Reignited by the recent spark of interest from national and local audiences, the off-season attention turns to how MLB should honor the Pittsburgh Pirates icon and hero of Latin American baseball, Roberto Clemente.
Editor’s note: welcome to Pirates Breakdown Point/Counterpoint! In this ongoing series, two of the Pirates Breakdown staff writers will take a topic and debate it from both sides.
On Friday, Buster Olney reignited the debate surrounding the retirement of Roberto Clemente’s number across the major leagues. The subject was the same one PBD writer Joy Frank-Collins tackled recently after a trip to Clemente’s hometown of San Juan, Puerto Rico. In the silence, the topic garnered some steam. Pirates Breakdown writers Aaron Benedict and Tyler Thomas debate how MLB should honor “the Great One.”
TYLER THOMAS: In 1997, Jackie Robinson, the man that broke through the color barrier to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers, had his number posthumously retired across the league. Every April 15th, the anniversary when he made his MLB debut, every player across baseball dons the number 42 jersey without a name to celebrate equality in the sense that without the names or correct jersey numbers the players can’t be identified.
Roberto Clemente was equally influential in being the quintessential example of the potential impact of Latin American players on the game and their communities. The BBWAA adjusted their voting rules to induct Clemente six months after his untimely death on December 31, 1972, while he was trying to deliver relief to Nicaraguan earthquake victims. It has come time to further honor a great player, greater man, and greatest humanitarian baseball has ever seen by retiring his number across the league to honor his contributions.
AARON BENEDICT: Before we get into this debate, I think it is important to say that I have the utmost respect for what Roberto Clemente did and who he was as a person. At the school I teach at, there is a story by Jerry Izenberg about Clemente called “A Bittersweet Memoir” which I have my seventh grade students read every year. I also tell the story of how Clemente convinced Tom Walker to stay home to be with his family.
But I do think there is a difference between what Robinson did and how Clemente died. Robinson risked injury from people off and on the field just because his skin color is different. Moreover, he excelled in that atmosphere where a lesser person would crumble. It is for that reason he deserves to be honored in the way he is.
On the other hand, Roberto Clemente died doing a noble, humanitarian thing. This is why he has an award named after him given each year to the player who most exemplifies Clemente’s spirit. Should something more be done to celebrate what he did as a player and a person? I believe that something more should be done. However, I think that retiring his number across Major League Baseball is not the answer, and that honor is only for one person.
THOMAS: I think that’s exactly the point. There needs to be a distinction. In an interview with PBD writer Joy Frank-Collins about the matter of the retirement, Pirates announcer Greg Brown told Pirates Breakdown, “Retiring the number is something baseball did for Jackie – the kind of copycat mentality takes away from his legacy. We should do something different that best honors Roberto Clemente and who he was.” In every sport that retires numbers, a team retiring a number is an honor for an athlete and his/her family. When a league retires a number, it’s an honor that speaks volumes about the impact the athlete had both in the sport and the community.
Jackie Robinson’s number was retired because he stood for the equality him, Branch Rickey, and baseball reluctantly embraced in a culture staunchly divided by race. Roberto Clemente was not the first Latin American player to enter the league, but he paved the way for all those that dreamed of playing baseball in America. Clemente also remained humble even in success. For parts of three decades, he was the ambassador for Pittsburgh to the country and for baseball to the world. Just as the Pirates reached into the depths of the talented Puerto Rican baseball scene, Clemente reached back to help others up. He didn’t give handouts; he gave hand-ups. Brown went on to say, “I think it is much more productive to do things in his honor than to just retire the number. And it’s more worthwhile to Jackie Robinson, too.” Why can’t baseball retire his number and do something worthwhile to honor Clemente, like a fundraiser along the lines of the stand up to cancer campaign to give a hand-up to people around the world?
BENEDICT: I don’t want to make this a debate between Robinson and Clemente. Isn’t the fact that every MLB team has a Clemente winner for their humanitarian work exactly the kind of thing highlighting what Roberto did as a person? Personally, I believe that is amazing and they should take this to the next level. Why not make this award a bigger deal and do what the NFL does with the Walter Payton award and make the announcement during one of the World Series games (I think game one would be ideal). However, I think Brown is right when he says something done in honor of Clemente should be something original, not retiring his number.
THOMAS: I think that’s exactly the problem. Not to compare, but the reason Brown is so adamant that Roberto Clemente’s number being retired is not enough is that Jackie Robinson Day has seemingly lost any purpose. Clemente was consumed by an passion to help others. In his own words, “Any time you have an opportunity to make a difference in this world and you don’t, then you are wasting your time on Earth.” Clemente Day gets very little attention, even if the award that bears his name does. It’s still just 30 players out of the 750 that call MLB home at any given time. America’s pastime has a chance to take the forefront in sports humanitarian efforts by retiring Clemente’s number, having every player wear 21 and replace the name with “Clemente” on Roberto Clemente Day. Every March 21, the Pirates could play a spring training game in San Juan. On both occasions, auctions could be held to benefit humanitarian efforts in the community and abroad. Lastly, the league could name after him a general community outreach and humanitarian organization meant to genuinely make a difference and honor its namesake.
BENEDICT: You are correct that Clemente Day gets little attention. However, this is where MLB needs to take a page from the NFL’s marketing playbook and start making it a bigger deal. For example, does every team do something on Clemente Day or is it only a thing in Pittsburgh? I don’t think any other team does anything to celebrate, nor is it ever mentioned on the local or national broadcasts. At the beginning of last season, the MLB Network finally added Studio 21 in order to honor Clemente but more marketing needs to be done to educate people about who the real Roberto Clemente was. Retiring his number throughout Major League Baseball won’t cut it.
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