Major league baseball great Roberto Clemente was born on this day in history, Aug. 18, 1934.
Clemente’s mother, Luisa Walker, gave birth to her son in Barrio San Anton, Carolina, in Puerto Rico, according to the Roberto Clemente Foundation.
The child grew up loading trucks for his father, Melchor Clemente, on a sugarcane plantation before joining the Puerto Rican Professional Baseball League at just 17 years old.
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Clemente had always been athletic — he excelled at the high jump and the javelin throw at Vizcarrondo High School, the foundation noted on its website.
Roberto Clemente of the Cangrejeros de Santurce circa 1952 in Puerto Rico. (Sporting News via Getty Images)
Even though there was conversation around Clemente’s eligibility for the Olympics, he was most passionate about baseball.
Clemente was praised for his powerful throwing arm.
It was often described by commentators as a “rifle” or “weapon” for its “laser precision,” the Roberto Clemente Foundation wrote.
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In 1954, Clemente was scouted by the Brooklyn Dodgers minor league team.
He was offered a $5,000 salary with a $10,000 bonus to sign.
Thousands turned out at the airport to welcome Major League Baseball stars Orlando Cepeda and Robert Clemente on their return home, but the No. 1 fan turned out to be their mothers in both cases. Clemente, Pittsburgh’s National League batting champ, is shown here receiving a warm parental hug in October 1961 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. (Getty Images)
Clemente’s father made a public announcement in a local newspaper that his son would be attending engineering school if he was not paid sufficiently, the foundation reported.
The Atlanta Braves took this as an opportunity to offer Clemente a higher offer at $30,000.
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But Clemente took his mother’s advice to sign with whomever he first gave his word — and so 18-year-old Clemente signed with the Dodgers.
After moving on to play an international season with the Montreal Royals, Clemente made his major league debut in 1955 as a right fielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
A closeup of Roberto Clemente of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1966. (Getty Images)
With the Pirates, Clemente would receive his iconic “21” jersey in which he went on to set MLB records throughout the 1960s, according to his foundation.
Clemente capped his baseball career with two World Series wins, a National League MVP award, 12 Gold Gloves and four batting titles.
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He was also the first Latin American player to join the 3,000-hit club, according to Biography — with a lifetime batting average of .317.
Clemente took great pride in representing Puerto Rico and larger Latin America during the era of segregation and Jim Crow, his foundation detailed on its website.
In December 1972, Nicaragua was rocked by one of the world’s deadliest earthquakes, killing about 5,000 people, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
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Clemente insisted on accompanying a shipment of supplies over to the scene of the disaster after his original shipment had been lost.
The Roberto Clemente statue outside Three Rivers Stadium is shown on Oct. 16, 1994, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)
On Dec. 31, 1972, Clemente boarded a flight that was overloaded.
The plane crashed into the ocean off the coast of San Juan immediately after takeoff.
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Clemente’s body was never found but his legacy lives on.
He was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame the year after his death — becoming the first Latino to be so honored.
