Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero

Having seen Clemente play in the latter years of his career, this book enlightened me not only about his early years in Puerto Rico, but also about his early years in Pittsburgh. A most thorough book, it is a must read for any sports fan.

Roberto Clemente was a legendary ballplayer - a .317 career batting average, 3000 hits, four N.L. batting titles, twelve gold gloves, 1966 National League MVP, 1971 World Series MVP, and the first Latino elected to the Hall of Fame. Impressive as these statistics and facts may be, they cannot capture Roberto's greatness. To try to capture Clemente this way, David Maraniss writes, "is like chemists trying to explain Van Gogh by analyzing the ingredients of his paint. Clemente was art, not science...it was hard to take one's eyes off him". Maraniss' new biography of Clemente, (the first since shortly after he died) captures the many facets of this complex man who truly did live his life both on and off the diamond with passion and grace. Where the earlier Clemente biographies, written shortly after his death, were little more that tributes and eulogies for the fallen hero, Maraniss writes of the man in all his complexity, and though he deservedly calls him a hero, he does not treat him as a saint. Notoriously thin skinned and prickly, Clemente had a career-long feud with the press. Though it was aggravated by the racism of the time, (Clemente was infuriated when the press would quote his interviews using phonetic spelling to capture his accent) and the language barrier, his sensitive personality, often perceiving slights where they were not intended, was equally to blame. He was obsessed with his health and ailments, complaining constantly about his pain, and some accused him of being a goldbricker and a hypochondriac, yet he seemed to play at his best when in his greatest pain, and ended his career breaking the record for most games played in a Pirates uniform. He constantly and vociferously complained about how he did not get the recognition that he deserved, and played every game like it was the seventh game of the World Series. Clemente was baseball's last hero, not just for his greatness on the field, but for his life off the baseball diamond. He constantly (and quietly) visited children in hospitals throughout his career, both in the states, and in his beloved Puerto Rico. He dreamed of building a sports city for the children of Puerto Rico (a dream fulfilled after his death). He paved the way for Latin players in the major league, and mentored many of them throughout his career. He once said, "If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming behind you, and you don't do that, you are wasting your time on this earth", and he lived by that line. And of course, he died a hero's death, attempting to bring aid to victims of Nicaragua's earthquake. Steve Blass, Clemente's teammate, put it best - "The rest of us were just players - Clemente was a prince." Maraniss has written a worthy biography that is more than just a sports book. The incredible character that Clemente was - the passionate grace with which he lived his life, and the heroic way in which he lost it should interest even those only margin

I still recall where I was (family living room) and who I was with (my Dad) when we heard the news of Roberto Clemente's tragic death. As a pre-teen boy, at the time all I knew of Clemente was his batting average and his bullet arm. Then, as details trickled out concerning the events surrounding his death--his mission of mercy to people in need, I learn more and more about Clemente the man. Maraniss does a superb job telling both a baseball story and a biography. He also deftly balances the many remarkable traits of the man, with the few flaws he, like every human being, had. If you love baseball history, you'll love "Clemente." If you love a "poor boy makes good" story, you'll love "Clemente." Reviewer: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., is the author of "Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction," "Soul Physicians," "Spiritual Friends," and the forthcoming "Sacred Friendships: Listening to the Voices of Women Soul Care-Givers and Spiritual Directors."

I was carrying an advance copy of this book on the Washington Metro and several people stopped to ask me how they could get it. They won't be disappointed. At times Maraniss can be a little wordy like when he takes a page and a half to list all the players on some labor committee and he takes a long time to get to the end, and when he does get to the end, it turns into an NTSA report. I have written a full review at [...] and I encourage all potential readers to find my full opinion at that location. Having said that, this is an absolutely amazingly complete and fascinating account of one of my favorite all time players and the baseball era in which many of us just turned 50 somethings lived. Juan Pizarro, Vic Power, whose pre-swing I emulated all my life, they all come alive on these pages. Clemente of course in all his pride and arrogance. From 1960 to 1971, two pennant seassons, baseball and the world changed a lot. Clemente would be happy that his story was told not by a hack baseball writer, but by a world class biographer. Who does the player and his tragic, heroic story more than justice.

Roberto Clemente's legend as El Magn?fico, the dazzling talent, angry activist, and humble humanitarian who died a martyr, has transcended into near-mythology. Clemente's frenetic life mirrored his athletic intensity. Whether throwing curve balls on the field or to the media, Clemente's cannon arm and quick wit never failed him. It takes a towering talent to tackle a complicated subject like Clemente. Pulitzer Prize winning journalist David Maraniss steps up to the plate, and to say that the Washington Post editor hits a home run is an understatement. If Maraniss' previous book sales are any indication, this superbly researched biography is a sure-fire New York Times bestseller. Maraniss examines not only Clemente's professional and personal life but also writes about a nation sharing radically different perspectives. Both Puerto Rico and Florida are part of the United States. However, their disparate attitudes toward race belong to different cultures, even different centuries. Maraniss sympathetically - yet unflinchingly - exhumes the Jim Crow mores that ruled the American South in the pre-Civil Rights era and Clemente's presence in that time and place. The dignified baseball hero often shielded a bruised ego with righteous anger, but racism still wounded. Pride and prejudice provoked a fury on the baseball field that incited many of Clemente's greatest triumphs. It also stirred a philanthropist streak that ultimately led to his death in a rattletrap airplane. "The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero" is ultimately a story of triumph and tragedy. Sports writer Phil Musick mused at Clemente's funeral "there were things that he did on a ball field that made me wish I was Shakespeare." In the Bard's absence, Maraniss takes a swing at Clemente's preternatural genius. Perhaps Clemente's greatest gift was not the brilliance of athleticism and aestheticism, but of spirit. The book is a lot like its subject ... powerful, intense, hard-hitting, and loaded with soul. Maraniss goes beyond technical analysis of Clemente's gifts, dismissing statistics to describe El Magn?fio's greatness - "Clemente was art, not science." Or as Pirates team mate Steve Blass declared, "The rest of us were just pitchers. Clemente was a prince." It is fitting that "The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero" is a biography fit for a king. This review appears in the May/June issue of Latino Suave magazine, along with a full-length article on Roberto Clemente that features interviews with and quotes from David Maraniss and Roberto Clemente, Jr.