In 1902, the Philadelphia Athletics signed Colombian-born second baseman Luis Castro.

It marked a truly historical event because he was the first-ever Latin American-born player to ever play in Major League Baseball. Since then, thousands of Latino players have thrived on the baseball field at the professional level ranging from all-time great players such as Sammy Sosa, Juan Marichal and so many others.

Arguably the greatest player in baseball history made his debut on April 17, 1955.

His name was Roberto Clemente.

In his first game, it was coincidentally against the Brooklyn Dodgers, who were notable for signing Jackie Robinson. The two pioneers faced off that day and each recorded a hit and scored a run for their team. The Dodgers would go on to win that game, as well as the World Series that year. But, you could see a very special and talented player was emerging in Pittsburgh.

Clemente began playing baseball in his native home of Carolina, Puerto Rico at a very young age. As the young prodigy stood out among most of the other players, scouts on the islands quickly took notice. He played with the Cangrejeros de Santurce Puerto Rican baseball club for two years. Later,  Clemente again shined on the field, and Canadian teams wanted in. The Montreal Royals, who previously signed Jackie Robinson, and Clemente subsequently agreed to a deal.

In 1954, the Pittsburgh Pirates drafted Clemente to become the face of the franchise.

Up until this point, the Pirates hadn't won a World Series since 1925, when they defeated the Washington Senators. As a matter of fact, the three previous seasons before Clemente arrived, the Pirates had lost more than 100 games in each of those three seasons. They were an embarrassment. They were a joke of a baseball team. Thanks to Clemente, that was all about to change.

Clemente would insert himself as the best player on the team, and one of the best in the league. Clemente was selected to an incredible 15 All-Star games, and he led the National League in batting average four times. Although he is widely regarded as one of the best hitters of all-time, Clemente also won an astonishing 12 Gold Glove awards thanks to his elite defense.

With the statistics and awards piling up, the success came as well.

In 1960, he led the Pirates to a thrilling World Series victory over the favored New York Yankees in seven games. He was later named league MVP in 1966 with an incredible 202 hits that season. In 1971, the Pirates were once again on top of the baseball world when they beat the Baltimore Orioles in seven games. Clemente was simply fantastic that postseason, batting .383 in the 11 playoff games as well as hitting a home in Game 6 and Game 7 of the World Series.

Because of his epic playoff performance, Clemente was awarded the highest honor in all of baseball, the World Series MVP.

Unfortunately, his next season would be his last.

Clemente was an all-time great player on the field, but one could argue his contributions were felt even more off of it. Clemente dedicated a lot of his personal time to helping Latin American areas in need. Nicaragua had been hit with a massive earthquake in 1972, and there was no doubt Clemente wanted to help, as he done so in the past. Despite working with a small plane that had past mechanical problems, Clemente decided to only help in relief efforts, but to escort the relief team in person as well.

It was later learned that much of the food and aide was being stolen by the Somoza regime.

Clemente, and many other Puerto Ricans suspected this, but couldn't prove it at the time. Clemente decided to fly with the team on Dec. 31, 1972 out of Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport. In devastating manner, the plane crashed shortly after takeoff and everyone on board lost their lives.

Roberto Clemente; pioneer, baseball legend, and humanitarian was dead at the age 38.

MLB quickly took action and voted him in to the Baseball Hall of Fame just four months later. That same year, 1973, MLB also came up with the annual award known as the "Roberto Clemente Award" honoring great players who donate and contribute off the field.

Clemente ended his career with exactly 3,000 hits, a .317 batting average, and he had more than 113 hits in all 18 seasons of his Hall of Fame career. Clemente is also known in the Latino community as the first Latin American-born player to ever win a World Series MVP.

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