Roberto Clemente - by Moses

A pre-season treat for the upcoming 2015 Major League Baseball season; 

      Joining in on the first wave of ‘black’ ballplayers in essence de-segregating Major League Baseball, Clemente was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1954 and left unprotected following that year by Brooklyn and signed as a free-agent by the Pittsburgh Pirates before the 1955 season.  The fact that he could have created a more liberal Free-Agent structure in MLB at the time is overlooked by many Baseball fans and brass within most Major League Organizations.  Ironically, the player most Brooklyn ‘fans thought wouldn’t matter anyway (as Brooklyn won the World Series in 1955), actually backfired within a few years, as Clemente quickly established himself  as one of the young great superstars of the game alongside Willie Mays and Henry Aaron.  There was no doubting Clemente’s talent.  He had a rifle for an arm, had good speed and he practically swung his way out of poverty as a youngster growing up in Puerto Rico.
  When Roberto started his career in 1955 with Pittsburgh, he struggled in his inaugural season batting a modest .255.  The following year he proved himself as a force to be reckoned with batting .311.  He really came into his own in 1960, when he posted a .314 batting average, hitting 16 Homeruns (the first time in his career belting 10+ Homeruns) with 94 RBI’s.
  It was in 1960 that Clemente became a household name, as his Pirates won the World Series on Bill Mazerowski’s walk-off Home-run.  He received due recognition for his fielding prowess in 1961 winning the first of twelve consecutive Gold Glove Awards.  To go along with his Gold Glove defense that year he batted .351, leading all Major Leaguers.
  In fact from 1960-1967, Clemente’s lowest yearly average was .312.  In an off-year, 1968, he batted only .291.  This may be attributed to the change in making the pitching mound higher.  His .291 average was still .40 points higher than the league average of .251.
  If you thought that this off-year (by Clemente’s standards) was the sign of him slowing down you’re sadly mistaken.
  The following year of 1969, Clemente hit .345, and in 1970 he bettered that mark with a .352 average.  In 1971 Clemente batted .341.  It seemed that Roberto could feasibly make a run at the long fabled hit-record of 4192, set by the late Ty Cobb.  The 1971 campaign also saw the Pirates win their second World Series under Clemente’s tutelage.    
  Indeed, Clemente reached the milestone of 3000 Hits (on his last at-bat of the ’72 campaign), while batting .312.  No-one realized this was to be Clemente’s last hit ever.  On New Year’s Eve (Dec 31/72), Clemente was traveling by plane to his native homeland of Puerto Rico with thousands of dollars worth of medical supplies, when the plane went down.
  Roberto Clemente was dead at the age of 38.
  In looking at Clemente’s accomplishments not only was he successful when it came to his career and family relations, there was also a sense of duty to provide to the poor, where he himself had once resided.
  In looking at Clemente’s accomplishments we can see that he was the consummate ballplayer.  He had 200+hits in a year four times.  He batted .339+ six times and keep in mind that this was in a pitcher’s era.  His lifetime batting average of .317 was .55 points higher than the league average and he led the National League in batting average four times.  Clemente won the NL MVP in 1966, and finished in the top ten in MVP voting eight times.
  Roberto Clemente was coming off a .312 average and his 12th consecutive Gold Glove season after the ’72 campaign.  He not only produced in the regular season but in the playoffs as well as evidenced by their two World Series wins in ’60, and in ’71 in which Roberto won WS MVP batting .414 with a .759 Slg % that series.
  He will always be revered as a class act, not only for his professional accomplishments, but in giving back to the Pittsburgh community and to his Native Homeland of Puerto Rico.