Recalling Roberto

Sporting News, The, Oct 27, 1997 by Richard Lapchick

With all the attention paid to Jackie Robinson's 50th anniversary, it could be forgotten that 1997 will end marking the 25th anniversary of the tragic and heroic death of Roberto Clemente.

Clemente was a star player for 18 major league seasons when he undertook a mission to deliver eight tons of relief supplies to the victims of an earthquake in Nicaragua The antiquated aircraft took off from his native Puerto Rico on December 31, 1972, and crashed off the coast of San Juan minutes later. Gone was a superstar, a cultural hero and a man who would be remembered as a committed, compassionate human being.

The anniversary of Clemente's death seems especially noteworthy considering it comes in a baseball year in which there have been so many breakthroughs by Hispanic players in terms of numbers, performance, salaries and endorsements.

Just as Jackie Robinson displayed his pride as a black American, Clemente's Puerto Rican heritage always was placed on the table by the man himself. If all of us--especially blacks--owe a debt of gratitude to Jackie Robinson, then all of us--especially Hispanics--owe a debt to Clemente.

Clemente was the first Hispanic inducted into baseballs Hall of Fame. While his career demanded induction, his death hastened it. Of the 232 current members of the Hall, a hard-to-believe fact is that only four other Latin-born players have been inducted.

His life as a Hispanic player also marks lessons that still exist He shared language problems with other Hispanic players when he came up for the first of his 18 years. Activists still argue the need for a cultural transition program for Hispanic players. Jose Masso, senior associate director for Northeastern University's Center for the Study of Sport in Society, also was born in Puerto Rico. He is a former player agent who specialized in Hispanic players. Masso witnessed how difficult it was--and still is--for players to break through those barriers. "The players need help from the time they are signed," Masso says. They need language instruction as well as ongoing assistance to know how to handle life in a multicultural United States. On the other hand, the U.S. born players need a deeper understanding of Latino culture so they can play better as teammates on and off the field."

Like some Hispanic players today, Clemente believed he suffered in some media circles because he spoke Spanish better than English and because of his skin color. More than 95 percent of American sportswriters are white men. Thus, there are only a handful of black and Hispanic sportswriters who might be able to interpret the multicultural background of players more accurately. Former sportswriter Phil Musick spent years covering Clemente. In his book, Reflections or Roberto, Musick wrote, Where was a racial overtone to much of what was written about Clemente early in his career, and unfortunately, it precluded much reporting on his baseball skills and how they were acquired. The author of this work (Musick) bears some of that responsibility."

Does it still exist? When Wilfredo Cordero was accused of beating his wife early in the 1997 season, a point overlooked was that on the day Cordero was arrested, 8,200 American women of all races, cultures and incomes tragically were hit by men.

You still hear the term "natural" applied to Hispanic and black players. That, of course, fits a white American stereotypical point of view that Hispanics and blacks are lazy and not hard-working. Hispanic players regularly play winter ball. The same stereotype about not playing hurt follows today's Hispanic players as it &d Clemente. Even if he was public about his physical pain, Clemente played in summers and winters, yet the me&a called him a hypochondriac. The man averaged 135 games per season over 18 years between summer and winter ball.

We need to learn other lessons from the Clemente story. Twenty-five years after his death, when Hispanics outnumber black players in baseball, Omar Minaya of the Mets became baseball's first Hispanic assistant general manager. Let's celebrate Clemente's life and legacy by further scrutinizing how many other Hispanics and blacks hold power positions on our fields, in our front offices, and who act as vendors for major league teams. Now that would be a tribute the Clemente family would be happy about.

Richard Lapchick is director of Northeastern University's Center for the Study of Sport in Society and a regular columnist for The Sporting News.