MLB celebrates Roberto Clemente Day to commemorate 50 years since the Hall of Famer's passing
Trailblazer is the most befitting word for baseball Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente. His legacy reaches far beyond the diamond wherein he set numerous records. In the Caribbean and Latin American countries, Clemente is remembered as a humanitarian icon.
The MLB celebrates Roberto Clemente Day today, September 15, to honor the life of the baseball star. This marks the 21st time the event will be celebrated and the 50th year since his passing.
Leading the tribute for the Hall of Famer is his former team, the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates will be in Queens to face the New York Mets. All players, managers, and coaches from both sides will sport the number 21 jersey for today's game in honor of Clemente. This is a similar practice to Jackie Robinson Day wherein all teams don 42.
Each season since 1971, the league has given the Roberto Clemente Award to the player who best exemplifies the game of baseball, sportsmanship, community involvement, and contribution to his team. The first recipient was the great Willie Mays and the most recent Nelson Cruz.
Today we celebrate the life and legacy of The Great One.
#ClementeDay https://t.co/mjb0HIzNFF
"Today we celebrate the life and legacy of The Great One. #ClementeDay" - Pittsburgh Pirates
A player from each MLB team is nominated once a year. Players around the league will wear a number 21 patch to honor Clemente, and nominees for the award will have language on the patch to signify their nomination.
Aside from the Pirates-Mets game, throughout the league, nominees, active players who have previously won the award, and players from Puerto Rico (Clemente's home country) have the option to wear the number 21 today as well.
A special volunteer event starring former Clemente awardees who have retired will also occur. A food packaging event will take place at Citi Field with Rise Against Hunger to be attended by former awardees along with MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred and employees of both the league and the Mets.
Roberto Clemente's unparalleled legacy
Roberto Clemente's MLB resume is certainly Hall of Fame-worthy. He had 3,000 hits, won four batting titles, was awarded 12 Gold Gloves, was selected to 15 All-Star teams, became National League MVP in 1966, and won two World Series titles in 1960 and 1971, being named the MVP of the latter.
What set Clemente apart from his colleagues was his compassion and unselfishness.
The Hall of Fame joins the baseball community in celebration of Roberto Clemente Day. The Great One became the first Latino elected to the Hall of Fame in 1973. https://t.co/nhiZHStM1o
"The Hall of Fame joins the baseball community in celebration of Roberto Clemente Day. The Great One became the first Latino elected to the Hall of Fame in 1973." - National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
Clemente established free baseball clinics in his native Puerto Rico. He used his baseball career as a platform to improve the lives of people in his country.
After the 1972 season ended, Clemente and his wife Vera traveled to Nicaragua. There, he managed an amateur team that competed for the world amateur baseball championship. He returned to Puerto Rico afterward.
Weeks later, a devastating earthquake struck the capital of Managua on December 23, 1972. Thousands of Nicaraguans perished in the catastrophe, leaving hundreds of thousands more homeless.
Being the humanitarian that he was, Roberto Clemente took it upon himself to organize relief operations to help the people of Nicaragua. Clemente organized relief drives in his native Puerto Rico and personally solicited donations from the wealthy. All in all, the donation drive raised amounts exceeding $150,000 and food, clothes, and medicine that totalled 26 tons.
Clemente leased two aircraft for relief aid to reach Nicaragua faster. However, the baseball star was informed that corrupt Nicaraguan officials were withholding supplies that were supposed to go to the needy. Upset by the incident, Clemente accompanied the fourth relief flight to Nicaragua.
The Puerto Rican icon boarded a Douglas DC-7 cargo plane on his way to Managua on New Year's Eve 1972. Due to the plane's history of mechanical problems, inadequate personnel, and improperly loaded goods that were overweight, the plane crashed after take off.
Roberto Clemente passed away on December 31, 1972, off the coast of Isla Verde, Carolina, Puerto Rico. He was just 38 years old.
Under normal circumstances, a player cannot be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame until five years after their retirement. In 1973, the committee made an exception for him and posthumously inducted Clemente as the first Latino player in the prestiguous Hall. The Pittsburgh Pirates retired Clemente's jersey on Opening Day 1973.
Roberto Clemente died young, but the impact and legacy he left reverberates to this day. Not only was he an excellent player on the field, he was an even better human being off of it. The Latino superstar proved that sports can be a tool and a platform to make a difference and positively impact people's lives.