Que Viva Clemente! Roberto Lives On in the Hearts of Latino Major Leaguers

(Courtesy of The Clemente Museum.)

 

Long after most of the city has descended into slumber, Roberto Clemente rises again.

For Latin American baseball players, a road trip into Pittsburgh often means a midnight pilgrimage to the Roberto Clemente Museum, located, incongruously enough, in a restored nineteenth-century firehouse, a little off the beaten path but not far from downtown.

The tours usually begin after a game and last until 2:00 or 3:00 A.M. Young players making their first visits grow wide-eyed as they grip Clemente’s bat or trace the outline of the number 21 on his jersey; the old heads stand in the background, smiling knowingly and nodding. All of them coming closer – photograph by photograph, anecdote by anecdote, moment by moment – to a man Washington Nationals manager Dave Martinez calls “the baseball god of Latin players.”1

Some Latino players whose careers overlapped with Clemente’s played well into the 1980s and carried his memory forward. Later generations had watched him on TV or heard stories from their parents. Players coming up today may know nothing about Clemente beyond, at most, what they have read on his Wikipedia page. Nonetheless, all of these men have held Clemente in reverence and his legacy has assumed many forms.

CLEMENTE THE BALLPLAYER

Ironically, Clemente’s baseball exploits are only a small part of the inheritance he has passed down. Those who saw him play, though, will never forget.

His teammate Manny Sanguillen raved, “I’ve never seen a better ballplayer than Roberto Clemente, not only in right field. He was the most complete ballplayer ever.”2

“When I first played against Clemente I was a fan. I wanted to watch him. That arm!” gushed Cincinnati’s Tony Pérez, who learned about that arm firsthand very early in his career.3 He was on first base when a teammate blooped a single to shallow right field. Clemente was playing deep. Pérez was sure he could take the extra base.

“I didn’t even look at the third-base coach,” he said. “I just ran because I was going to make it easy.” But when Pérez arrived, the ball was waiting for him. “Our third-base coach, a Cuban guy named Reggie Otero, said to me in Spanish, ‘Chiquito, go to the dugout. Do you know who that was? That’s Roberto Clemente.’”4

Seattle Mariners great Edgar Martinez, who was born in New York and grew up in Puerto Rico, says Clemente was part of a formative childhood memory. “I was about 9 years old, and my aunt was watching what probably were highlights of Roberto Clemente (in the 1971) World Series, and he homered and she was just screaming,” Martinez recalled. “I remember after that I got really interested in the game. Right away I went outside and started hitting rocks with a broomstick, and I kind of fell in love with the game.”5

Modern players speak relatively little of Clemente’s on-field prowess. It is understandable – there isn’t much for them to go on beyond tables of statistics and some grainy video clips. But some of them may have picked up a gauzy glimpse of Clemente from their elders, like a legend passed down from one generation to another.

Toronto pitcher José Berrios heard the tales from his father. “He said, ‘We’re not going to see another arm like his in right field.’”6

Julio Ricardo Varela, founder of the digital media site Latino Rebels, sees a little of Clemente in Fernando Tatis Jr. of the San Diego Padres. “He’s also bringing the Dominican, Caribbean, Latino, Latin-American energy of the baseball that I grew up with, of the baseball I remember. It was OK to wear it on your sleeve.”7 The son of a major leaguer, Tatis has demonstrated an appreciation for baseball history. On Roberto Clemente Day in 2021, he sported a pair of baseball shoes with an image of a sliding Clemente on one side and a Puerto Rican flag on the other. Across the toes were Clemente’s career statistics and a quote attributed to him: “I was born to play baseball.”8

“The way [Clemente] played the game was kind of how my dad wanted to play the game,” said Francisco Lindor. “By … playing the game like that, even though he didn’t play the game professionally, my dad taught me the game that way. Being aggressive, having fun.”9

CLEMENTE THE HUMANITARIAN

Even Lindor admits Clemente the player is secondary to Clemente the man. “[H]e was not great just on the field, but he was outstanding off the field. That’s why we’re wearing number 21 [on Roberto Clemente Day]. It’s not because he got 3,000 hits and won a World Series and got 12 Gold Gloves. It’s not because of that. It’s because how good he was off the field.”10

Clemente’s work on behalf of those in need has come to define him, largely because of the tragic nobility of his death in a plane crash delivering relief supplies to earthquake-ravaged Nicaragua.

