Roberto Clemente
Baseball Player and Humanitarian · 1934–1972
Who is Roberto Clemente?
Roberto Clemente was a Puerto Rican professional baseball player who spent his entire eighteen-season Major League career with the Pittsburgh Pirates, becoming one of the sport's greatest right fielders and one of the first Latin American superstars in the United States major leagues. Born in Carolina, Puerto Rico, he won four National League batting titles, twelve consecutive Gold Glove Awards, the 1966 National League Most Valuable Player award, and helped the Pirates win the 1971 World Series, in which he was named Series MVP. He recorded his 3,000th career hit in his final regular-season at-bat in 1972. Off the field, Clemente was deeply committed to charitable work throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, personally organizing relief efforts for disaster victims. On New Year's Eve 1972, he died in a plane crash off the coast of Puerto Rico while accompanying a cargo of emergency supplies he had organized for survivors of an earthquake in Managua, Nicaragua. In 1973, the Baseball Hall of Fame waived its standard waiting period to induct him, making him the first Latin American and Caribbean player enshrined in Cooperstown.
Sources: David Maraniss, Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero (2006) · National Baseball Hall of Fame, Roberto Clemente biography · Major League Baseball, Roberto Clemente Award official history