Roberto Clemente was almost a Brooklyn Dodger. The man could have played in the same lineup as Duke Snider, Pee Wee Reese, Jackie Robinson, Carl Furillo, Roy Campanella and later, as a Los Angeles Dodger, with Frank Howard, Willie Davis, Maury Wills, and Tommy Davis.
It didn’t happen. In early 1954, Clemente, a native of Carolina, Puerto Rico, was signed as an unprotected bonus baby by the Brooklyn Dodgers. During the 1954 season, Clemente played for the Dodgers’ Triple-A farm team in Montreal. However, the youngster saw little action. The Pirates had an interest in Clemente. The Dodger brass knew it and Clemente played sparingly. He hit in batting practice with the pitchers and Dodger coaches ran down Clemente’s prospects when in conversation with scouts from rival teams. It didn’t work. Pirates scouts had already seen Clemente play in fielding drills. They made him their first pick in the November 1954 rookie draft.
For Clemente, it was off to Pittsburgh. He was a 12-time All Star, the National League’s Most Valuable Player in 1966 and a four-time batting champion, winning the title in 1961, 1964, 1965 and 1967. In the field, Clemente won 12 consecutive Gold Glove awards. Clemente was a top star in an era that included such greats as Ted Williams, Stan Musial, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, and Henry Aaron.
Clemente played on the 1960 “Beat ‘Em Bucs” squad, which upset the New York Yankees in that year’s World Series, thanks to the dramatic game seven, ninth-inning home run by Bill Mazeroski. It would be another 11 years before the Pirates made it back into the Fall Classic. Clemente made the most of it. In 1971, the Pirates won the National League pennant. In the World Series, they were underdogs against the Baltimore Orioles, the defending World Champions who boasted a starting rotation with four 20-game winners. At age 37, Clemente stole the show. He batted .414, knocking out 12 hits in seven games and homering in the decisive 2-1 Game Seven win at Baltimore over the Birds. Clemente was named Series MVP, accepting the award in an emotional, nationally-televised interview.
The next year, Clemente would cap his Hall of Fame career by belting his 3,000th hit, a double on the last day of the regular season. Then tragedy struck. On New Year Eve’s 1972, Clemente organized a relief program for Nicaraguan residents victimized by an earthquake. Tragically, the cargo plane
