs, having a batting average of .314 and getting 3000 hits. He won 12 all star selections through1960-1967 and 1969- 1972. He also won 2 World Series champion awards in 1960 and 1971. Roberto was also quick and sure handed, winning the gold glove award 12 times through 1961-1972. In 1966 he won the National League MVP and in 1971 he won the World Series MVP and the Babe Ruth award. After he died, the Pittsburgh Pirates retired jersey number 21 in honor of him.

Roberto was also my hero because of the way he dealt with racial tension. When he started the season with the Pirates he experienced frustration due to racial tension. This tension came from some of his teammates, the media, and even himself. When he was young, Roberto was taught never to discriminate against somebody due to their color or religion. I think he handled racial tension really well when he responded to the media by saying “I don’t believe in color”.

My hero is Roberto Clemente Walker, a generous, strong man who handled racial tension between people and himself quite well. He was generous because he donated food and other supplies to earthquake victims in Nicaragua. He was strong because he had 240 homeruns when he played baseball. And last, he handled racial tension between his team, the media, and himself.