The Roberto Clemente Award is presented annually to a player who “best represents the game of baseball through extraordinary character, community involvement, philanthropy, and positive contributions, both on and off the field.” Yadier Molina of the St. Louis Cardinals was named the winner in 2018 for his work with Fundación 4, which helps Puerto Rican children struggling to overcome abuse, poverty, or medical issues. He called the award “a dream come true.”11

“[Clemente] did a lot of things off the field to help people, and he had a lot less than we do these days,” Molina said. “If he did it, why shouldn’t we help others?”12

“Once [I started] playing baseball, everybody was like, ‘Oh, you have a good arm like Roberto,’ ‘You hit like Roberto,’ stuff like that,” recalled 2021 Clemente Award winner Nelson Cruz. “Then, I started to find out what kind of person he was and what he did for his community and what he did for all Latin Americans, and definitely, it’s a guy that you want to follow, an example that you want to go after.”13

Cruz’s impact is felt everywhere in his hometown of Las Matas de Santa Cruz in the Dominican Republic. Among other initiatives, he has funded the purchase of emergency vehicles, financed the construction of a police station, and donated money to help families in need of food, medicine, and financial support during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through his Boomstick23 Foundation, Cruz also is helping to build a new technical center that will provide better job opportunities for young people.

Boston manager Alex Cora said of Clemente, “If there’s a Hall of Fame above the Hall of Fame, off the field, he’s in that Hall of Fame.”14 Cora has done his best to emulate that example. Before signing his contract with the Red Sox in October 2017, he made the organization pledge to send relief to Puerto Rico, which had been devastated by Hurricane Sandy a month earlier. Subsequently, Cora, along with members of the front office and a handful of Red Sox players, accompanied a plane that delivered 10 tons of supplies to his hometown of Caguas – much as Clemente was trying to do on his fateful flight on New Year’s Eve 1972.

Clemente’s close friend Luis Mayoral believes Clemente would have dedicated his post-baseball life to philanthropic work. “I see him as more of a sociologist, not necessarily a politician. He was trying to help people better themselves.”15

CLEMENTE THE ACTIVIST

Clemente wasn’t just a caring man who helped people. He was also a proud, fierce man who wasn’t afraid to make good, necessary trouble.

“Latin American Negro ballplayers are treated today much like all Negroes were treated in baseball in the early days of the broken color barrier,” Clemente told Sport magazine in 1962. “They are subjected to prejudices and stamped with generalizations. Because they speak Spanish among themselves, they are set off as a minority within a minority, and they bear the brunt of the sport’s remaining racial prejudices. ‘They’re all lazy, look for the easy way, the short cut’ is one charge. ‘They have no guts’ is another. There are more.”16

Clemente was a fearless counterpuncher. Speaking for his Latino major-league brethren, Pérez called him, “our leader.”17 Manny Mota, Clemente’s teammate from 1963 to 1968, agreed. “He didn’t permit injustices in regard to race. He was very vocal, and that was difficult. He was very misunderstood. But he would not accept injustices with Latins nor with players of color. He was always there to defend them.”18

In a 1983 article, Rod Carew, who grew up in Panama, complained that a decade after Clemente’s death, baseball still wasn’t doing enough to help Latino players adjust to life in the States. Aurelio Rodriguez of the Chicago White Sox believed the void left by Clemente was yet to be filled. “We need somebody to speak for us but not just to talk. The thing about Clemente is that he had something to say.”19

Bias in American culture is endemic and complex. Today’s bigotry may not always be as overt or malicious as that which confronted Clemente; in many cases, the bias may not even be conscious. But it is still there.

Even well into the twenty-first century, broadcasters and scouts frequently use coded, stereotyped language to describe the abilities of Latino players.20 When a Black or Latino player celebrates a home run or a strikeout with too much exuberance, he still may hear a lecture about “playing the game the right way,” which is to say, the White way.

