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WE BEGIN WITH THE STORY OF BASEBALL LEGEND, ROBERTO CLEMENTE. A MAN WHOSE HUMANITARIAN EFFORTS RIVALED HIS CAREER HIGHLIGHTS. CLEMENTE DIEALD MOST FIFTY YEARS AGO ON AN ILL-FATED FLIGHT TO TAKE HUMANITARIAN AID TO THE PEOPLE OF NICARAGUA FOLLOWING A DEVASTATING EARTHQUAKE. HE WAS JUST .38 HERE’S SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT, RAY SUAREZ. RAY: ROBERTO CLEMENTE WAS PART OF THAT FIRST BIG WAVE OF GREAT LATINO PLAYERS WHO BEGANO T POPULATE BASEBALL IN THE 50S, BUT WERE A DOMINANT FORCE IN THE GAME BY THE END OF THE CENTURY. AT 21, THE PUERTO RICAN MADE HIS MAJOR LEAGUE DEBUT WITH THE PIRATES. DAVID: HE HAD A SAYING THAT IF YOU HAVE A CHANCE TO HELOTP HERS AND FAILED TO DO SO, YOU’RE WASTING YOUR TIME ON THIS EARTH. HOW MANY ATHLETES HAVE YOU HEARD SAY THAT, RIGHT? RAY: DAVID MARANISS OF THE WASHINGTON POST IS CLEMENTE’S BIOGRAPHER. DAVID: HE LIVED THAT. HE DIED THAT, YOU KNOW. HIDES ATH TRYING TO DELIVER HUMANITARIAN AID TO NICARAGUA WAS AN EXPRESSION OF THOSE FINAL YEARS OF HIS LIFE WHEN HE WAS CONSTANTLY PUSHING FOR, RFO CHANGE AND FOR THE BETTERMENT OF REGULAR PEOPLE. RAY: CLEMENTE’S HEROICS MAY SEEM LIKE PART OF A BYGONE ERA. WHEN HE WAS BORN IN 1934, BABE RUTH WAS STILL WEARING YANKEE PINSTRIPES. BUT WHEN JACKIE ROBINSON BROKE BASEBALL’S COLOR BARRIER IN 1947, E THDOOR WAS ALSO SWUNG OPEN FOR NEW PIONEERS: BLACK PLAYERS FROM THE SPANISH-SPEAKING PARTS OF THE HEMISPHERE. LATIN AMERICAN BASEBALL SCHOLAR ALEX NUÑ.EZ ALEX: AS AFRO-LATINO BASEBALL PLAYERS, ESPECIALLY THOSE WHO WERE FROM THE CARIBBEAN OR OTHER INTERNATIONAL LOCATIONS, THERE WAS SORT OF THIS DOUBLE LAYER OF DISCRIMINATION THAT THEY HADO T ENDURE, BOTH AS BLACK MEN AND AS WELL AS LATINOS. RAY: YOUNG, FAR FROM HE,OM SPEAKING LTLITE ENGLISH, THAT FIRST WAVE OF AFRO-LATINO PLAYERS CAME TO THE MINOR LEAGUES, AND TO SPRING TRAINING IN THE AMERICAN SOUTH. MARCOS: JIM CROW AMERICA WAS HOSTILE AND OCCASIONALLY VIOLENT TOWARD MEN OF A CERTAIN WHO FIT A CERTAIN PROFILE. RAY: MARCOS BRETON OF THE SACRAMENTO BEE IS THE AUTHORF O "HOME IS EVERYTHING: THE LATINO BASEBALL STORY." MARCOS: THESE PLAYERS EXPERIENCED THAT, THEY EXPERIENCED BEING TARGETEDN O THE FIELD, GETTING HIT BY PITCHERS, GETTING SPIKED, AND THEN THEY WERE TARGETED OFF THE FIELD AND HAVING TO HAVE THE SAME ACCOMMODATIONS AS AMERINCA BLACK PLAYERS, WHICH IS TO SAY THEY STAYED IN THE BLACK PART OF TOWN AND THEY WERE NOT ABLE TO USE THE RESTROOMS AND WARTE FOUNTAINS THAT THAT WHITE PEOPLE USED IN THOSE DAYS. RAY: UNLIKE JUAN MARICHAL OF THE GIANTS, AND MINNIE MINOSO OF THE WHITE SOX, ROBERTO CLEMENTE WAS BORN AN AMERICAN CITIZEN, SEEDRV IN THE MARINE CORPS RESERVES, AND HAD CO NMEORTH READY TO ASSERT HIS RIGHTS. HE BRIDLED AT THE RACE-BASED CUSTOMS THAT WENT ALONG WITH BEING A BLACK ATHLETE PLAYING IN THE SOUTH. DAVID: CLEMENTE WAS VERY OUTSPOKEN ABOUT IT. WHEN HE WAS WITH THEIR PATES, THE BLACK PLAYERS IN THE EARLIEST YEARS WOULDAV HE TO STAY ON THE BUS WHILE THE WHITE GUYS -. THIS IS FINLORIDA IN SPRING TRAINING. THE WHITE GUYS WOULD GO IN AND HAVE LUNCH AND CLEMENTE SAID, ' ’I’M NOT GOING TO BE THAT SECOND-CLASS CITENIZ. IF YOU WANT US TO TRAVEL, YOU HAVE TO LET US GO ON OUR OWN. WE’RE NOT GOING TO WAIT IN THE BACK OF THE BUS.