ROBERTO CLEMENTE Biography - Famous Sports men and women

 
 

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ROBERTO CLEMENTE

Name: Roberto Clemente                                                               
Born: 18 August 1934                                                                 
Died: 31 December 1972                                                               
                                                                                     
Roberto Clemente Walker (August 18, 1934 - December 31, 1972) was a professional     
baseball player and a former Major League Baseball right fielder. Clemente was       
born in Carolina, Puerto Rico, the youngest of seven children. On November 14,       
1964, he married Vera Zabala at San Fernando Church in Carolina. The couple had     
three children: Roberto Jr., Luis Roberto and Enrique Roberto. He began his         
professional career playing with the Santurce Crabbers in the Puerto Rican           
Professional Baseball League (LBBPR). While he was playing in Puerto Rico, the       
Brooklyn Dodgers offered him a contract to play with the Montreal Royals.           
Clemente accepted the offer and was active with the team until he was drafted by     
the Pittsburgh Pirates in the Major League Baseball draft that took place on         
November 22, 1954.                                                                   
                                                                                     
Clemente played eighteen seasons in Major League Baseball from 1955 to 1972, all     
with Pittsburgh. He was awarded the National League’s Most Valuable Player Award   
in 1966. During the course of his career, Clemente was selected to participate       
in the league's All Star Game on twelve occasions. He won twelve Gold Glove         
Awards and led the league in batting average four different seasons. He was         
involved in charity work both in Puerto Rico and other Latin American countries,     
often delivering baseball equipment and food to them. He died in an aviation         
accident on December 31, 1972, while en route to deliver aid to earthquake           
victims in Nicaragua. His body was never recovered. He was elected to the Hall       
of Fame posthumously in 1973, thus becoming the first Latin American to be           
selected and the only current Hall of Famer whose mandatory five year waiting       
period was waived since it was instituted in 1954.