Every September, Major League Baseball celebrates Roberto Clemente Day, a day that stands for so much more than baseball.
Roberto Clemente was born in Carolina, Puerto Rico, a city that, at the time, was known for sugar production. His professional baseball career started when he was 17 years old and began playing in the Puerto Rican Professional Baseball League. In 1954, Clemente signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers and played for their minor league team, the Montreal Royals, for one season. The following year, he made his major league debut for the Pittsburgh Pirates. In Clemente’s 18-year career, he established himself as one of the greatest players the game had ever seen. A 15 time All-Star and 1966 National League’s MVP award winner, Clemente finished his remarkable career with 3,000 hits, 240 home runs and a .317 career batting average.
In the last game of the 1972 season, Clemente recorded the 3,000th hit of his career, a double off New York Mets pitcher Jon Matlack at Three Rivers Stadium. At this time, he was the 11th player to enter baseball’s most prestigious club and the first Latin American player to do so.
A few months after the 1972 baseball season ended, Nicaragua was ravished by a devastating earthquake. The capital city of Managua was left in rubble. Remarkably, Clemente was able to raise $150,000 and donate boxes of food, medical supplies and clothing to those affected by the tragedy. However, Clemente heard local reports of the donations and supplies not being given to those who needed them. On New Year’s Eve, he boarded a plane packed full of relief supplies headed to Nicaragua. The plane never made it to its final destination; it crashed into the ocean off the coast of Puerto Rico, killing all five passengers aboard, including Clemente.
Millions of people woke up on New Year’s Day to the unimaginable news. One of baseball’s greatest stars on and off the field had tragically been taken from the world too soon.
In 1971, the MLB created the “Baseball Achievement Award.” This award was presented annually to recognize a player who showcased outstanding work in their community. In March of 1973, the MLB announced that the award would be permanently renamed the “Roberto Clemente Award,” a fitting tribute to one of the game’s greatest ambassadors.
This season, on Sept. 15, players all across the league donned Clemente’s 21 on the back of their jerseys. Aaron Judge, the 2022 AL MVP and latest winner of the Roberto Clemente Award, proudly wore 21 during the Yankees game against the Red Sox.
“[Roberto Clemente] was a generational talent on the field, but he was a generational ambassador for this game off the field,” Judge said after receiving the award. “When we get to this level in our career and in our lives, to whom much is given, much is required.”
One of Judge’s current teammates Anthony Rizzo won the award with the Cubs in 2017.
“It’s the greatest award you can win,” Rizzo said shortly after being honored. “This will go front and center in front of anything I’ve ever done on the baseball field.”
Clemente laid down a blueprint all athletes could follow. Even at the peak of his playing career, he put those in need above himself at every turn. On the field, his play instilled a belief in young kids in Latin America that they could achieve their dreams. On top of being the first Latin American player to reach 3,000 hits, Clemente was the first Latin American player elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Every year, Roberto Clemente Day reminds us what it means to be a role model and an unstoppable force for good. MLB players past and present seek to replicate the positive impact Clemente had in his communities.
“You don’t go out to try and earn [the Roberto Clemente Award]; they bestow it on you,” 1984 Roberto Clemente Award winner and hall-of-famer Ron Guidry said. “So, to me, it carries more weight because it’s not just the game of baseball, it’s in life and what you’re doing around [the game].”
Clemente believed he was put on Earth to make a difference. The monumental home runs and laser throws from the outfield will never be forgotten, but the legacy Clemente left off the field continues to inspire the next generation of baseball greats — a generation that can only hope to live up to the legend of “The Great One,” Roberto Clemente.
“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,” Clemente said.
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Publish date : 2024-09-20 10:04:00
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