'Burgh’s Best to Wear It, No. 21: Roberto Clemente stands alone, but has tragic connections

The Tribune-Review sports staff is conducting a daily countdown of the best players in Pittsburgh pro and college sports history to wear each jersey number.

No. 21: Roberto Clemente

The greatest player to wear No. 21 in Pittsburgh sports history needs no introduction. That honor is reserved for Roberto Clemente, the Hall of Fame right fielder whose jersey is retired by the Pirates — and many believe should be retired by MLB, alongside Jackie Robinson’s 42.

Clemente left a legacy not only for his baseball prowess in a career filled with 3,000 hits, two World Series championships, 15 All-Star appearances and a dozen consecutive Gold Gloves, but is best remembered for the humanitarian effort that claimed his life.

That’s a tragic connection Clemente shares with two other Pittsburgh greats who wore No. 21, Pirates Hall of Famer Arky Vaughan and Michel Briere of the Penguins.

Briere was the Penguins’ first star, scoring 44 points (12 goals, 32 assists) in 76 games as a rookie center in 1969-70. He recorded the first overtime goal in team history, scoring against the Oakland Seals to clinch the team’s first playoff series victory, and three of his eight goals in 10 playoff games were winners. Briere died April 13, 1971, almost a year after suffering brain trauma in a car accident. His jersey was retired by the Penguins on Jan. 5, 2001, and is the only one to hang alongside Mario Lemieux’s from the rafters at PPG Paints Arena.

Vaughan was a nine-time All-Star who had one of the greatest seasons by a shortstop in baseball history in 1935, when he batted .385, had a .491 on-base percentage and 1.098 OPS — all team records — and hit 19 home runs and had 99 RBIs. Vaughan starred for the Pirates from 1932-41, when he was traded to the Brooklyn Dodgers. Vaughan retired to a ranch in Eagleville, Calif., where he drowned in 1952 at age 40 when his boat capsized while fishing.

Clemente, a native of Carolina, Puerto Rico, signed with the Dodgers but was discovered by the Pirates while stashed with the Montreal Royals in an effort to hide him from the draft.

Clemente made his major league debut April 17, 1955, wearing No. 13. (Pirates center fielder Earl Smith wore No. 21, but played only five games). Despite Vaughan wearing the number before him, No. 21 soon became identifiable with Clemente, who proclaimed, “When I put on my uniform, I feel I am the proudest man on earth.”

It didn’t take long before he shot to stardom. On July 26, 1956, Clemente hit the only documented inside-the-park, walk-off grand slam in modern baseball history in a 9-8 win over the Chicago Cubs at Forbes Field. Clemente became as feared for his rocket right arm, which prevented runners from trying to take third base on hits to right field, as he did for the speed of both his swing and his legs.

Clemente won NL batting titles in 1961 (.351), ’64 (.339), ’65 (.329) and ’67 (.357). He was named NL MVP in 1966, when he slashed .317/.360/.536 with 29 home runs and 119 RBIs in 154 games. Sport Magazine named him the “best ballplayer in baseball today” in ’67, after he hit 23 homers and had 110 RBIs.

“I want to be remembered,” Clemente said, “as a ballplayer who gave all he had to give.”

Clemente gave the Pirates his best in the postseason. He had a career .318 batting average in 26 playoff games, hitting safely against the New York Yankees in all seven games of the 1960 World Series and batting .414 (12 for 29) and hitting a solo home run in the 2-1 Game 7 win over the Baltimore Orioles in 1971 to earn MVP honors.

Clemente recorded his 3,000th hit, a double off Jon Matlack of the New York Mets on Sept. 30, 1972, at Three Rivers Stadium, tipping his cap to Pirates fans who came to adore him.

On New Year’s Eve 1972 — eight days after a massive earthquake rocked Managua, Nicaragua, where Clemente had coached youth baseball — he accompanied a fourth relief flight with aid packages after learning the first three had been diverted by corrupt officials. Clemente died at age 38 when the Douglas DC-7 aircraft carrying 4,200 pounds of cargo crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Isla Verde, Puerto Rico.

The five-year retirement rule was waived for Clemente, who received 393 of 420 votes (92.7%) and was inducted posthumously into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, the first Latin and Caribbean player to earn enshrinement. MLB renamed its Commissioner’s Award, for commitment to community, in Clemente’s honor.

Clemente’s legacy lives on, as does his mission’s message: “If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming behind you, and you don’t do that, you are wasting your time on this Earth.”

Check out the entire ’Burgh’s Best to Wear It series here.