Roberto Clemente

Roberto Clemente (1934-1972), Puerto Rican professional baseball player, the first Hispanic player elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame (1973).

Roberto Clemente Walker was born in Carolina, Puerto Rico. He joined a professional Puerto Rican baseball team at age 17. At the end of the 1953 season he signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers, but in 1954 the last-placed Pittsburgh Pirates drafted Clemente from the Dodgers.

A 1956 automobile accident forced Clemente to play with chronic back pain. A battery of other serious ailments plagued him throughout his career, but his performance consistently belied his discomfort. His World Series batting average of .362 helped the Pirates win two world championships (in 1960 and 1971).

Clemente was voted the most valuable player in the National League (NL) in 1966, the same year his peers named him outstanding player of the year. He captured 4 NL batting titles, won 12 consecutive Gold Gloves for fielding excellence, and in 1972 became the 11th player in major league history to reach 3,000 hits (his career total). Having played every season with the Pirates since 1955, Clemente's career ended tragically on December 31, 1972, when he died in an airplane crash while bringing supplies to Nicaraguan earthquake victims.