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Roberto Clemente Facts & Worksheets

Roberto Clemente Walker was a professional baseball player who was an idol in his native Puerto Rico.

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Roberto Clemente Walker was a professional baseball player who was an idol in his native Puerto Rico and one of the first Latin American baseball stars in the United States.

See the fact file below for more information on the Roberto Clemente or alternatively, you can download our 25-page Roberto Clemente worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

CHILDHOOD AND PROFESSIONAL CAREER

  • Roberto Clemente Walker was the youngest of seven children born to Don Melchor Clemente, a sugarcane worker, and Luisa Walker. He was born on August 18, 1934, in Carolina, Puerto Rico.
  • Given his young talent, Clemente started his baseball career in Santurce Cangrejeros (“Crabbers”) in the Puerto Rico Baseball League.
  • After finishing high school, the Brooklyn Dodgers signed him in 1952 to its Triple-A team in Montreal as a bench player.
  • The next year, he went to play for the Pittsburgh Pirates and made his major league debut on April 1, 1955, against the Dodgers.
  • He went 1-for-4 and scored a run the hit 2-for-4 with a double and a run in his first two games.
  • Clemente played 124 of 155 games, missing several games after a car accident during that season that resulted in a lower back injury. Still, he finished the season with a .255 average.
  • Clemente hit a .311 batting average in 1956, although struggling with injuries and a language barrier. On July 25, he became the only player to hit a walk-off inside-the-park grand slam.
  • After the 1958 season, Clemente enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve and spent six months on active duty serving until 1964. He was then inducted into the Marine Corps Sports Hall of Fame in 2003.
  • In 1960, he batted at .314, earning 16 home runs and 94 RBIs to earn his first All-Star and help the Pirates win the World Series.
  • The following year, he led the National League with a .351 batting average, hit 23 home runs.
  • He also won his first of 12 consecutive Gold Glove Awards for fielding excellence.
  • Clemente won a Gold Glove award every year from 1961 until his final season in 1972. He won four National League batting titles and twice led the league in hits.
  • His finest season was in 1966, batting .317 with 29 homers and 119 RBIs to win the NL Most Valuable Player Award. Soon .317 became his lifetime batting average.
  • Except for 1968, Clemente batted over .300, joining the National League All-Star team each year during the 1960s.
  • In the 1971 World Series, he led the Pittsburgh Pirates to defeat the favored Baltimore Orioles, batting at .414 with two home runs.
  • Clemente was the first to win a World Series as a starter, named league MVP, World Series MVP, and elected to the Hall of Fame.
  • In his final 1972 season, he became the first Hispanic player to reach 3,000 career hits – a double off Jon Matlack of the New York Mets on September 30, 1972.

PHILANTHROPY AND UNTIMELY DEMISE

  • He was proud of his Puerto Rican heritage and stood up for minority rights, despite facing the discrimination of being a foreigner and being Black in a racially segregated society.
  • He is known for his financial generosity, but he also showed empathy by sharing his chiropractic knowledge – learned as a result of his back injury in 1954.
  • Clemente always cared about children, especially in Puerto Rico. He made time to hold baseball clinics for kids, especially for those from low-income families, despite his busy schedule.
  • In the Major League, one of Clemente’s greatest accomplishments on the field was as an advocate for equal treatment of Latin baseball players, in which he took great pride.
  • Renowned for his humanitarian work, Clemente sent aid shipments to Nicaragua after an earthquake ravaged the country in December 1972.
  • When Clemente received reports that the Nicaraguan army had stolen three previous relief supplies meant for the people, he decided to accompany the packages from the San Juan airport on December 31, 1972.
  • The four-engine DC-7 plane he chartered for the flight had a history of mechanical problems and was overloaded by 4,200 pounds. As a result, it crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, killing Clemente and four others. His body was never found.

LEGACY

  • The Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown waived the rule requiring a five-year wait after retirement (or death) before a player could be elected to the Hall, and inducted Clemente into the national baseball shrine in July 1973.
  • He was also posthumously awarded a Congressional Gold Medal of Honor in 1973 – bestowed for his humanitarian efforts following his death.
  • Until today, there stands the 21-feet high statue honoring Clemente’s normal fielding position and uniform number at the right-field wall at Pittsburgh Pirates PNC Park.

Roberto Clemente Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about Roberto Clemente across 25 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use Roberto Clemente worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about Roberto Clemente Walker who was a professional baseball player who was an idol in his native Puerto Rico and one of the first Latin American baseball stars in the United States.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • Roberto Clemente Facts
  • Baseball Terms
  • Pittsburgh Pirates
  • Player Profile
  • Choosing A Pro Career
  • A Right Fielder
  • Roberto’s Field
  • Number 21
  • A Dedication
  • Roberto Clemente Award
  • Words to Live by

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Link will appear as Roberto Clemente Facts & Worksheets: https://kidskonnect.com - KidsKonnect, July 24, 2021

Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

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