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Roberto Clemente:
Pride of the Pittsburgh Pirates
By Jonah Winter
Illustrated by Raúl Colón
Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2005. Unpaginated.
It is possible, at times, to tell of a whole life in just a few words. Add some brilliant pictures and, in the case of Roberto Clemente you have heartfelt introduction to a great baseball player who was also an exemplary human being who died while on a mission of mercy. In our day, with unbelievable salaries, drug scandals, and ticket prices that put the game out of the reach of far too many fans, readers will welcome this chance, more than thirty years after Clemente’s death, to celebrate and perhaps emulate him.
Jonah Winter’s elegiac text begins by describing young Roberto as “a boy who had very little but a fever to play and win at baseball.” In his passion to play, Roberto fashions bats, gloves, and balls from tree branches, coffee-bean sacks, and soup cans. He played his way to the Major Leagues and the Pittsburgh Pirates. His electric play was immediately noticed by the fans, and he took his team from last-place to the World Series.
Winter also chronicles Clemente’s troubles with the press throughout his career, troubles that motivated him to become even better. He describes Clemente’s three-thousandth hit, followed all too soon by his untimely death in a plane crash on the way to deliver emergency supplies to earthquake victims. Winter writes:
The story doesn’t end here.
When someone like Roberto dies, His spirit lives on
In the hearts of all he touched.
“Roberto’s spirit is still growing,” Winter continues, and this book, exceptionally illustrated by Raúl Colón, presents his story with the kind of grace associate with the sight of Clemente chasing down a fly ball or swinging for yet another hit. Roberto Clemente is a man for all times, an exemplar of excellence and charity. Young baseball fans should read this book, but be sure to share it with the grownups and with any budding ballplayers in your midst.
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