Roberto Clemente Walker The Greatest 21

Early life Born on August 18 1934, in Carolina, Puerto Rico Son of Melchor Clemente and Luisa Walker and the youngest of seven siblings His family was poor, so in his childhood he was a milk delivery man, helping the family to survive. Studied at the Carlos Vizcarrondo school in Carolina, Puerto Rico

Becoming a Pirate Legendary baseball executive Branch Rickey moved from the Dodgers to the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1951 and immediately nabbed Clemente from Brooklyn. Roberto heard the news back in Puerto Rico and later admitted, "I didn’t even know where Pittsburgh was." Clemente’s true baptism into the majors came on April 17, 1955, when he connected for a single—against the Dodgers—in his first game.

Civil rights defender He became a union leader in the incipient Major League Baseball Players Association and defended players’ rights to demand better working conditions and benefits. “The farther away you writers stay, the better I like it. You know why? Because you’re trying to create a bad image of me… you do it because I’m black and Puerto Rican, but I’m proud to be Puerto Rican." —Roberto Clemente, 1969

USA baseball path Clemente’s bat and base running mastery made him an offensive powerhouse. His speed was always a threat, both on offense and defense. On the base paths, Clemente combined speed with aggressiveness and cunning, lengthening many hits into extra bases. He studied the way balls bounced off fences in various parks so that he could stretch his hits into doubles and triples unlike other, more ordinary base runners.

“Always, they said Babe Ruth was the best there was “Always, they said Babe Ruth was the best there was. They said you’d really have to be something to be like Babe Ruth. But Babe Ruth was an American player. What we needed was a Puerto Rican player they could say that about, someone to look up to and try to equal." -Roberto Clemente

In the 1971 season, the Pirates won the National League and faced the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series. Baltimore had won 100 games and swept the American League Championship Series, both for the third consecutive year, and were the defending World Series champions. The Orioles won the first two games in the series, but Pittsburgh won the championship in seven games. This marked the second occasion that Clemente had won a World Series with the Pirates. Over the course of the series, Clemente batted a .414 average (12 hits in 29 at-bats), performed well defensively, and hit a solo home run in the deciding 2-1 seventh game victory. Following the conclusion of the season, he received the World Series Most Valuable Player award.

Nicaragua On December 23, 1972, a massive earthquake devastated the Nicaraguan capital of Managua. 7,000 people died and thousands of others were injured. More than 250,000 people were suddenly homeless. Roberto lost many friends in the quake. He had spent most of November in Nicaragua managing a Puerto Rican all-star team in the Amateur Baseball World Series tournament. He felt the threat to his many colleagues, thousands of fans and friends.

Clemente accepted the honorary chairmanship of an earthquake relief committee and used local media to appeal for help. He worked day and night, even soliciting donations door to door. The relief team raised $150,000, and gathered and shipped nearly 26 tons of food, clothing and medicine by air and sea. Then came reports from Managua—the corrupt regime of General Anastasio Somoza was intercepting the deliveries and stealing them. The people who needed the deliveries were not getting anything. Roberto wanted to make sure the food and medicine got to the people who needed it. On New Year’s Eve, he helped load an aging DC-7 aircraft, then boarded the flight.

The airplane he chartered for a New Year's Eve flight, a Douglas DC-7 (which had a history of mechanical problems and sub-par flight personnel, and it was overloaded by 5,000 pounds) crashed into the ocean off the coast of Isla Verde, Puerto Rico immediately after takeoff on December 31, 1972. A few days after the crash, the body of the pilot and parts of the of the plane were found. An empty flight case apparently belonging to Clemente was the only personal item recovered from the plane. Clemente's teammate and close friend Manny Sanguillen was the only member of the Pirates not to attend Roberto's funeral. The catcher chose instead to dive into the waters where Clemente's plane had crashed in an effort to find his teammate. Clemente's body was never discovered.

Honors Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan, Puerto Rico Sportive City Roberto Clemente in Carolina, Puerto Rico Roberto Clemente Stadium in Carolina, Puerto Rico Schools and other facilities around the Island and the United States