REMEMBERING ROBERTO; 50 YEARS LATER
By Radar Pavlov
This New Year’s Eve 2022, a lot of us will be celebrating the holiday by either going out to New
Year’s Eve parties, watching College Football Bowl Games (especially the NCAA FBS College Football
Playoffs Semifinals – 1. the VRBO Fiesta Bowl with Michigan vs. TCU; 2. the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl
featuring Ohio State vs. Georgia) or heading out to town and seeing the big ball drop to ring in the new year (2023), this New Year’s Eve 2022 will rather be a sad one for those in Pittsburgh, the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Pirates fans all over the world – including those that live in the area, Puerto Rico and the world of baseball.
This New Year’s Eve, 2022 will mark exactly 50 years to the day since the Puerto Rico DC-7 plane that was sent to help aid in the relief efforts in earthquake-stricken Nicaragua, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean waters minutes after takeoff in Carolina, Puerto Rico killing all 5 persons on board, among them was Pittsburgh Pirates legend Roberto Clemente.
Just before we knew Wayne Gretzky (hockey), Michael Jordan (basketball), and Tom Brady (football) as “The Great One” in their respective sports, there was only one “The Great One” in baseball and he wore the number 21 for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Roberto Clemente.
Clemente had such a historic career: he was selected to 15 Major League Baseball All-Star Games, won 12 Gold Glove Awards (1961-1972), 4 times led the National League in batting average (1961, 1964, 1965, 1967) and 1966 National League Most Valuable Player.
In 1960, Clemente became the first Caribbean and Latin America player to win a World Series as a starting position player when the Pirates upset the New York Yankees in 7 games.
11 years later, he became the first Caribbean and Latin America player to be named the World Series Most Valuable Player when the Pirates won the 1971 World Series, defeating the Baltimore Orioles in 7 games. Clemente in that World Series had a batting average of .414 (12 hits in 29 at-bats) and hit 2 home runs.
In every World Series game that he played in (14 games in all), he collected at least 1 base hit in every game.
On September 30, 1972, Clemente became the 11th player in Major League Baseball history to reach the 3,000 career lifetime hits plateau when he hit a double off of Jon Matlack of the New York Mets at Pittsburgh’s old Three Rivers Stadium. It was the last regular season at-bat of his career.
After his untimely tragic ending, more honors came for Clemente. His uniform number 21 was retired by the Pittsburgh Pirates on Opening Day 1973, he was posthumously inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in the summer of 1973, and Major League Baseball renamed its annual Commissioner’s Award in his honor. The Roberto Clemente Award is given annually to the player who “best exemplifies the game of baseball, sportsmanship, community involvement, and the individual’s contribution to the team.”
Sports legends endure forever in our memory, and as we’re about to enter 2023, let us remember 50 years later, the life of Pittsburgh Pirates’ legendary number 21 Roberto Clemente this New Year’s Eve 2022.