In 2016, a Houston Chronicle columnist quoted the Astros’ Carlos Gómez, a nonnative English speaker, without cleaning up his grammar, a courtesy typically extended to all players.21 It was the same kind of thing that infuriated Clemente 50 years earlier, when writers would directly quote his “broken English,” thus reducing this highly intelligent and thoughtful man to sounding, in print, like a buffoon.

“I know how he felt,” said Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo in 2021. “I came to the States with no English at all. So, I know what the English barrier does, not knowing what people are telling you and stuff. I’ve gone through all that.”22

Clemente didn’t restrict himself to issues solely germane to Latin American players. As an admirer of Martin Luther King Jr., Clemente was sensitive to all the bitter flavors of injustice. “Our conversations always stemmed around people from all walks of life being able to get along well, or no excuse why that shouldn’t be,” said Pirates teammate Al Oliver. “He had a problem with people who treated you differently because of where you were from, your nationality, your color, also poor people, how they were treated.”23

After King’s assassination in April 1968, Clemente led a group of Pirates who refused to take the field on Opening Day, which fell the day before King was to be buried. “[W]hen Martin Luther King died, they come and ask the Negro players if we should play,” he said. “I say, ‘If you have to ask Negro players, then we do not have a great country.’”24 The Pirates’ protest led Commissioner William Eckert to postpone all games until April 10.

A year later, at a meeting of the executive committee of the Major League Baseball Players Association, Curt Flood announced his plans to sue Major-League Baseball to end the reserve clause. Other players greeted the news with skepticism, even ridicule – until Clemente piped up. He spoke with passion of how the reserve clause limited his earning potential and chained him to a city where, although he was beloved, he frequently encountered ignorance and prejudice. As author Brad Snyder put it, “The tenor of the meeting soon shifted from whether the players would back Flood, to how.”25

Today’s generation of Latinos in baseball doesn’t talk much about Clemente’s role as an activist. His humanitarian activities overshadow his harder-edged and more challenging political side. Nonetheless, that part of Clemente likely will never be extinguished completely.

A video clip of Clemente thanking his parents in Spanish following the Pirates’ World Series victory in 1971 resonates with Alex Cora. Cora hadn’t even been born yet, but Clemente’s message was timeless. “On national television, he asked for a moment to speak Spanish. No one does that,” Cora said in 2021. “He taught us resolve and conviction. In many ways, he showed the world that we have to fight for what we believe in and we have to stand up for our rights, and he did it the right way.”26

“I think Roberto would be disappointed with what’s going on in today’s society,” mused Starling Marte, who got to know some of Clemente’s former teammates and his sons while with the Pirates from 2012 to 2019. “He was the kind of guy that was fighting against all the hatred and injustice that’s happening today. Today, current players are still fighting, though. We’re using his spirit. Even though he’s not here today, it’s important to continue to fight for equality and justice, the way he would have.”27

Pittsburgh sportscaster Sam Nover had a different perspective than Luis Mayoral about where Clemente’s road would have taken him after baseball. “He would have run for political office. He would have been the Puerto Rican equivalent to someone like Kennedy.”28

CLEMENTE THE DEITY

The metaphors that players use to describe Clemente suggest he has almost transformed from a flesh-and-blood person who actually walked this earth to a sacred, almost otherworldly symbol.

Pedro Martinez: “Clemente is beyond everything we can think of.… Kind of like an angel that God had here for the perfect time.”29

Benjie Molina (Yadier’s brother): “In many houses when I was growing up, including ours, the portraits of two famous men hung in honored spots among the family photos: Jesus and Roberto Clemente.”30

Carlos Beltrán: “Even though he passed away a long time ago, he is still alive.”31

Orlando Merced: “I feel as if I knew him. He has that look that speaks to you. He’s like Elvis. He’s still alive.”32

For Puerto Rican players in particular, Clemente’s uniform number 21 has taken on sacramental qualities. For most, that number has been strictly off-limits. A 2019 New York Times article noted that since Clemente’s death, 235 Puerto Rican-born players had appeared in the major leagues, but only 16 had worn the number 21 – and none of them in the previous five seasons.

