In 1955, Roberto Clemente was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates and started as their right fielder. It took a few years for him to learn the ropes in the major leagues, but by 1960 Clemente was a dominant player in professional baseball, helping lead the Pirates to win both the National League pennant and the World Series.

 

https://www.tripsavvy.com/pittsburgh-pirate-roberto-clemente-2708329

On the field, besides confronting racism, Clemente also had numerous health issues. As a
result, many people claimed he was a hypochondriac, someone who complains about minor
ailments. He wasn’t, though. His injuries included back pains following a horrible car accident in
1954, a severely hurt arm in 1959, a contraction of malaria in 1965, and arthritis in his neck,
which occurred throughout his career. In reaction to this, he had a logical response: “You think
I’m a hypochondriac? A hypochondriac cannot produce. I produce.” Clemente’s brother, Justino
Clemente Walker, proclaimed, “People used to say he was a [hypochondriac]. But he was tough.
He played through a lot of painful things. The American press didn’t understand that.”

Clemente embraced the opportunities to make a difference in the lives of others. He set aside fan mail from kids in hospitals, noting to visit the next time the Pirates stopped to play in a city. Back in Puerto Rico, he began conducting regular offseason baseball clinics for children and was known for handing out money to strangers.

 

In 1964, Clemente expanded his responsibilities by marrying Carolina’s Vera Zabala,

with whom he would have three children, and becoming the manager of a Puerto Rican baseball team, the Senadores.

https://www.biography.com/news/roberto-clemente-life-death

 

 

As the decade progressed, Clemente established himself as one of the top all-around players in baseball. He won three more batting titles and twice led the league in hits. Furthermore, he boasted one of the most fearsome arms ever witnessed in the sport, consistently unleashing powerful throws from his post in right field. He enjoyed perhaps his finest season in 1966, batting .317 with a career-best 29 homers and 119 RBIs to win the NL Most Valuable Player Award.

Clemente put on a show in the 1971 World Series, batting .414 with two home runs to help Pittsburgh defeat the favored Baltimore Orioles. Late in the 1972 season, he became the first Hispanic player to reach 3,000 career hits.

 

 

Roberto Clemente was not only a great player on the field, but he was a greater person off the field. He was a National hero to everyone, especially Latinos. He was the finest baseball player Puerto Rico ever produced. He also spent a lot of time during the off-season helping his community. He set up baseball clinics for kids and visited sick children in local hospitals .

On December 31, 1972, Clemente decided to direct a relief mission to the earthquake torn region of Nicaragua. Clemente and four others loaded a small DC-7 plane with food and supplies

http://umich.edu/~ac213/student_projects07/baseball/robertoclemente.html

 

 

 Thirty years later, Clemente’s legacy continues in Allentown with the Roberto Clemente Charter School, a 3-year-old center-city school primarily for Hispanics.    Lupe Pearce, the school’s chief administrative officer, said there were nods of agreement when someone from the community suggested the school be named after Clemente.  She said Clemente is well remembered by adults in the local Puerto Rican community for his dignity, humanitarian interests and leadership.                                                          https://www.mcall.com/news/mc-xpm-2002-12-30-3426164-story.html