Bob Clemente

Roberto Enrique Clemente Walker (August 18, 1934 – December 31, 1972) was a Puerto Rican professional baseball player who spent 18 seasons in Major League Baseball, all with the Pittsburgh Pirates, primarily as a right fielder. Born in Carolina, Puerto Rico, he was a track and field star and an Olympic hopeful in his youth before turning his full attention to baseball. His professional career began at the age of eighteen.

On December 31, 1972, Clemente was killed when his chartered Douglas DC-7, carrying emergency relief goods for survivors of a massive earthquake in Nicaragua, crashed into the water off the coast of Isla Verde, Puerto Rico. He was 38 years old.

After his death, the National Baseball Hall of Fame changed its rules so that a player dead for at least six months would be eligible for entry. In 1973, Clemente was posthumously inducted, becoming the first Latino and Caribbean player and the second of Hispanic descent, after Lefty Gomez in 1972, to be honored in the Hall of Fame. He is widely referred to as "The Great One."