Essence of Clemente's bravery captured in new children's book
Sunday is MLB’s annual celebration of the namesake of MLB’s humanitarian award
Nathalie Alonso
@NathalieMLBOn Oct. 17, 1971, after being named World Series MVP following a majestic performance that led the Pirates to victory over the Baltimore Orioles in seven games, Roberto Clemente did something that, for the time, was nothing short of remarkable.
“Before I say anything in English,” Clemente said during a live television interview with sportscaster Bob Prince, “I would like to say something for my mother and father in Spanish.”
En el día más grande de mi vida, para los nenes la bendición mía, y que mis padres me echen mi bendición en Puerto Rico.
“On the biggest day of my life, I give my blessing to my kids and [ask] that my parents give me their blessing in Puerto Rico.”
At the pinnacle of his success, Clemente chose to remind the world that he was Puerto Rican — in his first language.
My first language.
Clemente’s decision to speak Spanish on national television was especially profound given that early in his career, the press often mocked his Puerto Rican accent, quoting him using phonetic spellings.
Sunday (Sept. 15) is Roberto Clemente Day, an annual celebration of the Hall Famer and namesake of baseball’s humanitarian award, given each year to the player who most embodied Clemente’s spirit and legacy.
I discovered the clip of Clemente addressing his parents more than 45 years later, well into my career as a sports journalist, all of which I’ve spent with LasMayores.com. As a Cuban American woman who had once felt uncomfortable and self-conscious speaking Spanish in professional settings, it was validating and empowering.
Here was a future Hall of Famer, being his authentic self, intentionally and unapologetically, despite the bigotry and racism he’d endured as an Afro-Puerto Rican man.
This ultimately became the inspiration for my newly released children’s picture book biography, Call Me Roberto!, published simultaneously in Spanish as ¡Llámenme Roberto! and illustrated by Rudy Gutierrez, an artist of Puerto Rican descent who has vividly captured Clemente’s energy and spirit.
While this book is a personal project, it has been shaped by my experience covering baseball professionally. Growing up, I knew Clemente as the humanitarian who tragically died in a plane crash while delivering aid to earthquake victims in Nicaragua. But through my work, I came to understand his contributions to social justice in baseball.
This history is well documented, yet perhaps nothing has cemented my view of Clemente’s life like conversations with some of his contemporaries who I have had the privilege of interviewing — notably his former Panamanian teammate Manny Sanguillén and Dominican trailblazer Felipe Alou, both of whom shared a profound connection with Clemente as Afro-Latino men.
For many figures in baseball with roots in Latin America, and in his native Puerto Rico, it was Clemente’s courage in standing up for his identity that makes him a revered figure. It is that aspect of his legacy I chose to center in Call Me Roberto!, beginning with a title that honors Clemente’s insistence that the media use his real name, rather than the anglicized “Bob” that some tried to impose.
Why a children’s book? Because I believe the lessons from Clemente’s life — resolve in the face of injustice, authenticity, pride in your heritage — are most powerful in the hands of young people.
There is a place for me in baseball because of figures like Roberto Clemente. Call Me Roberto! is my humble way of saying: Gracias.