“No Puerto Ricans will use that number because of Roberto Clemente,” insisted Carlos Correa.33

When Beltrán joined the Cardinals in 2012, his preferred number, 15, was taken. He told the equipment manager, “‘Man, I don’t want 21.’ I feel like – I cannot touch that number. It’s like, no, no, not 21. That’s something I want to leave.”34

Eddie Rosario remembers being a kid in Guayama, Puerto Rico, and backpedaling even then when a youth coach offered him that number. “I’m not Roberto Clemente. I can’t wear that,” he thought.35

“You can use it to honor him or you can see it as something you don’t want to touch, because the way he carried the No. 21 is hard for another player to do in the same way,” according to Beltrán. “It’s not impossible, but it’ll be really hard. You’ll always have that shadow of Clemente, and many players avoid using that.”36

One player willing to shoulder that burden was Carlos Delgado, who wore 21 in 1996 with Toronto and again from 2006 to 2009 with the New York Mets. “I thought he was so important that this was a way to recognize him. I understand the other side of the coin, not using the number to honor him, but as long as you honor his memory and his career, I think it’s O.K.”37

Delgado has done just that, as a humanitarian and activist. In 2004 he protested the United States’ military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan by refusing to stand for the playing of “God Bless America” during the seventh-inning stretch. “As an athlete, you have a platform with a lot of followers. You can push positive things, you can push movements and support movements.”38

Beginning in 2020, Major League Baseball has invited all players, coaches, and managers of Puerto Rican descent to wear 21 to commemorate Roberto Clemente Day, which is celebrated around the league each September 15.

“It’s a blessing to be able to wear his number on a day like that,” according to Lindor. “It’s super special. It shows our roots.”39

“Obviously, this jersey is going to be in a special place in my house,” said Javier Baez after he wore 21 in 2020.40

The Mets’ Edwin Diaz is one of many who has called for 21 to be retired across the league. “It would be a tremendous honor if they did retire the number 21,” he told reporters. “Obviously, in the history of the game, there have been a lot of number 21s, but I think he trumps them all. You look at his numbers on the field and they are there, but also what he was able to do off the field and all the people he was able to help, not only in Puerto Rico but in every other country he used to help out in.”41

For the true believers, seeing and interacting with the personal effects housed in the Clemente Museum is almost like receiving the Eucharist. Through those artifacts, they absorb a small part of Clemente’s legendary spirit.

Albert Pujols was the first active major leaguer to visit the museum, in April 2007, less than a year after it opened. Word spread within baseball’s Latin American community, and now museum founder and curator Duane Rieder finds himself giving private tours all summer. “It all depends on the major-league schedule, but if they are in for four days, I’m getting them. For some of these guys, it’s a ritual.”42

Dave Martinez, who was raised in New York by Puerto Rican parents, led a busload of his Washington Nationals players to the museum in 2021. “I got great feedback from our young guys, especially our Latin guys, that went. They loved it,” Martinez said. “It was awesome to just kind of communicate with them [about] what they enjoyed, what it meant for them to see something like that, and they all started talking about it.”43

Few players who visit the museum arrive completely ignorant about Clemente. “To give you an example of what kind of an impact he had on Puerto Rico and the game of baseball, even in the schools they teach about Roberto Clemente,” according to Victor Caratini of the San Diego Padres. “We had sections [of the curriculum] entirely dedicated to him and what he did not only [in] baseball, but [on] the humanitarian side of things.”44

But there is so much more to learn, as Martín Maldonado discovered when he visited as a member of the Milwaukee Brewers. “That’s when I got shocked,” Maldonado remembered. “I never knew he served in the military. They told him about a movie and he was going to be the guy that had to [hit into a triple play]. He told the guy he wasn’t going to do the movie because he doesn’t [hit into triple plays.] That was one of the most impressive things I’ve ever heard.”45

“When you grow up, you think a lot about Clemente,” said the Nationals’ Luis García. “Everybody says that name in the Dominican. You go to Google and you put in Roberto Clemente and you see the photo, you see the biography – you only see that. But when you go to the museum, it’s very different. You feel that.”46

Rieder recalled when Yadier Molina brought Puerto Rican hip-hop legend Daddy Yankee to get schooled. It was Molina’s third or fourth trip, so he knew what to expect. Daddy Yankee is known for his humanitarian work and, as it happens, was once a promising baseball player, but his knowledge of Clemente didn’t run deep until that visit.

