Clemente << kluh MEHN tee >>, Roberto (1934-1972), a Puerto Rican athlete, was one of the greatest baseball players in history. He won four National League batting titles and had a lifetime batting average of .317. Clemente won the league’s Most Valuable Player award in 1966.
Clemente, who played right field for the Pittsburgh Pirates, won fame for his fielding, throwing, and hitting. He helped lead the Pirates to World Series victories in 1960 and 1971. Clemente never went hitless in a World Series game. He was named the outstanding player of the 1971 series. On Sept. 30, 1972, three months before his death, he became the 11th man in major league history to get 3,000 hits.
Roberto Walker Clemente was born on Aug. 18, 1934, in Carolina, Puerto Rico. He died on Dec. 31, 1972, in a plane crash off the coast of Puerto Rico while flying to aid earthquake victims in Nicaragua. In 1973, Clemente became the first Hispanic player to be elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. He was elected in a special election, without the traditional waiting period of five years after a player has retired.
In 1973, Clemente was posthumously (after his death) awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor given by the United States Congress. He was also posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, another of the country’s highest civilian honors, in 2003.
