Roberto Clemente was born in Carolina, Puerto Rico on August 18th 1934. From his early childhood Roberto showed signs of great athletic ability. At school, he won regional competitions, once tossing the javelin 190 feetthe world record in 1953 was just over 263 feet. He was also very fast on the track competing in both sprinting and hurdling events.
But baseball was his passion.
At the age of 14, little more than a boy, Clemente played softball with men on the Sello Rojo team, sponsored by a large rice-processing company. He quickly moved up to a very competitive amateur baseball league, playing for a team known as Ferdinand Juncos.
Roberto's mother wanted him to seek a career in engineering and hoped he would pursue the profession. But in 1952, before he finished high school, Roberto was offered a professional baseball contract. Engineering would have to wait.
At age 18, Clemente made the huge leap from amateur status to the Puerto Rican professional league. He signed with the Santurce Cangrejeros in 1952 for $40 per week, with a signing bonus of $400. The Cangrejeros were good. Although Roberto played sparingly, they won the Puerto Rican championship in his rookie year. In his is second year (1953-54), Roberto was able to concentrate on his growing skills by playing every day. His game improved. He hit a respectable .288 for the season and attracted the attention of major league scouts.
In February of 1954, Clemente signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers and reported for duty to their top minor league team, the Montreal Royals. The man who signed Clemente, scout Al Campanis, had pleaded with Dodger management to place him on the major league roster right away. Otherwise, Roberto might be lost to another major league team after only one season. The Dodgers would come to regret their decision.
After a disappointing season in Canada, Clemente returned to Santurce to play in the winter league of 1954-55. The Cangrejeros brought together a constellation of stars headed by Willie Mays. They leveled the competition in Puerto Rico and went on to win the Caribbean World Series. Dubbed "Murderers Row" and "Escuadrón del Pánico (The Panic Squad)," the 54-55 Cangrejeros are considered by many to be the best Caribbean baseball team of all time.
Playing in left field and batting second in the lineup, Roberto was one of only four Puerto Ricans on the team. He responded to the challenge by hitting a stellar .
baseball team. R.A. Dickey tells the story in an informal, conversational writing style written in
The great Babe Ruth was born on February 6, 1895 in Baltimore, Maryland, originally born with the name of George Herman Ruth Jr. When Babe was a kid, he went to St. Mary’s Catholic school. When Babe was at this school, Babe discovered the game of baseball and quickly found his passion for baseball. Babe becamed very skilled at the game of baseball and people started noticing him,
Roberto Clemente Walker was born in Barrio San Anton in Carolina, Puerto Rico, August 18, 1934. He was the youngest of four children. He stood 5 feet and 11 inches tall, and he weighed 175 pounds. Roberto excelled in track and field, winning medals in the javelin throw and short distance races. However, his real love was baseball. He played amateur baseball with Juncos Double A Club and soon went on to play with the Santurce Crabbers in the Puerto Rican Winter League. From Santurce he signed with Montreal's Triple A team. Clemente joined the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1955, where he played his entire eighteen year Major League Baseball career from 1955 to 1972. Roberto played in two World Series, batting .310 in 1960 and .414 in 1971. He was the National League Batting
In 1947 Branch Rickey of the Brooklyn Dodgers desperately wanted Robinson to play for him and his team. He would become the first black MLB player since 1889 when baseball became discriminated. In his first year he was the Rookie of the Year. He debuted in the International League with the Montreal Royals. This the led to Branch’s interest in Robinson since he was considered one of the best players in the International League and considering it was his first time playing with white men.
Branch Rickey was the club president and general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, and had the secret goal of signing the Negro Leagues' top players to the team. Although there was no official ban on blacks in organized baseball, previous attempts at signing black ballplayers had been thwarted by league officials and rival clubs in the past, and so Rickey operated undercover. His scouts were told that they were seeking players for a new all-black league Rickey was forming; not even the scouts knew his true objective.
...stounding career batting average of .311, he retired shortly after the trade to the Giants on January 5, 1957.
In the two decades which Ted Williams played he was a baseball icon. His first season was extraordinary. As a rookie in 1939, Williams hit .327 and popped 31 home runs over the Fenway walls, giving Red Sox fans a glimpse of what they would see for years to come. He was quickly nicknamed The Splendid Splinter and The Kid commanding attention as a natural hitter (Wikipedia).
Jackie Robinson started playing baseball in 1947. He was the first player who played in the black man league and joined the white man team. He was used to playing in the Negro League and the style of play; it was a hard transition for Jackie to get used to the white man league. Jackie was the main symbol of hope to millions of people. He was with the dodgers and had the number forty two. He won most of his games being on base and doing his Negro style of playing. Jackie won six pennants in 10 seasons of playing baseball. He stole home 19 times with his trickery of running the bases. He was named MVP in 1949. Jackie led the league hitting 342 and stole 37 times while hitting 124 runs.
The highest paid baseball player in Major League Baseball history is a Latino. Alex Rodriguez signed a seven-year contract for two hundred and fifty-six million dollars in 2000. This not only made him the richest baseball player ever, but also the richest Latin American athlete in history. The signing of Alex Rodriguez proved that Latin American athletes deserved to sign big money contracts just like the other players.
...as handled by his courage were the first few years he was signed on to the Brooklyn Dodgers. In the interview between Jackie Robinson and Branch Rickey, Dodgers president, said to Robinson:
team of the American League. Ruth was paid a salary of $600 to play in the
Jackie Robinson was an amazing athlete. He played four sports and was named the region's Most Valuable Player in baseball in 1938, at a time when black people were not so readily accepted into the the sports world. With hard work and perseverance Jackie went to the University of California, in Los Angeles, where he became the university's first student to win varsity letters in four sports. Jackie was also a lieutenant in the U.S army, but he never saw combat. He then moved to Honolulu, Hawaii where he became a semi professional football player. After he was in the army he went to the Negro Leagues. During his time in the Negro Leagues, Branch Rickey, the general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, was looking to bring black prospects into Major League Baseball (MLB) to break the color barrier of
Back Back Back Back Back and GONE. This is what people heard many times when Jackie Robinson was up to bat whether they liked it or not. Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in the MLB in 1947 which changed the game of baseball forever (America’s). Jackie Robinson faced many hardships such as fans treating him harshly saying folderol while playing on the field, players treating him bad, and not having anywhere to sleep even though he was very athletic even at a very young age.
As a 20 year old youth in 1883, Billy played baseball in the lots of his neighborhood in Marshalltown, Iowa. One day the captain for the Chicago White Sox, A.C. Anson, was in the lots watching all the teenagers, young adults, and Billy Sunday playing baseball. Anson was so impressed with what he had seen in Billy’s baseball performance that Billy was signed unto the White Sox soon after.
After doing some research, I do consider Roberto Clemente a Visionary Leader. Not only was he a great baseball player, but he was also a great humanitarian. Roberto Clemente’s motto was “if you have a chance to help others and fail to do so you are wasting your time on this earth” (Biography.com, 2017). Roberto Clemente gave his life to this motto. On December 31, 1972, he boarded a plane to deliver food, clothing and medicine to the victims of a devastating earthquake in Nicaragua. He knew the plane was in bad shape but he still took that risk and got on it. According to the Thomas N. Barnes Center of Enlisted Education [BCEE] (2017c), “Courage should empower you to take necessary personal or professional risks” (p.16). Roberto