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A legend’s legacy

In Roberto Clemente’s hometown of Carolina, Puerto Rico, a 30-foot long, 7½-foot-high sculpture depicts a series of scenes from his life.

In Roberto Clemente’s hometown of Carolina, Puerto Rico, a 30-foot long, 7½-foot-high sculpture depicts a series of scenes from his life, ending with his widow holding the plaque for his induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

David Maraniss begins with this image and brings the stone sculpture to life through this engaging biography.

This is a history of Clemente, who joined American baseball in the 1950s long before Latino players became the norm. The book traces the rise of the right-fielder with the amazing arm and aggressive batting style as it paralleled the rise of his team, the Pittsburgh Pirates from the bottom of the heap to two World Series wins in 1960 and 1971.

Although there’s plenty of "inside baseball" coverage, it’s never overwhelming, even to this reader, a non-baseball fan who was born just months before Clemente died.

A look at his family shows how Clemente got his nickname "Momen" as a child: "He was pensive, intelligent and could not be rushed. He wanted to know how and why. His most common phrase was "Momentito, momentito," when he was interrupted or asked to do something."

Some of the most poignant moments detail Clemente’s fury at the discrimination he faced in the United States as a Black Latino. There was the mocking phonetic spelling that sportswriters used when quoting Clemente as he struggled to learn English and the times when he was forced to wait on the bus until his teammates brought his food from a Whites-only restaurant.

Maraniss, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, elucidates Clemente’s often misunderstood character through countless interviews with both baseball insiders and family. His research skills give laser-like focus to the final chapters, showing how corruption and negligence led to Clemente’s death in a plane crash while on a mission to deliver food and medical supplies to Nicaragua after a devastating earthquake. Clemente died at 38, just months after getting his 3,000th hit at his last at-bat.

Clemente:
The Passion and Grace of Baseball’s Last Hero

By David Maraniss

(401 pp. Simon & Schuster, $26)