“I remember looking at Yadi’s face and he was giggling, and then I looked at Daddy’s face and his mouth is open,” Rieder remembered. “He goes, ‘Wow. I didn’t know any of this stuff. Keep going.’ Yadi was in the background saying, ‘Let him have it. Tell him all the stories.’ Two hours later, we’re still there and I am still telling him the story.

“He goes, ‘I gotta apologize. I didn’t know any of this.’ And Yadi is there snickering in the background. It was one of those beautiful moments.”47

After players visit a couple of times, they acquire their own favorite stories. “The third time he was there, Pujols was translating [what I was saying] into Spanish to some of the guys,” Rieder said. “[That] was really cool, just to see him getting so excited about being there and seeing new things and learning more. Because the story is still evolving. We’re still finding out new stuff constantly.”48

Rieder does something unusual when he shows the players around – he lets them touch things.

“I got to touch the Rawlings spikes [Clemente] wore when he used to run down fly balls in right field,” wrote Carlos Beltrán. “I got to hold the bats he used to get some of his 3,000 hits. I got to run my fingers across the stitching of the number 21 on the back of a jersey he actually wore in a game. I never felt closer to my hero than I did that night.”49

“I want to give them the mojo,” laughed Rieder. It is almost as big a thrill for him as it is for the players. “I let them swing a bat that he actually touched and they get goose bumps. Carlos Beltrán wanted to put Clemente’s cleats on his wife because she was Puerto Rican. He put the cleats on her and the oversized jersey and she was getting teary-eyed. Those moments go a long way.”50

On a 2018 visit, a group of Chicago Cubs was admiring a suit that Clemente wore to the 1971 All-Star Game. With its wide lapels and head-turning black, white, and silver pattern, the suit was a relic from the era of mod fashion, yet somehow still contemporary and cool. Rieder noticed that Javier Baez was roughly the same size as Clemente and offered to let him wear the suit jacket.

“I put the jacket on him and he was just freaking out,” Rieder recalled. “He was sending video to his family in Puerto Rico and he did an Instagram post that went all over.”51 ESPN’s Eduardo Pérez arranged to have Baez wear the jacket at the Home Run Derby. He rocked it so well that Topps used an image of Baez in the jacket on his 2019 baseball card.

“We’re getting this whole generation of young players hooked on Clemente,” said Rieder. “It’s so awesome. They don’t know much when they come, but they do when they leave.”52

“I think it’s important for them to learn the history,” explained Dave Martinez. “[T]he battles that he had to fight, I think it’s important for them to understand that, and what it meant for him to play the game, and what it means to each individual now to represent and play the game.”53

Ozzie Guillen, then the manager of the White Sox, once ignited a small brush fire when he suggested that Clemente was only the third-best baseball player from Puerto Rico, behind Roberto Alomar and Ivan Rodriguez.54 Talk like that is almost heretical; however, Guillen, who named a son after Clemente and boasts a vast collection of Clemente memorabilia, understands that the emotional connection Latin American players have with Clemente has relatively little to do with his statistics.

Yes, Clemente’s baseball skills merit respect and his humanitarian efforts command admiration. And, of course, he died in service of his personal mission. But he also is venerated, in no small part, because of his refusal to kneel to a culture that even today can be cold, condescending, and cruel.

“He lived racism. He was a man who was happy to be not only Puerto Rican, but Latin American,” said Guillen. “He let people know that. And that is something that is very important for all of us.”55

 

Notes

1 Patrick Reddington, “Washington Nationals News & Notes: Davey Martinez on Roberto Clemente Day; Resting Young Players, and Watching Young Players,” SB Nation: Federal Baseball, September 16, 2021, ht​tps:/​/www.​feder​albas​eball​.com/​2021/​9/16/​22675​978/w​ashin​gton-​natio​nals-​news-​davey​-mart​inez-​rober​to-cl​ement​e-day​-rest​ing-y​oung-​playe​rs-lu​is-ga​rcia.

