A Hero’s Legacy
There are famous people in history we can’t forget. As for me and many Latin American people, we remember a man who impacted our lives forever. He will always be remembered as our friend and our hero, baseball player Roberto Clemente.
Clemente rose above the circumstances of his birth to become a famous baseball player and to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1973. As a child, he grew up in Puerto Rico in a poor neighborhood called “el barrio.” He played like any other kid, and learned how to play baseball by hitting bottle caps with a broomstick and throwing tennis balls against a wall. He also worked hard. At the age of nine, Clemente used to get up early in the morning to deliver milk for a penny a day. His goal was to save money to buy a bicycle. It took him three years, but he did it. He also led groups of boys in raising money for projects such as building a fence to protect his school from vandalism.
As an adult, Clemente recognized his parents as being very religious and very hard workers. He appreciated them and said that he had never heard either of use bad language or say an unkind word to each other. He said his parents were a big influence on his life and he credited them with teaching him the values of hard work, dignity, and generosity.
At 18, Clemente attended a tryout camp and was picked to play with the Puerto Rican Winter League. In 1954, he signed with the Dodger’s farm club in Montreal, Canada. He was soon drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates, before he knew where Pittsburgh was. He was picked to play right field. Even though he wasn’t a large man, his style and his skills made an immediate impression, and his upper body strength enabled him to swing a 36 ounce bat. Twice he led the Pirates to world championships. He recorded his 3000th hit in September 1972.
Despite his baseball skills, Clemente had difficulties with English, which sometimes led to misunderstandings with sports writers. He also encountered racism. As a Latin American Negro, he was treated like all African Americans in the early days following the breakdown of baseball’s color barrier. He was active in Hispanic civil rights and was a close friend of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
Unfortunately, during his lifetime, Clemente did not get the recognition he deserved due to his race and language and cultural barriers. As a Puerto Rican, I have been treated the same way and feel for what he must have gone through. It took a long time for the world to recognize that an African Latin baseball player could play as well or better than anyone else.
Clemente’s passion was not only for baseball, but to help other people. He would work with young Latin players during the off season, and he talked with children and encouraged them to work hard. On December 31, 1972, Clemente was on a trip to deliver supplies to the Nicaraguans who suffered a devastating earthquake. His plane crashed into the ocean on take-off from San Juan, Puerto Rico. I remember being shocked by the horrible news, along with the rest of the world. Clemente died a hero by giving his life in service to others. We lost not only Puerto Rico’s greatest baseball player, but a friend, a father, and a determined leader.
Like his parents before him, Roberto Clemente left a legacy of hard work, dignity and generosity.
Works Cited
“Heroes: What They Do and Why We Need Them.” Roberto Clemente and the Night That
Happiness Died. 2010. Web. 12 Mar. 2012. <http://blog.richmond.edu/heroes/2010/08/ 03/roberto-clemente-and-the-night-that-happiness-died/>.
"Roberto Clemente." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Vol. 19. Detroit: Gale, 1999. Gale Biography In Context. Web. 10 Mar. 2012. <http://ezp.tccd.edu:2048/ic/bic1/ ReferenceDetailsPage/ReferenceDetailsWindow?displayGroupName=Reference&disableHighlighting=true&action=e&windowstate=normal&catId=GALE|AAA000034513&documentId=GALE|K1631007230&mode=view&userGroupName=txshracd2560&jsid=c896a9cd4e5b5c204d712bcfbb27777e>.
"The My Hero Project - Roberto Clemente." Object Moved. Web. 12 Mar. 2012. <http://www.myhero.com/go/hero.asp?hero=Clemente3_ww_univ_US_07>.
