Roberto Clemente

Roberto Clemente Walker, nicknamed "The Great One," was one of the finest baseball players ever, particularly as an all-round player. He had a hit in every World Series game (and won those championships), was the 11th player to reach 3,000 hits overall, had the highest batting average of anyone in the 1960s and the finest arm of any outfielder ever. He won a record 12 Gold Gloves, and is ranked as the finest defensive right fielder of all time.^[1] Clemente was baseball's greatest humanitarian, and a strong argument can be made that he was an angel. He led the Pirates to two World Series championships, first in 1960 and again in 1971 while winning its MVP and batting .478. He ranks along with Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Rogers Hornsby, and Joe DiMaggio as one of the greatest righthanded hitters ever.^[2]

A devout Christian who was outspoken about his faith in God, Clemente's career was tragically cut short when his relief plane crashed on December 31, 1972 while taking off on a mercy mission to Nicaragua after a devastating earthquake had hit the country earlier in the year (he was traveling there due to political theft of relief supplies; it was believed that Clemente's presence would stop the thefts from occurring). In a much-watched interview of him on the field when asked about when he thought he would get his 3,000th hit, he said that you never know what will happen tomorrow because that is up to God; he would get his 3,000th hit in what would be his final game.

Clemente was so revered (primarily due to the circumstances surrounding his death) that Major League Baseball waived the required five-year waiting period for Baseball Hall of Fame induction in his case; he was inducted at the next voting session.^[3]

Major League Baseball has honored him every September 15 (on the first day of Hispanic Heritage Month) since 2002 (as Roberto Clemente Day).^[4] There have been repeated calls for MLB to retire his #21 across baseball as it did with Jackie Robinson. Also, the Roberto Clemente Award is given annually to the player who is considered to have done the best humanitarian work during the season.

Clemente used the number 21 because it is total number of all the letters in his full name: "Roberto Clemente Walker."

One reason Clemente hit so well in the World Series, and in clutch moments there, is that he was a good "bad ball hitter," so he was very difficult to pitch around in big games. In the decisive 7th game of the 1960 World Series against the heavily favored New York Yankees -- called "the greatest game ever played" -- with the Pirates behind in the late innings Clemente fouled off pitch after pitch, even breaking his bat, before hitting a bad pitch towards first base and then outracing an opponent to the bag. He then scored the go-ahead run.^[5] In the 1971 World Series, Clemente's two-run homer in the decisive 7th game carried the Pirates to a 2-1 victory and the championship.^[6]

In his total of 14 World Series games throughout his career, Clemente hit a remarkable .362 despite how pitchers surely tried to pitch around him.^[7] The owner of Baltimore Orioles even went to the Pirates locker room after losing to them in 1971 to tell Clemente that “You are one of the greatest.”^[7]

Was Clemente an angel?[edit]

Angels are known to take human form, and there are many examples in the Bible. Several aspects of Clemente's life, character, and public comments suggest he may have been angel:

• his super-human throwing arm was compared to a cannon, resulting in many spectacular plays of the kind that might amuse God.
• he had a carefree style while performing at the highest level, hitting in every World Series game.
• he publicly spoke about God taking him from this world at any time.
• his baseball bat was a substantial 5 ounces heavier than the bat used by a much-larger top slugger today.^[8]
• his body was never recovered from a humanitarian mission after he attained precisely 3,000 hits, although the plane was found.
• he had an unusual way of catching fly balls (his basket catch), and in flailing his arms while running the base paths.
• despite his quick speed, he disliked stealing bases perhaps due to a misperception about the legitimacy of it.
• his nickname, "The Great One," is unusual and has a spiritual implication.
• liberals hid him by deliberately not playing him when scouts were there, which delayed the start of his professional career.

The successful film Heaven Can Wait, a Greatest Conservative Movie, adds to this issue (without specifically mentioning Clemente).

His Throwing Arm[edit]

The winner of a record 12 Gold Gloves, Clemente had an amazing 266 assists in throwing out runners from right field. Clemente also had two phenomenal throws during the victorious 1971 World Series:

“

He made two breathtaking throws in the 1971 World Series. One was a strike from the warning track in right field to the plate, keeping Mark Belanger from scoring from first. The other was down the right-field line, where he spun and made a remarkable throw to third.[9]

”

Clemente's run-saving throw in game 6 of the 1971 World Series from the right-field corner to home plate was so hard and fast that the camera had trouble keeping up with it, and the runner retreating to third base had a priceless look of exasperation.^[10]

As Fansided observed in a well-written article in 2018:

“

Roberto Clemente had a cannon, a howitzer, a bazooka. Legendary broadcaster Vin Scully once said, “Roberto Clemente could field a ball in New York and throw out a guy in Pennsylvania.” Fifty years ago today, the fleet feet of Willie Mays challenged the awesome arm of Roberto Clemente and lost. Mays remembered the situation in 1998, saying, “Roberto Clemente threw me out on a bang-bang play at third. I should have remembered what a tremendous arm he had.”[11]

”

Delaying his Major League Debut[edit]

Clemente was hidden from the Major Leagues for several years due to rivalries between different teams:^[12]

“

the Dodgers and [Montreal] Royals tried to hide him-that is, play him very little so that other teams wouldn’t notice him. The claim was expressed by Clemente at least as early as 1962 in an article by Howard Cohn in Sport magazine.[13]

”

Controversy over K-3 Children's Book about Clemente[edit]

A controversy in Florida occurred in 2023 about a children's book about Roberto Clemente, written for levels K-3, might have more ideological references to alleged discrimination than allowed by Florida law for public library book sections targeting schoolchildren.^[14]

See also[edit]

• Roberto Clemente Museum

References[edit]