Among the most prestigious honors a baseball player can earn are league MVP, World Series MVP (presented by the editors of SPORT Magazine from its inception until the late 1980s), and enshrinement into the Baseball Hall of Fame. So why is it that Roberto Clemente was the first Latino ballplayer to achieve each of those honors, and yet, to this day, he remains one of the most underrated players in baseball history? This special tribute to Clemente, told through the pages of the SPORT archive, explains how he was able to break through barriers previously thought to be impenetrable to reach baseball immortality.
WHAT ROBERTO ClementeGAVE TO THE GAME
THE EARLY YEARS • Full of promise, drive and natural skill, Clemente was a propect who struggled to overcome one obstacle-injuries
PITTSBURGH' SURPRISE PACKAGE • The pirates Drafted Roberto Clemente For Only $4,000, Best Inverstment Of Branch Rickey’s Hot-And-Clod Regime
Clemete KEEPS THEM ON THEIR TOSE • Pittsburgh’s rightfielder plays with contagious passion. He swings from his heels, crashes into fences and slides with pennant-inspired fury
ROBERTO Clemente’s PROBLEM • Roberto’s record is filled with heroics„the 61 National League batting title among them
THE GLORY YEARS • Over time, Clemente’s greatness became apparent to all
WHY THE PIRATES LOVE THE new Roberto CLEMENTE • Until recently, Pittsburgh’s three-lime batting champ was battling for recognition. Now he feels he has it and it’s made him a changed man„happy, sociable, a leader
WHY CLEMENTE IS ONE OF THE NL’S MOST underrated PLAYERS • He deserves better, says the Dodger shortstop
MY 16 YEARS with ROBERTO CLEMENTE • A long-time teammate of Clemente gives an inside look at a man he considers a neglected superstar
CLEMENTE the CHAMPION • Number 21 helped the Pirates win two World Series titles
LEGACY • Throughout his life and career, Roberto Clemente devoted considerable time to charity work in Latin American countries.
A TEAM remembers MATE ROBERTO CLEMENTE
A FAN remembers CLEMENTE
Roberto Clemente