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'Clemente' Tells Story of a True Baseball Hero Today's many Latino baseball stars owe a debt to Roberto Clemente, the first Latino ballplayer to rise to U.S. stardom. Clemente died at 38, delivering supplies to earthquake survivors in Nicaragua. His life is the subject of a new biography by Pulitzer-winner David Maraniss.

Sports

'Clemente' Tells Story of a True Baseball Hero

'Clemente' Tells Story of a True Baseball Hero

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Fans seek Roberto Clemente's autograph at a 1962 game in Pittsburgh. Corbis hide caption

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Fans seek Roberto Clemente's autograph at a 1962 game in Pittsburgh.

Corbis

Many of today's baseball icons owe a debt to the first Latin-American superstar: Roberto Clemente. His 18 seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates were a kaleidoscope of batting titles and brilliant defensive plays.

On the last day of the 1972 season, Clemente collected career hit number 3,000. He died three months later, in the crash of a charter plane he had hired to take relief supplies to survivors of an earthquake in Nicaragua.

Clemente's legacy is the latest topic for Pulitzer-winning journalist David Maraniss. The author tells Don Gonyea about the biography Clemente.

Clemente
The Passion And Grace of Baseball's Last Hero
By David Maraniss

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Clemente
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David Maraniss

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