As most of you know I am not a big baseball fan. But in my Spanish class I had to write a paper about something Spanish and since I know nothing except sports I wrote mine over Roberto Clemente. Now I will warn you it is more reading than usual, but it is one of my favorite papers of all time.... Enjoy!
Many people had a hand in breaking the racial barrier in baseball, every sports fan knows the name Jackie Robinson and knows that he was the big reason the game is where it is today. A lot of people don’t give some of the credit where it is due; Roberto Clemente further solidified the fact that African-Americans and Latinos can play in the majors. Clemente proved it by his play, racking up 14 all-star games, four batting titles, 12 consecutive Golden Glove awards, National League Most Valuable Player in 1966, and two world championships in 1960 and 1971. He did all of this in his 18-year career with the Pittsburgh Pirates that would eventually land him in Cooperstown, in the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame.
Roberto Clemente was born in 1934 near San Juan, Puerto Rico. As Clemente grew up he found a love for the sport of baseball. His love for the sport grew stronger as Puerto Rico became a main stable for barnstorm teams. Many African- American players from the United States would come and play because at the time they were not allowed to play in the big leagues. Clemente’s favorite player to watch in these barnstorm games was Monte Irvin, who went on to later join the Hall of Fame. Watching players like Irvin solidified the fact that Clemente wanted to play in the big leagues some day.
Clemente would make it in the Big leagues at the age of 20. Clemente played one year in the minor leagues in Montreal and in 1955 the future Hall of Famer would make his major league debut. As Clemente entered the Majors he faced a lot of racial scrutiny from fans and some teammates. But when media would ask Clemente how he was handling it, he answered with a simple but famous quote “I don’t believe in color, I believe in people.”
For what Jackie Robinson became to African- Americans, Clemente became for Latinos. Latino children in New York were pretending to be Roberto Clemente. After Clemente entered the league in 1955 he would play 18 years in the Majors, which turned out to be an outstanding career. The New York Times said of Roberto Clemente “There is nothing he can’t do.” The New York Times was right, he could swing the bat like few others and was one of the greatest fielders of all time, however possibly more important than what he accomplished on the ball diamond is what he accomplished off the field. Clemente was a humanitarian, someone who was always quick to help and volunteer his off time back in his home country of Puerto Rico.
On December 23, 1972 a tragic even occurred. In Managua, Nicaragua an earthquake took place killing 10,000 people. Eight days later, December 31, 1972, Roberto Clemente had heard that the dictatorship of Nicaragua was misusing the donated aid and would board a flight full of supplies for the victims in Nicaragua in hopes that his help could convince the dictatorship to do the right thing. However shortly after the plane took flight it crashed in to the Atlantic Ocean, Clemente’s body was never found. Clemente compiled an illustrious 18-year career that made him the first Latino in the Hall of Fame; Clemente was also the 11th player in the history of the sport to record 3,000 hits.
