The Great One

Roberto Walker Clemente was born on August 18, 1934 in Barrio San Anton in Carolina, Puerto Rico. His parents Melchor and Luisa had seven children and Roberto was the youngest.  His father worked as a foreman on a sugar plantation and his mother ran a food store for the plantation workers. Their family was very poor and Clemente worked hard as a young kid in Puerto Rico delivering milk and taking other jobs to earn extra money for the struggling Clemente family.

In his early baseball career Clemente was eighteen years old in 1952 when he was offered his first contract. A scout spotted him playing professional hardball team in Puerto Rico. His first club he signed with giving him forty dollars per month, plus a five hundred dollar bonus. Clemente caught the attention of the major league scouts in 1954 and signed up with the Los Angeles Dodgers who sent him to their minor league team in Montreal.

On November 14, 1964, Roberto Clemente married Vera Cristina Zabala in Carolina, Puerto Rico. They had three sons: Roberto Jr., Luis Roberto and Roberto Enrique. He had each of them born in Puerto Rico to honor their father's heritage.

Roberto Clemente is one of only a few players to have collected 3,000 hits, He delivered his 3,000th hit on the last day of the 1972 regular season. He was also a powerhouse from the outfield too, throwing out players from over 400 feet.

His personal records included four National League batting championships, twelve Gold Glove awards, the National League MVP in 1966, and the World Series MVP in 1971, where he batted .414. Clemente was the first Latin American player elected to the baseball Hall of Fame. For his "outstanding athletic, civic, charitable, and humanitarian contributions," Roberto Clemente was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by the United States Congress in 1973.

 Managua, the capital of Nicaragua, had been shrunken by an earthquake that hit just days before Christmas. There were reports of up to 10,000 dead and hundreds of thousands more left without shelter in its aftermath. Roberto was commited in helping thousands by going on a plane bringing clothing, food and medical supplies. Shortly after takeoff the rickety plane went down off the coast of San Juan. Roberto Clemente died on December 31, 1972. His body was never found.