Remembering Roberto
FREEPORT — There is one place where baseball legend Roberto Clemente is more revered than in Pittsburgh — his native Puerto Rico.
“There have been a lot of good players from Puerto Rico, but nobody can compare to Clemente,” said Eddy Arroyo, manager of the Puerto Rican team that is competing this week at the Freeport International Baseball Invitational. “There are several former players from Puerto Rico who have baseball schools. They teach the game to young players and telling them who Clemente was and what he did is one of the things they do.”
Arroyo, 64, remembers being a fan of Clemente when the former was growing up in Puerto Rico.
“I was watching Clemente on television one time,” Arroyo said. “There was a runner on third base and Clemente made a diving catch in right field. The runner didn't budge (tag up) and I said to myself, 'Wow, this guy is pretty good.'”
Clemente's list of accomplishments on the field is long. He was named to the all-star game 15 times in his 18-year career (1955-72). He won 12 Gold Glove Awards, earned four National League batting titles and an N.L. MVP Award in 1966. Clemente also helped the Pirates to a pair of World Series titles (1960, 1971), collecting at least one hit in all 14 games. He is arguably the best defensive right fielder to ever play the game.
He died in a plane crash off the coast of Puerto Rico on New Year's Eve 1972 while attempting to bring relief supplies to earthquake victims in Nicaragua. He was enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame the following summer.
“The way he died made him larger than life,” said Arroyo. “It made him an idol at home. He was a good man.”
Clemente grew up in Carolina in the northeastern part of the island.
“Clemente's wife and sons funded a ballpark there (Roberto Clemente Stadium),” said Arroyo's wife, Jeannie. “The economy has been down the last few years and it's been tough to keep up with it, but it's still one of Puerto Rico's attractions.”
Arroyo last brought a team to Freeport in 1994.
“We went to a Pirates' game at Three Rivers Stadium and I still have the pictures of us standing in front of Clemente's statue,” he said.
It's a moment Arroyo hopes to relive and share with his players tonight when the team attends Pittsburgh's game against the Washington Nationals at PNC Park.
Arroyo's current squad is made up of 14 players ages 15-17 from several teams in Arecibo, an hour's drive west of Carolina.
Donations from local Puerto Rican businesses helped make this year's trip possible.
“I couldn't believe it when I heard they were coming again,” said Sonny Westerman, who is on the Board of Directors of the Freeport Invitational. “It's wonderful to have them back.”
“The year he (Clemente) died was the same year our daughter was born,” said Jeannie. “I associate things like that. Clemente is so huge in Pittsburgh and Eddy always remembered how well we were treated here before.”
