Born on this day in 1934 - Roberto Clemente

Roberto Clemente, in full Roberto Clemente Walker, (born August 18, 1934, Carolina, Puerto Rico—died December 31, 1972, San Juan), professional baseball player who was an idol in his native Puerto Rico and one of the first Latin American baseball stars in the United States.

While Clemente amassed a mountain of impressive statistics during his career, he was often mocked by the print media in the United States for his heavy Spanish accent. Clemente was also subjected to the double discrimination of being a foreigner and being black in a racially segregated society. Although the media tried to call him “Bob” or “Bobby” and many of his baseball cards use “Bob,” Clemente explicitly rejected those nicknames, stating in no uncertain terms that his name was Roberto. There was also confusion over the correct form of his surname. For 27 years the plaque at the National Baseball Hall of Fame read “Roberto Walker Clemente,” mistakenly placing his mother’s maiden name before his father’s surname. Only in 2000 was it changed to its proper Latin American form, Roberto Clemente Walker.

Perhaps equally as important as Clemente’s accomplishments on the field was his role as an advocate for equitable treatment of Latin baseball players, in which he took great pride. Near the end of his career, Clemente commented, “My greatest satisfaction comes from helping to erase the old opinion about Latin Americans and blacks.” A close friend of Clemente’s, Spanish-language sportscaster Luis Mayoral, added, “Roberto Clemente was to Latinos what Jackie Robinson was to black baseball players. He spoke up for Latinos; he was the first one to speak out.”

Clemente was an All-Star for twelve seasons, playing in fifteen All-Star Games. He was the NL Most Valuable Player in 1966, the NL batting leader in 1961, 1964, 1965, and 1967, and a Gold Glove Award winner for twelve consecutive seasons from 1961 through 1972. His batting average was over .300 for thirteen seasons and he had 3,000 hits during his major league career. He also played in two World Series championships. Clemente is the first Latin American and Caribbean player to help win a World Series as a starter (1960), to receive an NL MVP Award (1966), and to receive a World Series MVP Award (1971).

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Roberto-Clemente
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Clemente