Saluting Pittsburgh's finest

USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), July, 2008 by Richard E. Vatz, Lee S. Weinberg

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Clemente's death clearly was outlined in a New York Times story on Jan. 2, 1973, which stated the following: "Star outfielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates, died late last night in the crash of a cargo plane carrying relief supplies to the victims of the earthquake in Managua. Days of national mourning for Mr. Clemente were proclaimed in his native Puerto Rico, where he was the most popular sports figure in the island's history. He is a certainty to be en-shrined in Baseball's Hall of Fame. He was only the 11th man in baseball history to get 3,000 hits, and his lifetime batting average of .317 was the highest among active players. Mr. Clemente, who was 38 years old, won the National league batting championship four times in his 18-season career, was named to the All-Star team 14 times and in 1966 was named the league's Most Valuable Player. He was also one of the finest defensive outfielders with a very strong throwing arm. He led the Pittsburgh Pirates to two world championships, in 1960 and 1971, the latter time being named the Most Valuable Player in the World Series. Mr. Clemente was the leader of Puerto Rican efforts to aid the Nicaraguan victims and was aboard the plane because he suspected that relief supplies were falling into the hands of profiteers."

However, similar to the disjuncture between his statistics and his impact on the game, the story missed the totality of the ramifications to baseball, Pittsburgh, Puerto Rico, and baseball fans and humanity everywhere who lost the man after whom The Roberto Clemente Award--given yearly since his death to the player who best exemplifies "character and charitable contributions to his community."--was named. With perhaps one exception (Pete Rose), the recipients have been the best all-round players-as-people the sport has to offer.

That is precisely what Roberto Walker Clemente was, which probably is why he is being feted in a variety of ways during the 2008 baseball season. On April 21--to correspond with Clemente's uniform number, which, by the way, many want retired from every team in Major League Baseball, a la Jackie Robinson's 42)--PBS's "American Experience" debuted a one-hour documentary entitled "Roberto Clemente." It is scheduled to be rerun at various times throughout the summer. Meanwhile, the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) is touring "Beyond Baseball: The Life of Roberto Clemente." The exhibit is on view at the National Civil Rights Museum, Memphis, Tenn. (through July 27), and then can be seen at the Greene County Public Library, Xenia, Ohio (Aug. 16-Oct. 12), and Collier County Parks and Recreation, Naples, Fla. (Nov. 1-Jan. 3, 2009). In addition, the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum in Pittsburgh has on permanent display many fascinating items relating to Clemente and the hometown Pirates.

Richard E. Vatz and Lee S. Weinberg are associate psychology editors of USA Today, and, respectively, professor of rhetoric at Towson (Md.) University, and associate professor of public and international affairs at the University of Pittsburgh (Pa.).