It has been a week of statues, building them and tearing them down. Tonight, I will talk about a man that truly deserved his statue. Roberto Clemente was a giant of a man. He was an incredible baseball player but he was an even greater human being. For those that don’t know, Clemente died in a plane crash while taking food and aid to Nicaragua in the wake of a devastating earthquake. Tonight seems like a good night to take a look at the life and death of Roberto Clemente.
But first, a word from our sponsors ...
Here at Top Comments we welcome longtime as well as brand new Daily Kos readers to join us at 10pm Eastern. We strive to nourish community by rounding up some of the site's best, funniest, most mojo'd & most informative commentary, and we depend on your help!! If you see a comment by another Kossack that deserves wider recognition, please send it either to topcomments at gmail or to the Top Comments group mailbox by 9:30pm Eastern. Please please please include a few words about why you sent it in as well as your user name (even if you think we know it already :-)), so we can credit you with the find!
Quoting from the New Pittsburgh Courier:
Roberto Clemente, called “The Great One,” deserved the esteem in which he was held by his fellow Pittsburgh Pirate ballplayers and thousands of baseball fans here and elsewhere.
The athletic world was not the only area in which Roberto was considered “The Great One.” There was another side of Clemente that endeared him to many, many, people who knew of him as a compassionate soul, and who knew of his ever constant concern for his fellowman.
Little children, the sick and the well considered him a prince of a guy. When they needed help, when they needed as friend, Roberto Clemente was right there.
What kind of man was Roberto Clemente? As I said, he died on an airplane while traveling to Nicaragua after an earthquke. But why was he on the plane himself? The flight was originally scheduled to leave New Year’s Eve and he certainly wasn’t needed to actually fly the plane himself.
The answer is that he had previously sent three other shipments that never reached their destination. The government had allegedly diverted them from the earthquake victims. Clemente felt that his presence would help ensure that the aid actually reached the victims of the quake.
Career
Roberto Clemente was a great athlete from an early age. As a young man he medals in track and javelin. He joined the Puerto Rican professional Summer League at the age of eighteen where he gained the attention of the Brooklyn Dodgers who brought him into their farm system. The Pirates drafted him with the first selection of the 1954 Rookie draft.
At this time, the majors had the ill-advised bonus rule in effect. Originally designed to prevent the rich teams from signing the best amateur prospects -- the draft didn't begin until 1965 -- and to curtail rising signing bonuses, from 1953 to 1957 the rule called for players who received a bonus payment of at least $6,000 to spend two calendar years on the major league roster from the date of signing.
...
Anyway, I recently read somewhere that Clemente was the only bonus player immediately sent to the minors and thus left unprotected. I can't confirm if that's true, but Clemente was now eligible for the Major-Minor League Rule 5 Selection Committee. The Pirates, with the worst record in the National League, had the first pick. They were run by former Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey, and scouts Howie Haak and Clyde Sukeforth -- brought to Pittsburgh from Brooklyn by Rickey -- had seen Clemente during the International League season.
Hall of Fame Induction
The Baseball Writers Association gathered in May 1973 to elect Clemente to the Hall of Fame eleven weeks after his death. The association waived the requirement that a player be five years removed from the league to be eligible. Clemente received 93% of the vote. Most of the no voters said they did so in objection to waiving the five year rule.
During 18 seasons with Pittsburgh, Clemente became one of the great defensive stars of the game and batted .317 with 240 home runs and 3,000 hits. The last hit, a double off John Matlack of the Mets on Sept. 30, made him the 11th player in history to reach 3,000.
The Roberto Clemente Award
The Commissioner’s Award was created for sportsmanship, community involvement and positive contributions on and off the field. In 1973, the award was re named for Clemente. The award has been given to sixteen current Baseball Hall of Fame inductees. In 2015, the award was given to Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen.
“I want to strive to be like he was,” McCutchen said, “a person who would give you the clothes off of his back just to make this world a better place.”
Despite never meeting Clemente, McCutchen knows Clemente’s wife and sons well. He’s heard countless stories from people around the game and around the community, too.
McCutchen recounted a story Friday in which a young boy knocked on Clemente’s door, clearly interrupting Clemente’s night. Instead of shooing the boy away, Clemente invited him in, gave him a drink and signed a few things to send the boy on his way happy.
“It’s unbelievable to see the impact that he made,” McCutchen said. “I can only hope that I can do at least half that he did. I know that if he was here I think he would say that as long as I'm doing something, that's what matters.”
In a week that has seen too much hatred and division, I wanted to highlight one of my personal heroes. I don’t tend to identify athletes as heroes for their on field exploits. I honor Clemente for his spirit of generosity and dedication to humanity.
Feliz Cumpleanos Senor Clemente!
Brillig's ObDisclaimer: The decision to publish each nomination lies with the evening's Diarist and/or Comment Formatter. My evenings at the helm, I try reeeeallllyy hard to publish everything without regard to content. I really do, even when I disagree personally with any given nomination. "TopCommentness" lies in the eyes of the nominator and of you, the reader - I leave the decision to you. I do not publish self-nominations (ie your own comments) and if I ruled the world, we'd all build community, supporting and uplifting instead of tearing our fellow Kossacks down.
Note: Please remember that comment inclusion in Top Comments does not constitute support or endorsement by diarist, formatter, Top Comments writers or DailyKos. Questions, complaints or comments? Contact brillig.
TOP MOJO
Top Mojo for yesterday, August 17, 2017, first comments and tip jars excluded. Thank you mik for the mojo magic! For those of you interested in How Top Mojo Works, please see his diary on FAQing Top Mojo.
Top Pictures for yesterday, August 17, 2017. Click any picture to be taken to the full comment or picture. Thank you jotter!