Roberto Clemente

    Roberto Clemente was born on August 18,1934. He played softball till the age of 17. Roberto then was signed by a Costa Rican team. Then the Brooklyn Dodgers signed him in 1953. In 1954 the Pittsburgh Pirates drafted him. Pittsburgh is where he played his whole major league career. The right handed pitcher batted about .300 in all of his 13 seasons. He also led the league in hitting four times. Clemente won the MVP award in 1966. Roberto appeared in 2 World Series. He made 12 All-Star games along with 12 gold gloves. With all this information we can tell that Roberto cared a lot about his sports.

 He also had good sportsmanship. Clemente was involved in disaster relief programs. Clemente died December 31, 1972, off the coast of San Juan, Puerto Rico. He was killed in a plane crash that was en route to Nicaragua. It was hauling earthquake relief supplies. Clemente became the first player of Latin descent to be inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame. The same year he died the Pirates retired the number twenty-one. The award previously called the commissioners award was changed to the Roberto Clemente Award. The award is given to a major league player showing outstanding baseball skills, sportsmanship, team leadership and community involvement. Clemente played his last game October 3rd, 1972 at Riverfront Stadium.                                                          Picture of Roberto


                                                                                                                        
Riverfront Stadium now Cinergy Field