2 Charlie Vascellaro, “My Clemente: Manny Sanguillen,” La Vida Baseball, June 19, 2017, h​ttps:​//www​.lavi​dabas​eball​.com/​manny​-sang​uille​n-rob​erto-​cleme​nte/.

3 Danny Torres, interview with Tony Pérez, Talkin’ 21 Podcast, podcast audio, October 2020, h​ttps:​//ope​n.spo​tify.​com/e​pisod​e/1uP​gRBs5​rrcj6​o7x24​UJQQ?​si=TO​ejy34​cTyql​agYwO​YXC​jw.

4 Torres interview.

5 “Edgar Martinez Tours Hall of Fame, Reflects on His Baseball Journey and Childhood Idol,” Seattle Times, July 11, 2019, h​ttps:​//www​.seat​tleti​mes.c​om/sp​orts/​marin​ers/e​dgar-​marti​nez-t​ours-​hall-​of-fa​me-re​flect​s-on-​his-b​aseba​ll-jo​urney​-and-​child​hood-​idol/.

6 Julia Kreuz, “What Roberto Clemente Day Means for Blue Jays with Puerto Rican Roots,” Yahoo! Sports, September 16, 2021, h​ttps:​//new​s.yah​oo.co​m/mlb​-what​-robe​rto-c​lemen​te-da​y-mea​ns-fo​r-blu​e-jay​s-fro​m-pue​rto-r​ico-1​80047​013.h​tml?f​r=syc​srp_c​atc​hall.

7 Julia O’Connell, “The Huddle: Baseball’s Unwritten Rules & Roberto Clemente,” Global Sport Matters, August 22, 2020, h​ttps:​//glo​balsp​ortma​tters​.com/​liste​n/202​0/08/​22/th​e-hud​dle-b​aseba​lls-u​nwrit​ten-r​ules-​rober​to-cl​eme​nte/.

8 R.J. Anderson, “MLB Celebrates Roberto Clemente Day as Players Wear No. 21, Call for Number to Be Retired,” C​BSSpo​rts.​com, September 9, 2020. h​ttps:​//www​.cbss​ports​.com/​mlb/n​ews/m​lb-ce​lebra​tes-r​obert​o-cle​mente​-day-​as-pl​ayers​-wear​-no-2​1-cal​l-for​-numb​er-to​-be-r​et​ired/.

9 Mandy Bell, “Lindor on Clemente’s No. 21: ‘Super Special,” M​LB.​com, September 7, 2020, h​ttps:​//www​.mlb.​com/n​ews/f​ranci​sco-l​indor​-21-r​obert​o-cle​mente​-day.

10 Bell.

11 “Cardinals Catcher Wins Roberto Clemente Award,” E​SPN.​com, October 24, 2018, h​ttps:​//www​.espn​.com/​mlb/s​tory/​_/id/​25072​934/c​ardin​als-y​adier​-moli​na-wi​ns-ro​berto​-clem​ente-​award.

12 Jorge Ortiz, “Clemente’s Impact Wanes in Puerto Rico 40 Years After His Death,” USA Today, December 27, 2012, h​ttps:​//www​.usat​oday.​com/s​tory/​sport​s/mlb​/2012​/12/2​7/rob​erto-​cleme​nte-4​0th-a​nnive​rsary​-deat​h-pla​ne-cr​ash-p​uerto​-rico​-pira​tes-h​umani​taria​n/179​4453/.

13 Do-Hyoung Park and Anthony Castrovince, “Nelson Cruz Wins Roberto Clemente Award,” ML​B.​com, October 27, 2021, h​ttps:​//www​.mlb.​com/n​ews/n​elson​-cruz​-wins​-2021​-robe​rto-c​lemen​te-​awa​rd.

