roberto clemente

Roberto Clemente's childhood wasn't the greatest. He was born on August 18, 1934 in San Raton Puerto Rico. Roberto was the youngest of five children. One of his sisters died when she was only five years old. He was the son of Melchior and Luisa. Growing up he lived in a poor rural area, surrounded by sugarcane fields.

Roberto was a hard working kid. When he was 9 he woke up at 6 in the morning to get milk for a neighbor. He walked 0.5 miles each day until he could buy a bike. Roberto Marian, a scout, was amazed by Roberto. Marin asked Roberto if he could play on the Brooklyn Dodgers. He never played a single game for the Dodgers.

The Brooklyn Dodgers tried to hide him. Branch Rickey was the manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates and saw him play in a practice. He was truly amazed by Roberto's athletic ability. He asked Roberto to sign with the Pittsburgh Pirates when his contract was up. Richey told Roberto he had to wait one year then the following year he would be able to play in every game. Roberto was ecstatic he could by the next year.

Roberto got his first chance to play in 1952. The Pirates kept losing game after game. So the manager took out the more experienced players and put in Clemente and other players. Roberto played so badly he broke 22 team helmets. His team mates tried to get out of the locker room as quickly as they could. They thought he would start something bad. Instead he went to the fans and signed autographs for hours.

Roberto turned 21 and still had a lot to learn. The fans loved his style. He could hit with power and sent the ball flying like a rocket. One game he caught a ball that would have won the game for the opposing team, but he caught it over the fence. He had over 3000 hits. His batting average was .317 he won many MVP (most valuable player) awards. He was the first Hispanic to go and or be introduced into the hall of fame.