Picture courtesy of Jim Dolan/Brooklyn Reporter.
On Friday night, the Brooklyn Cyclones played against the Staten Island Yankees in the fourth home game of the season for the Cyclones in 2019.
However, this one was different, as they were not wearing Cyclones’ jerseys, and instead donned Brooklyn Jefes’ jerseys in honor of Roberto Clemente, who they also gave out bobbleheads of to the first 2,000 fans in attendance at MCU Park.
The team very kindly invited his son, Luis Clemente, to the ballpark and had a ceremony on the field to honor his father and brought him up to the broadcast booth to speak with the announcers.
After the game, Cyclones’ manager, Edgardo Alfonzo, said that he had Luis Clemente talk to the players prior to it, citing his importance in history as his reasoning for doing so.
“I want the players to know Roberto Clemente through his son. Obviously, they know who Roberto Clemente is, but they don’t know the whole guy. The players today need to know the past, that way they can compare themselves and say, ‘wow, this guy did this and did that.'”
Aflonzo went on to talk about how Clemente transcended the sport, not just by his Hall of Fame talent, but also by the cultural trend he started within the sport.
“Growing up in Latin America, you always heard about Roberto Clemente and all the great things he brought to the table, how good that guy was as a player and a person too. Roberto Clemente and Jackie Robinson are the two guys who opened doors for people for Latin players and African American players, respectively. You always hear good stuff about Clemente and it’s too bad that [Clemente] is not here with us today, but he was a tremendous person.”
While Alfonzo admits that it continues to get harder to keep his personal stories about him alive in the younger generations, Alfonzo believes Clemente did so much for the sport and that we need to keep his legacy alive.
“It’s important because you don’t find guys like that every day. Every time they are doing something for Roberto Clemente and every time you hear his name come up around baseball, you should be proud.”
Every year, MLB honors him by giving out the Roberto Clemente Award to one player who is a great leader on and off the field.
For a man, who not only accumulated a 94.5 WAR in his 18-year MLB career, but also died in a plane crash in 1973 trying to deliver aid to earthquake survivors in Managua, I couldn’t agree more with the need to continue to honor him today.