14 Chris Cotillo, “Why Are Boston Red Sox Players, Coaches Wearing No. 21? Kiké Hernández, Alex Cora, and Others Honoring Clemente,” M​assli​ve.​com, September 15, 2021, h​ttps:​//www​.mass​live.​com/r​edsox​/2021​/09/w​hy-ar​e-bos​ton-r​ed-so​x-pla​yers-​coach​es-we​aring​-no-2​1-kik​e-her​nande​z-ale​x-cor​a-and​-othe​rs-ho​norin​g-rob​erto-​cleme​nte.​html.

15 Gene Collier, “Pride and Petulance,” The Sporting News, December 28, 1992: 34-36.

16 Howard Cohn, “Roberto Clemente’s Problem,” Sport, May 1962: 54-56.

17 Danny Torres, interview with Tony Pérez.

18 George Diaz, “Clemente 30 Years After His Tragic Death, the Influence of baseball’s First Hispanic Superstar Is Stronger Than Ever,” Orlando Sentinel, March 31, 2002, h​ttps:​//www​.orla​ndose​ntine​l.com​/news​/os-x​pm-20​02-03​-31-0​20330​0030-​story​.ht​ml.

19 Robert Heuer, “Clemente’s Legacy for Latin Ballplayers,” New York Times, January 2, 1983: Sec 5, 2.

20 Adam Felder and Seth Amitin, “How MLB Announcers Favor American Players Over Foreign Ones,” The Atlantic, August 27, 2012, h​ttps:​//www​.thea​tlant​ic.co​m/ent​ertai​nment​/arch​ive/2​012/0​8/how​-mlb-​annou​ncers​-favo​r-ame​rican​-play​ers-o​ver-f​oreig​n-one​s/26​1265/; Alex Speier, “How Racial Bias Can Seep Into Scouting Reports,” Boston Globe, June 10, 2020, h​ttps:​//www​.bost​onglo​be.co​m/202​0/06/​10/sp​orts/​how-r​acial​-bias​-can-​seep-​into-​baseb​all-s​couti​ng-re​por​ts/.

21 Craig Calcaterra, “Houston Chronicle Editor Apologizes for Column about Carlos Gomez,” N​BCSpo​rts.​com, May 16, 2016, h​ttps:​//mlb​.nbcs​ports​.com/​2016/​05/16​/hous​ton-c​hroni​cle-e​ditor​-apol​ogies​-for-​colum​n-abo​ut-ca​rlos-​gom​ez/.

22 Kreuz, “What Roberto Clemente Day Means for Blue Jays with Puerto Rican Roots.”

23 David Maraniss, “No Gentle Saint,” T​heUnd​efeat​ed.​com, May 31, 2016, h​ttps:​//the​undef​eated​.com/​featu​res/r​obert​o-cle​mente​-was-​a-fie​rce-c​ritic​-of-b​oth-b​aseba​ll-an​d-ame​rican​-soci​ety/.

24 Phil Musick, “Intense Pride Still Rages in Roberto Clemente,” Pittsburgh Press, July 28, 1969: 24.

25 Brad Snyder, A Well-Paid Slave: Curt Flood’s Fight for Free Agency in Professional Sports (New York: Penguin Publishing Group, 2006), 79.

26 Nathalie Alonso, “Clemente Continued What Robinson Started,” MLB.​com, December 15, 2021, h​ttps:​//www​.mlb.​com/n​ews/r​obert​o-cle​mente​-day-​celeb​rated​-for-​2021.

27 Jerry Crasnick, “Roberto Remembered,” M​LBPla​yers.​com, accessed January 13, 2022, h​ttps:​//www​.mlbp​layer​s.com​/robe​rto-r​ememb​ered.

28 Danny Torres, “Rare Interview Sets Tone for Roberto Clemente’s Legacy,” Metsmerized Online, September 9, 2020, h​ttps:​//met​smeri​zedon​line.​com/2​020/0​9/rar​e-int​ervie​w-set​s-ton​e-for​-robe​rto-c​lemen​tes-l​egacy​-2.​html/.

29 “What Roberto Clemente Means to Pedro Martinez,” La Vida Baseball, September 17, 2019, h​ttps:​//www​.lavi​dabas​eball​.com/​pedro​-mart​inez-​my-cl​eme​nte/.

