Yankees help pay tribute to former Pirates great Roberto Clemente
The Yankees' Aaron Judge warms up wearing No. 21 for Roberto Clemente Day before a game against the Pirates in Pittsburgh on Friday. Credit: AP/Gene J. Puskar
PITTSBURGH — Starting in rightfield for the Yankees on Friday night at PNC Park was Aaron Judge. For this special night, he was not wearing No. 99.
Judge and two other Yankees wore uniform No. 21 to honor Roberto Clemente on the day MLB has set aside to celebrate the life and legacy of the late Pirates Hall of Fame rightfielder.
Judge was joined by Giancarlo Stanton and Kyle Higashioka. Judge is the Yankees’ nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award. Stanton and Higashioka are past nominees. The award is given annually to one player for his philanthropic endeavors and community involvement. Francisco Lindor is the Mets’ nominee.
Past Yankees winners include Derek Jeter, Ron Guidry and Don Baylor. Curtis Granderson, Carlos Delgado, Al Leiter and Gary Carter are Mets who have won the award.
Clemente died in a plane crash on New Year’s Eve 1972 at the age of 38. He was on his way to deliver aid to victims of an earthquake in Nicaragua.
“I don’t like talking about awards, thinking about awards, but this is an award I think every baseball player has circled,” Judge told MLB Network. “Getting the chance to be the nominee for the Yankees, getting a chance to play here in Pittsburgh on Roberto Clemente Day, to play rightfield, it’s a surreal day. I’ll definitely take a minute, take a second out there.”
Said Yankees manager Aaron Boone: “I've talked to many people over the years that have ultimately won the Roberto Clemente Award. Oftentimes great players in their own right that have won MVPs, Silver Sluggers, whatever, you name it, almost to a man, the most meaningful award they've ever won is the Roberto Clemente Award. The fact that we're going to be here today, on a day when all of Major League Baseball is celebrating his life and legacy, beautiful ballpark, is pretty awesome.”
The entire Yankees team planned to visit the nearby Roberto Clemente Museum after Friday night’s series opener. They also visited it last July during a series at PNC Park.
“That museum is fantastic,” Higashioka said. “We were able to hold one of his bats, which I don't think any of us would use a bat that big these days. Just to think that he was like 180 pounds or 170 pounds [listed at 175] and he was using like a 40-ounce bat. It's just incredible. It was really cool to learn a lot more about him and just see all the history of it.”
MLB has designated Sept. 15 as Roberto Clemente Day since 2002. The date was chosen to coincide with the start of Hispanic Heritage Month. Clemente, who was from Puerto Rico, was the first Hispanic player to be inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1973. All players and on-field personnel around baseball wore “21” patches on their uniforms on Friday and all of the Pirates wore No. 21.
Clemente was a 15-time All-Star, 12-time Gold Glove Award winner, four-time batting champion and two-time World Series winner who was the World Series MVP in 1971. Clemente finished his career with exactly 3,000 hits.
His cannon of an arm from rightfield is still the stuff of baseball legend. YouTube it if you’re not familiar.
“I still marvel at all the highlights of his greatness and his swing and just how dynamic of a player he was,” Boone said. “But then, obviously, where MLB stops and pays respect and a day is dedicated speaks more to the fact of what he was off the field. Obviously, a Hall of Fame player, but the things he did away from the field still to this day are revered and looked upon with such reverence.”
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
