Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero (55 page)

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) The entire family came to Pittsburgh when Clemente was honored, including his father, Melchor (far left), who had never left Puerto Rico before and needed help to overcome his fear of flying. “I have achieved this honor for us the Latinos,” Clemente said.

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) Clemente routinely visited sick children in National League cities. The hospital visits were rarely publicized, but ailing kids seemed to know about them everywhere. Before each road trip Clemente sorted out his large pile of mail in the clubhouse and made a special stack for children in cities where the Pirates were headed next.

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) The Pirates trainer, Tony Bartirome (left), thought Roberto Clemente was a lot like his wife. Ask Clemente how he felt and he would tell you, “Well, I’ve got this thing with my neck.” A pregame stop at the training table was a daily appointment, another of his rituals, like not sleeping at night and complaining about sportswriters.

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) At age thirty-eight, Clemente’s body still evoked that of a world-class ballet dancer, with muscled shoulders rippling down to a narrow waist, thirty inches—the same measurement he had as a teenager—and powerful wrists, and hands so magical they were said to have eyes at their fingertips.

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) As the outstanding player of the 1971 World Series, Clemente was awarded a new car by
Sport
magazine. One of the guests at the award ceremony at Mamma Leone’s restaurant said that Roberto and Vera “seemed to be unreal people, sculptured out of bronze instead of ordinary flesh and blood like those surrounding them.” Clemente told the crowd that the World Series allowed him to talk to millions of people about issues that meant the most to him.

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) Bob Prince (center), the Pirates’ colorful announcer, had a nickname for everyone, and shouted
¡Arriba!
whenever Clemente strolled to the plate. Roberto felt that Prince treated him fairly, and during an offseason he decided to honor “the Gunner” at a ceremony in San Juan. Along with a carved trophy, he gave Prince the Silver Bat he had won for his first batting title.

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) September 30, 1972, Three Rivers Stadium, Pirates vs. Mets. New York lefty Jon Matlack on the mound. It was an outside curve going just where Matlack wanted it to go until Clemente thwacked it against the left field wall for his three-thousandth hit.

(
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) When the inning was over, Clemente walked slowly out to his position in right and tipped his cap to the fans.
El Nuevo Día
photographer Luis Ramos followed him step by step and caught the moment forever.

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) On December 2, 1972, the lightning-striped DC-7 that would carry Clemente to his death a few weeks later was taxied into a ditch at San Juan International Airport by its owner, Arthur Rivera. Clemente knew nothing about the plane’s troubled history when he boarded the plane, overloaded with humanitarian aid, on New Year’s Eve.

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) Despite a massive effort to assist the people of Nicaragua after the devastating earthquake that leveled Managua and killed thousands of residents two days before Christmas, 1972, much of the aid was not getting to the people. In the aftermath of the quake, the greed of Nicaraguan military leader Anastasio Somoza became apparent. Clemente decided to go to Managua to make sure that food and medical supplies from Puerto Rico reached the people who needed help.

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) Eleven weeks after his death, Roberto Clemente was voted into the Hall of Fame. He and Lou Gehrig, the Yankees first baseman who also died a tragic early death, are the only players in major league history to be enshrined without waiting the normal five-year period after the end of their playing days. Vera represented the family at the ceremony.