30 Bengie Molina with Joan Ryan, Molina: The Story of the Father Who Raised an Unlikely Baseball Dynasty (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2015), 26.

31 Derrick Gould, “Beltran Strives to Follow in Clemente’s Footsteps,” S​tltod​ay.​com, September 2, 2013, h​ttps:​//www​.stlt​oday.​com/s​ports​/base​ball/​profe​ssion​al/be​ltran​-stri​ves-t​o-fol​low-i​n-cle​mente​s-foo​tstep​s/art​icle_​ab563​518-2​176-5​8b2-b​de0-2​89384​b39cc​c.​html.

32 Steve Wulf, “December 31: ¡Arriba Roberto!” Sports Illustrated, accessed November 28, 2021, ht​tps:/​/vaul​t.si.​com/v​ault/​1992/​12/28​/dece​mber-​31-ar​riba-​rober​to-on​-new-​years​-eve-​in-19​72-ro​berto​-clem​ente-​under​took-​a-mis​sion-​of-me​rcy-h​is-de​ath-t​hat-n​ight-​immor​taliz​ed-hi​m-as-​a-man​-grea​ter-t​han-h​is-g​ame.

33 James Wagner, “For Many Latino players, Roberto Clemente’s Number Is Off Limits, Too,” New York Times, April 17, 2019: Sec B, 9.

34 Gould.

35 Wagner.

36 Wagner.

37 Wagner.

38 Jorge Castillo, “Remembering Roberto Clemente as a Black Man Who Fought Against Racial Injustice,” Los Angeles Times, September 8, 2020, h​ttps:​//www​.lati​mes.c​om/sp​orts/​dodge​rs/st​ory/2​020-0​9-08/​rober​to-cl​ement​e-fou​ght-r​acial​-inju​stice.

39 Castillo.

40 Anderson.

41 Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo), “It Would Be a Tremendous Honor if [MLB] Did Retire the Number 21,” September 9, 2020, h​ttps:​//twi​tter.​com/A​nthon​yDiCo​mo/st​atus/​13037​99232​86913​0247.

42 Duane Rieder, telephone interview with author, January 13, 2022.

43 Reddington, “Davey Martinez on Roberto Clemente Day.”

44 Barry Bloom, “Puerto Rican Players Pushing MLB to Retire Clemente’s Number,” Global Sport Matters, July 8, 2019, h​ttps:​//glo​balsp​ortma​tters​.com/​cultu​re/20​19/07​/08/p​uerto​-rica​n-pla​yers-​pushi​ng-ml​b-to-​retir​e-cle​mente​s-num​ber/.

45 Chandler Rome, “What Roberto Clemente Means to Astros Catcher Martin Maldonado,” Houston Chronicle, September 9, 2020, h​ttps:​//www​.hous​tonch​ronic​le.co​m/tex​as-sp​orts-​natio​n/ast​ros/a​rticl​e/Rob​erto-​Cleme​nte-m​eans-​Astro​s-Mar​tin-M​aldon​ado-1​55554​51.​php.

46 Jessica Camerato, “Nats Take ‘Amazing’ Trip to Clemente Museum,” MLB.​com, September 15, 2021, h​ttps:​//www​.mlb.​com/n​ews/n​ation​als-v​isit-​rober​to-cl​ement​e-mus​eum-i​n-pit​tsbu​rgh.

47 Rieder interview.

48 Rieder interview.

49 Carlos Beltrán, “How We Play Baseball in Puerto Rico,” The Players’ Tribune, June 1, 2016, h​ttps:​//www​.thep​layer​strib​une.c​om/ar​ticle​s/201​6-5-3​1-car​los-b​eltra​n-yan​kees-​puert​o-ric​o-rob​erto-​cleme​nte.

50 Rieder interview.

51 Rieder interview.

52 Rieder interview.

53 Reddington, “Davey Martinez on Roberto Clemente Day.”

54 “ChiSox’s Guillen Creates Controversy with Clemente Talk,” ESPN.​com, April 8, 2008, h​ttps:​//www​.espn​.com/​mlb/n​ews/s​tory?​id=33​367​75.

55 Diaz, “Clemente 30 Years After His Tragic Death.”