Player Profile: Roberto Clemente

Player notes: Roberto Clemente was the complete package as a ballplayer. He could hit (3,000 lifetime hits, over 200 hits in a season 4 times), hit for power (.475 lifetime slugging average), run (166 lifetime triples), and field (the 12 Gold Gloves speak for themselves). He was an All Star 12 times. A lifelong Pirate, he helped Pittsburgh to win two World Championships (1960 and 1971), and he was World Series MVP in 1971. As a fielder he was best known for his strong arm, making life difficult for runners trying to take the extra base for the duration of his career.

Clemente is known as much for his tragic death as for his great career. While taking relief supplies to earthquake victims in Nicaragua over the Christmas season in 1972, he died in a plane crash on December 31, 1972. A hero in life as well as on the field, Roberto Clemente will always be remembered as one of the game's greatest players, and greatest men.

The following comments on Clemente were submitted by Stephen Widdoes on December 15, 2003:

When I was eight or nine years old growing up in Wilmington, Delaware, my dad (a long time Dodger fan) told me he was going to start rooting for Pittsburgh since the dodgers left for the West Coast and he told me the Pirates have the best player in baseball. My dad was an athletic director (Springfield College, Massachusetts) and was an astute judge of athletic prowess. He told me back then that Clemente could do more than anyone he had ever seen including Mays, Mantle, Aaron, DiMaggio, etc., but that he would never be recognized because of this thing called prejudice. I didn't fully understand at that time, but he was disturbingly accurate.

I read in Joe Morgan's book .. Baseball for Dummies where both Mays and Robin Roberts think Clemente is the best they ever saw....you gotta respect Mays for making such a comment when most aficionados consider him the real best of all time!! It seems more and more people, especially within the game, are starting to come out of the closet about Clemente and are praising his all-around ability above all others. I suspect his being passed over in that All Century team outfield was probably too much for anyone in good conscience to turn their head and look away. Sadly, it has nothing to do with not having a Hispanic on that squad nor does it have anything to do with a tragic death or being a humanitarian. No ... none of those things... it has to do with the TRUTH. Here was the most "watchable" outfielder of all time (no one, including Mays himself, could catch and throw like him). His batting ability, especially against 20 game winners, is unequalled, as in his performance against Baltimore's four 20 game winners in the '71 World Series.

Unfortunately, our national pastime is not ready to admit that maybe, just maybe a Hispanic is the real most complete player of all time ... that won't help sell tickets!!! The 'white' defense will be "not enough home runs" or some other inane stat, when physics professors will proclaim that the home run is more about trajectory than bat speed. Take away the outfield fence (which was originally about attendance) and Clemente is your all time home run leader too!!

Pete Rose has a perfect opportunity to re-gain some fan credibility. He could relinquish his all century outfield appointment to Clemente (we all know Rose was a prolific hitter...period) In short, I would like to ask Rose "Were you as good a ballplayer as Clemente?" His response would either show he's on the road to recovery or still in denial. FYI, I am a typical WASP but as you can tell, neither my dad nor I are colorblind!!!