�� HE WAS ALWAYS CONSTANTLY PUSHING FOR THAT CHANGE. RAY: WHILE IPIN TTSBUR,GH CLEMENTE ALSO BECAME POPULAR WITH KIDS ACROSS THE NATIONAL LEAGUE CITIES, LIKE DUANE RIEDER. DUANE: I GOT AN AUTOGRAPH FROM HIM WHEN I WAS A 10-YEAR-OLD KID. I WAS A BASEBALL JUNKIE, AND HE SIGNED AN AUTOGRAPH FOR ME IN 1971. RAY: RIEDER GREW UP TO BECOME EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE CLEMENTE MUSEUM IN PITTSBURGH. HE SAYS LATINO PLAYERS COMING TO PLAY THE PIRATES OFTEN MAKE A PILGRIMAGE TO SEE HIS COLLECTION. DUANE: I CAN TELL YOU THAT EVERY LATINO BASEBALL PLAYER WANTS TO COME HERE, RIGHT? THEY WANT TO HEAR THE STORY OF ROBERTO CLEMENTE. IT’S SO IMPORTANT TO THEM BECAUSE THEIR FATHERS AND THEIR GRANDFATHERS LOVED ROBERTO CLEMENTE. RAY: AT A TIME WHEN PLAYERS WERE DISCOURAGED FROM TAKING PUBLIC STANDS THAT MIGHT BE SEEASN POLITICAL, CLEMENTE PUSHED BACK ON RACIAL BARRIERS. DAVID: HE WAS A TRAILBLAZER IN TERMS OF PUSHING FOR EQUAL RIGHTS, FOR HUMAN RIGHTS, FOR DIGNITY, FOR THE DIGNITY OF ALL LATINOS, FOR THE PRIDE OF PLACE, FOR BREAKING AGAINST THE STEREOTYPES. RAY: HE WAS BEFRIENDED BY MARTIN LUTHER KING, WHO VISITED HIM ON HIS FARM IN PUERTO RICO. DAVID: HE CERTAINLY WAS ADMIRED BY MARTIN LUTHER KING. AND THAT MIGHT HAVE DEVELOPEIND A WAY HAD KING LIVED AND CLEMENTE LIVED, SORT OF CONNECTING THOSE TWO WORLDS IN A IN A MUCH STRONGER WAY. RAY: LIKE KING, CLEMENTE DIED YOUNG. JUST 38 YEARS OLD. IT’S THE MANNER OF HIS DEATH THAT WOULD VAULT HIM BEYOND ANYTHING HE ACCOMPLISHED ON A BASEBALL DIAMOND. PASTOR: TO HELP THE DISTRESSED PEOPLE OF NICARAGUA. RAY: NICARAGUA, WHERE ONLY A FEW WEEKS BEFORE, CLEMTEEN HAD COACHED A WINTER BASEBALL TOURNAMENT, SUFFERED A DEVASTATING EARTHQKEUA. THE PIRATES STAR IMMEDIALYTE BEGAN ORGANIZING RELIEF MISSIONS FOR THE STRICKEN COUNTRY. IN DESPERATION AND IN HASTE, HE ACQUIRED A POORLY MAINTAINED PLANE OUT OF SAN JUAN ON NEW YEAR’S EVE, 12.97 DAVID: IT WAS LOADED BY VOLUNTEERS WHO DIDN’T KNOW HOW TO LOAD A PLANE. IT WAS OVERLOADED BY SEVERAL THOUSAND POUNDS. THE OWNER DIDN’T EVEN KNOW HOW TO FLY IT, HE DROVE IT INTO A DITCH. CLEMENTE GETS ON THAT PLANE DETERMINED TO GET TO NICARAGUA, AND IT WAS A DEATH TP.RA IT BARELY GOT OFF THE GROUND. IT CRASHED INTO THE SEA." >> PLAYE IRSN THE PUERTO RANIC LEAGUE WERE RELUCTANT TO PLAY THE FINAL DAYS OF THE REGULAR SEASON SCHEDULE BECAUSE OF THE UNTIMELY DEATH OF ROBERTO CLEMENTE. FRANK: IT’S NOT THAT WE’VE JUST LOST A GREAT BALLPLAYER, WE’VE LOST A GREAT MAN. YOU KNOW HE’S REMEMBERED FOR THINGS HE WAS DOING OFF THE FIELD, ESPECIALLY HERE IN HIS HOME COUNTRY. RA MY:ARANISS CALLS CLEMENTE, ' ’BASEBALL’S LAST HERO.�� BRETON SAYS IT’S TIME FOR MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL TO PAY CLEMENTE HIS DUE, FOR HIS ACCOMPLISHMENTS ON THE FIELD AND OFF. THE GAME HAS ALREADY NAMED AN AWARD FOR HIM, GIVEN TTHO E PLAYER WHO SHOWS THE GREATEST COMMITMENT TO COMMUNITY SERVICE. MARCOS: CLEMENTE BEST EXEMPLIFIED THE EXPERIENCEF O PLAYERS FROM LATIN AMERICAHO W PLAYED OUR GAME, OVERCAME DISCRIMINATION IN THEIR DAY AND DID NOT ALLOW THAT DISCRIMINATION TO DETRACT FROM THE EXCELLENCE THAT TH BEYROUGHT AND SO I THINK IT BEGINS WITH RETIRING 21. NOT JUST FOR WHO CLEMENTE WAS, BUT FOR WHAT HE REPRESENTE