Roberto+Clemente


 * Biography **

Roberto Clemente was the youngest of the seven children. His family was very poor so Clemente worked hard as a kid, delivering milk and taking other odd jobs to earn extra money for the family. He still found time to play baseball, his passion, anywhere he could in his hometown in puerto rico until he was eighteen.

In 1952, Roberto Clemente was spotted by a scout from the professional baseball team in the Puerto Rican town of Santurce and was offered a contract. He signed with the team for forty dollars per month, plus a five hundred dollar bonus. It wasn't long before Clemente had the attention of the major league scouts and, in 1954, he signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers who sent him to their minor league team in Montreal.

In 1955, Roberto Clemente was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates and started as their right fielder. It took him a few years to get the hang of the major leagues but by 1960 Clemente was a dominant player in professional baseball. He helped lead the Pirates to win both the National League pennant and the World Series.

Shortly after Clemente joined the Pirates, he chose No. 21 for his uniform. Twenty-one was the total number of letters in the name–Roberto Clemente Walker. The Pirates retired his number at the start of the 1973 season, and the right field wall at the Pirates' PNC Park is 21 feet high in honor of Clemente. On November 14, 1964, Roberto Clemente married Vera Cristina Zabala in Carolina, Puerto Rico. They had three sons, Roberto Jr., Luis Roberto and Roberto Enrique. The boys were just six, five and two, when Roberto Clemente died in 1972.

Roberto Clemente's life ended on December 31, 1972 in a plane crash while en route to Nicaragua with relief supplies for earthquake victims. Since Roberto loved to help the community, Clemente was on the plane to make sure the clothing, food and medical supplies weren't stolen, as had happened with previous flights. The rickety plane went down off the coast of San Juan shortly after takeoff, and Roberto's body was never found.


 * Achievements **


 * Lifetime batting average of .317
 * Collected 3,000 hits
 * Could throw many people out from 400 ft away
 * Four National League batting championships
 * 12 Gold Glove awards
 * The National League MVP in 1966
 * The World Series MVP in 1971, where he batted .414.