Quote:
Originally Posted by 71buc
For fans with latin ancestory like myself he is our Jackie Robinson. His ethnicity is as important to who he was as it is to who Robinson was. These two men are more than mere baseball players. Clemente transcends baseball. He embodied grace, compassion, honor, and pride. In the Maraniss biography I recall that he states reducing Clemente to statistics is like a chemist explaining the beauty of a painting by merely analyzing the paint. In my opinion he is the patron saint of baseball. I grew up in a home where Spanish was spoken. You have no idea the pride we felt when he spoke in Spanish after the 1971 Series. I was a child when he died. I still remember falling to my knees in utter shock when I heard the announcement on the radio. I was inconsolable for a week; I even vowed to name my first born son after him. Eighteen years later I kept that promise.
My favorite Clemente quotes.
''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.”
“I want to be remembered as a ballplayer who gave all I had to give.”
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Good post, well put. He was a great source of pride for his native country and he should have been. His true value to humanity however should not be limited to one culture it should be embraced by all. It is a shame that we will never know how big of an effect on society that he would have had should he had been given more time on this planet.