Great Shot of the Great One: Roberto Clemente

Thirty-nine years?! Really?

Every New Year’s Day I remember waking up on that holiday in 1973 to hear that Roberto Clemente had perished in a plane crash the night before. Books have been written about the great humanitarian heart that compelled that man to go with the goods to a crisis-ridden land. Poems have even been written about the emotion that unexpected passing drew out of grown men. (Tom Clark has a very interesting piece hosted online by Baseball Almanac.com) In fact, Major League Baseball still remembers the man many called “the Great One” with a special day each season.

None of that really mattered when I awoke that morning some four decades ago. All I knew was that a player I loved to watch…and whose baseball cards were among my most cherished as a young teen…and was the only outfielder I would allow as good as my favorite, Al Kaline…he was dead. I knew about death a little bit having lost a grandfather a few years before (the dear man who taught me about baseball and gave me a love for the game at the feet of the voice of Ernie Harwell), but the death of Clemente seemed so different. My dear granddad was old (to my then young eyes); Roberto was not old. He was young and strong and graceful and confident and looked every inch the incredible baseball player that he was! But he was also gone.

And it has been thirty-nine years now.

Somehow, every year on New Year’s Day I remember. Not just the facts, but the emotion. It hurt. It taught me a lot, but it hurt.

A few hours ago all this came back to my mind again even though we are past New Year’s by a few days now. Why? Because I found a great, old Sports Illustrated magazine that contained this great photo of “the Great One.” The magazine itself is pretty spectacular as it talks about the pennant race in the NL East that summer of 1970. It is accompanied by several great baseball shots (SI used to be great at those!), and in the middle of them all is this double-pic on a page of Clemente.

I was amazed as I looked at the photos at how correct my young perceptions had been! Even in these simple magazine pages the grace, athleticism, strength, poise…all of it can be seen as you study Clemente. For my memories, this is a great shot of the great one.