How Clemente Got the Players' Union Behind Curt Flood
Today in Pittsburgh, we celebrate Roberto Clemente Day.
Forty-eight years ago Clemente, 38, died on New Year’s Eve while on a humanitarian and political mission to Nicaragua to ensure that post-earthquake aid wasn’t being stolen by the U.S.-backed Somoza dictatorship.
Growing up playing baseball in Pittsburgh, it was drilled into my head by Little League coaches, baseball TV announcers, and teachers that Clemente was a selfless humanitarian who gave his life at the peak of his baseball stardom to help others.
Clemente is, in many ways, the patron saint of Pittsburgh. You can see his face painted on murals and his photo in every sports bar in Pittsburgh. Decades later, his uniform is still the most common uniform seen at Pirates’ games. He is held up as a symbol of the solidarity and compassion present in a union town like Pittsburgh.
Yet, few rarely talk of Clemente’s politics, as he had hosted Martin Luther King Jr. on his farm in Puerto Rico. Even fewer talk of how Clemente’s union leadership as the National League’s top player representative changed the course of history.
https://paydayreport.com/how-clemente-got-the-players-union-behind-curt-flood/