Editing Roberto Clemente (section)

{{short description|Puerto Rican baseball player (1934–1972)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2021}}
{{family name hatnote|Clemente|Walker|lang=Spanish}}
{{Infobox baseball biography
| name =  Roberto Clemente 
| image = Roberto Clemente 1965.jpg
| caption = Clemente with the Pirates {{circa|1961}}
| position = [[Right fielder]]
| bats = Right
| throws = Right
| birth_date = {{birth date|mf=yes|1934|8|18}}
| birth_place = [[San Antón, Carolina, Puerto Rico|Barrio San Antón]], [[Carolina, Puerto Rico]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|mf=yes|1972|12|31|1934|8|18}}
| death_place = Off the coast of [[Isla Verde, Puerto Rico]]
| debutleague = MLB
| debutdate = April 17
| debutyear = 1955
| debutteam = Pittsburgh Pirates
| finalleague = MLB
| finaldate = October 3
| finalyear = 1972
| finalteam = Pittsburgh Pirates
| statleague = MLB 
| stat1label = [[Batting average (baseball)|Batting average]]
| stat1value = .317
| stat2label = [[Hit (baseball)|Hits]]
| stat2value = 3,000
| stat3label = [[Home run]]s
| stat3value = 240
| stat4label = [[Run batted in|Runs batted in]]
| stat4value = 1,305
| teams =
* [[Pittsburgh Pirates]] ({{mlby|1955}}–{{mlby|1972}})
| highlights = 
* 15× <!--15 is correct; there were TWO All-Star Games held annually between 1959 and 1962.--> [[Major League Baseball All-Star Game|All-Star]] ([[1960 Major League Baseball All-Star Game (first game)|1960]]–[[1967 Major League Baseball All-Star Game|1967]], [[1969 Major League Baseball All-Star Game|1969]]–[[1972 Major League Baseball All-Star Game|1972]])
* 2× [[World Series champion]] ({{wsy|1960}}, {{wsy|1971}})
* [[NL MVP]] (1966)
* [[World Series MVP]] (1971)
* 12× [[Gold Glove Award]] (1961–1972)
* 4× [[List of Major League Baseball batting champions|NL batting champion]] (1961, 1964, 1965, 1967)
* [[Pittsburgh Pirates#Retired numbers|Pittsburgh Pirates No. 21]] retired
*[[Pittsburgh Pirates#Pirates Hall of Fame|Pittsburgh Pirates Hall of Fame]]
| hoflink = National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
| hoftype = National
| hofdate = [[1973 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting|1973]]
| hofvote = 92.7%
| hofmethod = Special Election
}}

'''Roberto Enrique Clemente Walker'''{{efn|Both a 1955 interview with Clemente and a 1994 interview with his wife Vera confirm that Clemente's full name includes the middle name, Enrique. The discrepancy in spelling – 1994's 'Enrique'  vs. 1955's E-n-r-i-'''''c'''''-q-u-e (as allegedly spelled out for the interviewer by Clemente) – is presumably due to a misunderstanding on the part of the ''Post-Gazette''{{'}}s non-Spanish-speaking interviewer, likely mistaking the word "Si" for the letter c.<ref>{{cite news|author=Abrams, Al |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=d5dRAAAAIBAJ&pg=1293%2C4057980 |title=Sidelight on Sports: A Baseball Star is Born |newspaper=[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]] |date=June 7, 1955}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=O'Brien, Jim |date=1994 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OjpZAAAAYAAJ&q=%22Roberto+Enrique+Clemente%22 |title=Remember Roberto: Clemente Recalled by Teammates, Family, Friends, and Fans |publisher=James P. O'Brien Publishing |page= 54 |isbn=0-916114-14-7}}</ref>}} ({{IPA|es|roˈβeɾto enˈrike kleˈmente (ɣ)walˈkeɾ}}; August 18, 1934 – December 31, 1972) was a Puerto Rican professional [[baseball]] player who played 18 seasons in [[Major League Baseball]] (MLB) for the [[Pittsburgh Pirates]], primarily as a [[right fielder]]. On December 31st, 1972, Clemente was killed when his Douglas DC-7 airplane, which he had chartered for a flight to take and deliver emergency relief goods for the survivors of a [[1972 Nicaragua earthquake|massive earthquake]] in [[Nicaragua]], crashed and plunged into the water off the coast of Isla Verde, Puerto Rico. He was 38 years old. After his sudden death, the [[National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum|National Baseball Hall of Fame]] changed its rules so that a player who had been dead for at least six months would be eligible for entry. In 1973, Clemente was posthumously inducted, becoming the first player from the Caribbean and second of Hispanic descent (after [[Lefty Gomez]] in 1972) to be honored in the Hall of Fame.<!-- Puerto Ricans are American citizens; it is not a Latin American country. -->

Born in [[Carolina, Puerto Rico]], Clemente was a track and field star and an [[Olympic Games|Olympic]] hopeful in his youth before deciding to turn his full attention to baseball. His professional career began at the age of eighteen, with the [[Cangrejeros de Santurce (baseball)|Cangrejeros de Santurce]] of the [[Puerto Rican Professional Baseball League]]. He quickly attracted the attention of the [[Brooklyn Dodgers]] who signed him to a bonus of $10,000. However, due to the [[bonus rule]] under which Clemente had signed and the Dodgers decision to send him to the minor leagues, they lost Clemente to the [[Pittsburgh Pirates]] who drafted him after the 1954 season.

Clemente was an [[Major League Baseball All-Star Game|All-Star]] for 13 seasons, selected to 15 All-Star Games. He was the [[National League (baseball)|National League]] (NL) [[MLB Most Valuable Player Award|Most Valuable Player]] (MVP) in 1966, the NL [[Batting title|batting leader]] in 1961, 1964, 1965, and 1967, and a [[Gold Glove Award]] winner for 12 consecutive seasons from 1961 through 1972. His [[batting average (baseball)|batting average]] was over .300 for 13 seasons and he had [[3,000 hit club|3,000 hits]] during his major league career. He also was a two-time [[List of World Series champions|World Series champion]]. Clemente was the first player from the Caribbean and Latin America to win a World Series as a starting position player (1960), to receive an NL MVP Award (1966), and to receive a [[World Series Most Valuable Player Award|World Series MVP Award]] (1971).

During the offseason, in addition to playing [[Winter league baseball|winter ball]] in Puerto Rico, Clemente was involved in charity work in Latin American and Caribbean countries. In 1972, he died in a [[1972 Puerto Rico DC-7 crash|plane crash]] at the age of 38 while en route to deliver aid to victims of the [[1972 Nicaragua earthquake|Nicaragua earthquake]]. The following season, the Pittsburgh Pirates retired his uniform number 21. In his honor, Major League baseball renamed the Commissioner's Award, given to the player who "best exemplifies the game of baseball, sportsmanship, community involvement and the individual's contribution to his team", to the [[Roberto Clemente Award]].