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

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Anyone who saw Clemente, as he played with a beautiful fury, will never forget him. He was a work of art in a game too often defined by statistics. During his career with the Pittsburgh Pirates, he won four batting titles and led his team to championships in 1960 and 1971, getting a hit in all fourteen World Series games in which he played. His career ended with three-thousand hits, the magical three-thousandth coming in his final at-bat, and he and the immortal Lou Gehrig are the only players to have the five-year waiting period waived so they could be enshrined in the Hall of Fame immediately after their deaths.

There is delightful baseball here, including thrilling accounts of the two World Series victories of Clemente's underdog Pittsburgh Pirates, but this is far more than just another baseball book. Roberto Clemente was that rare athlete who rose above sports to become a symbol of larger themes. Born near the canebrakes of rural Carolina, Puerto Rico, on August 18, 1934, at a time when there were no blacks or Puerto Ricans playing organized ball in the United States, Clemente went on to become the greatest Latino player in the major leagues. He was, in a sense, the Jackie Robinson of the Spanish-speaking world, a ballplayer of determination, grace, and dignity who paved the way and set the highest standard for waves of Latino players who followed in later generations and who now dominate the game.

The Clemente that Maraniss evokes was an idiosyncratic character who, unlike so many modern athletes, insisted that his responsibilities extended beyond the playing field. In his final years, his motto was that if you have a chance to help others and fail to do so, you are wasting your time on this earth. Here, in the final chapters, after capturing Clemente's life and times, Maraniss retraces his final days, from the earthquake to the accident, using newly uncovered documents to reveal the corruption and negligence that led the unwitting hero on a mission of mercy toward his untimely death as an uninspected, overloaded plane plunged into the sea.

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Maraniss shows us not only his athletic prowess, but his humanity and his heroism on the real world stage. When David Maraniss was growing up in Madison, at about the same time as I was, no doubt Henry Aaron attracted more of his attention than Roberto Clemente. Clemente did almost as much to break the barrier for Latinos to play in the major leagues as Jackie Robinson did for African-Americans; but Clemente's revolution was lower on the public radar screen. But Clemente was always there, making even greater throws from Forbes Field's right field than Aaron's from the one at County Stadium. He was a great outfielder in an age that included Aaron, Mickey Mantle, and Willie Mays. His struggle for respect and appreciation (consistently underrated in the MVP voting most of his career) was quiet but fierce. From the initial story of how he became a Pirate because the Dodgers were attempting to hide his talent deep on the minor league bench, to the final saga of his tragic death trying to help victims of the Nicaraguan earthquake, Maraniss reveals important and dramatic stories that most sports fans and witnesses of human struggles in the twentieth century do not know.

This is a pretty good book, especially for any baseball fan also interested in acquiring a more profound understanding of the psyche and torments (hypochondria, fear of dying young, the rub of ego) of one of the game's all time greats --- and perhaps, the greatest right fielder of all time.The book is well researched, and provides an easy, interesting, and insightful view of Roberto, the man.

Not as good as "WPSM" but still very good.Of particular note was the way that he described the events leading up to the plane crash that claimed Clemente's life. I don't remember that ever being addressed. He also does a great job in relaying Branch Rickey's association with Clemente. You don't have to go into a labor intensive review of every season of baseball the man played. It doesn't make Clemente less mystical or less important as a player, but helped to humanize him.The only thing lacking in this book was more description of Clemente's relationship with his wife and children.

The author did a great job detailing the rules of baseball at the time and why Clemente was hidden in the first place. Maraniss provided a wealth of background on the earthquake in Nicaragua, the political situation in the region and in the U.S., the safety record of the plane, the pilot, and the company that leased the plane, and finally a detailed account of what led to the actual crash. Hit the highlights on those seasons where Clemente - while still special -wasn't extra special. I'm not looking for gossip but I would have found something about his relationship with his family helpful. In fact, one of my favorite books that I have also reviewed for Amazon is "When Pride Still Mattered," which is a bio on Vince Lombardi.Maraniss' bio of Clemente is a very good book.

It isn't important in the big picture but it seems that Maraniss intentionally doesn't go into detail. I thought that was lacking. I'm glad the author didn't gloss over this. Go into detail in important seasons, for instance the 1960 and 1971 World Series seasons and the year that Clemente won the MVP award in 1966.I also liked the way that Maraniss described how Clemente was discovered and the pains that the Dodgers went to hide him.

I didn't know about that and really found that interesting.Finally, the best thing about this book and any bio for that matter, is when the author isn't afraid to show you who the person really was. but his kids. I enjoy David Maraniss' writing. It doesn't appear Clemente was a drinker or a womanizer but most players at that time were. Did Clemente stray. Maybe the Clementes were just that private and there is not a lot of info there. Not in the way that today's athlete (Terrell Owens comes to mind) are. There really isn't a lot of info about Clemente the family man.I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to know the whole story of this man.

A first-class job by the author in describing this in detail.I also liked the way he covered Clemente the player. He was pretty remarkable on and off the field. Clemente had his quirks and was viewed by some as a hothead and could possibly have even been seen as a Me First guy by some. Clemente wasn't well liked by the media and at times by Pirates Brass. He really seemed to like kids a lot. Not the best ever like some might claim, but definitely amont the top 15 or 20 to ever play the game.

And in Lombardi and Clemente, we learn about two intense men. No wonder the proud and dignified Clemente resisted and took action, along with public and deep respect for the small number of players who preceded him in the struggle. The scenes of a rapt city and a whole country hanging on baseball that Maraniss describes so well are remnants of the past. Enough flaws, but no cheap shots or accent on the negative. It is more of bio of an admirable, highly accomplished man who played baseball.The look back to the 1950s and 60s may remind readers of how much baseball and society have changed. The rise of football and a variety of entertainment in general have pushed baseball down from its peak. As with David Maraniss' excellent bio of Vince Lombardi, the most appealing parts are that which cover off the field, hitting the life and times and getting into the character of the athlete. Enough praise, but not too much.

I did not know the specifics of the crash, so much of the coverage was fresh reading. The author rightly highlights many individuals whose names are mostly forgotten now."Clemente" brings out the human side, prickly and generous, so it feels genuine. How disappointing to learn how avoidable that was, with such a convergence of mistakes. Not any more.Far more important are the changes that brought Latin players to America and the reduced racism and bigotry from when Clemente couldn't eat with his teammates, reporters quoted him phonetically, and so on. Maraniss gets into baseball to a satisfactory degree, with occasional game details and pennant races, without turning this into a "baseball book". Nice balance, and surprises (for me), such as the mix of strangers he befriended and brought into his circle.

Maybe if the Cubs and Red Sox had played a Futility Series a few years back could we have approached that awareness. The challenges of the trailblazing set were fascinating and profoundly sad. Imagine sending your teenage girl today far away to spend a few months with a famous athlete and his family today. 4.5 stars

Biography of Clemente that spends most of its time off the field revealing the unique and sometimes odd character of the first great Latin American player, certainly the best fielding right fielder of all time, and one of baseballs all time greats. Most impressive of his on-field stats are his 14-game World Series hitting streak (every World Series game he played in) and his 166 career triples that leave him 27th on the all time list that is dominated by players from 100 years ago when gloves and outfield fences were non-existent.Off the field, his quirks, his passion, and his pride make him more human and even heroic in an age of self-centered steroid freaks. His sudden death in a plane (most tragically) that should have never tried to leave the ground but was bound to Nicaragua with earthquake relief supplies he had gathered moved him toward sainthood.