December 31st, 1972: A Day That Will Live in Pirates Infamy
On the night of December 31st, 1972, the baseball world seemed to stop when Pirates legend Roberto Clemente died in a plane crash. Clements was trying to send aid to the people of Nicaragua after a 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck the nation at 12:29 am on December 23rd. Not much aid was being sent to the Nicaraguan people, so Clemente took it upon himself to help the country and loaded up supplies to fly to the people. Clements was an all-around great human being and he felt it was his duty to help the people in their time of need. Clemente's flight took off frame San Juan International airport at 9 pm and by 9:02 pm Clemente and four other people on the plane were dead.
Clemente had just collected his 3,000th hit in his final game of the 1972 season and had been the face of the Pirates since the mid-1950s. He was a two-time World Series Champion in 1960 and 1971 and was named the MVP of the 1971 World Series. He was a 12-time Gold Glove Award-winning outfielder and was named National League MVP in 1966. But even more than his on-field awards was the tireless charity work he performed off the field. That is why the Roberto Clemente award exists, being given to the best all-around player both on and off the field each season. Clemente always said, "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." This is a motto he embodied until his untimely death that fateful night.
The Days Leading Up To The Crash
A week before Clemente's death, on December 23rd, 1972, the country of Nicaragua was rocked with a 6.3 magnitude earthquake. The earthquake occurred near the capital city of Managua and the casualties were devastating. Nearly 11,000 people were killed, 20,000 were injured, and over 300,000 were left homeless from the disaster. It was one of the worst tragedies to strike the country with all of their firefighting equipment being destroyed and all four of their hospitals rendered unserviceable. The country did not have enough relief aid to go around and had to appeal to other countries around the world for much-needed assistance.
The response was tremendous as over 25 different countries sent aid to the Nicaraguan people, including Mexico and the United States. The relief was worth in total over a million dollars, but much of it was not being given to the people who needed it most. The Somoza family had been ruling Nicaragua since 1936 and the youngest brother Anastasio Somoza Debayle was the dictator and had been in power since 1967. The citizens were already disgruntled by some of his business dealings, and it was released that he was holding the aid for himself instead of distributing it to the people. This caused the people to rise up against Somoza and started a subsequent civil war in 1973. It was these reports of corruption that made Roberto Clemente take matters into his own hands.
Clemente directed four different flights to bring aid to the Nicaraguan people, and he was set to travel to the country with the fourth flight. However, as Clemente was loading supplies into his plane, he realized he had more aid than his plane could carry. He was in a rush to get a plane and a solution came along. A guy by the name of Arthur Rivera showed up and offered to fly Clemente and his supplies to Nicaragua for $4,000. Clemente accepted the offer but didn't know of Rivera's shady history. The plane that Rivera was offering was a DC-7 propeller plane, one of the last cargo planes developed by the Douglas Company.
However, the plane was in bad shape and had two bent propellers it suffered during a December 2nd accident when Rivera was flying it. Rivera painted over the damage but left the engine untouched during his repairs. Rivera had previously been cited for several safety violations in Puerto Rico, making the flight even riskier. Still, Clemente forged on loading his supplies into the battered plane on the night of December 31st. Things weren't looking good even before the flight took off as officials at the airport warned Clemente that the plane looked dangerously overloaded. Clemente just wanted to get help to the struggling people of Nicaragua and ended up boarding the plane anyway. Teammate Larry Walker offered to go with Clemente, but Clemente told him to stay with his family. That gesture ended up saving Walker's life and allowed Neil Walker to later develop into a star in Pittsburgh.
The Night That Will Forever Be Remembered
Clemente's original plan was to take off in the afternoon on December 31st, but they decided to wait until nightfall when the temperature was more favorable. It was 76 degrees at the time of liftoff and the five-passenger crew boarded the flight. Along with Clemente was pilot Jerry Hill, plane owner Rivera, fill-in mechanic Fransisco Matias, and Clemente's associate Angel Lozano. Days prior to the flight, Clemente's family told him they had a bad feeling about the flight and Clemente reportedly had a dream that he was overlooking his own funeral days before the flight. However, helping people was a Clemente cared about so he went on and boarded the flight.
The flight took off at 9 pm from San Juan International airport, and as it was going down the runway there were signs of engine failure. The flight took off and the plane made it to an altitude of 200 feet before things went wrong. One of the engines gave out, and the plane crashed into the Pacific Ocean, killing all five passengers on board. None of the bodies were found, and it was later discovered that the plane was too damaged and should have never been airborne. The news spread to Puerto Rico and hit the island nation extremely hard, with one of Clemente's friends saying "It was the day that happiness died."
Because of Clemente's tremendous legacy in Major League Baseball, the Baseball writers posthumously voted Clemente to the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame in 1973. They waived the five-year waiting period given the tragedy and Clemente's stellar career with the Pirates. There are still many reminders of Clemente's legacy when you walk inside PNC Park today. The bridge on the way over to the park is named the Roberto Clemente bridge, and the right-field wall is 21 feet high in honor of the Pirates legend. In 2002, Clemente received another honor as George Bush awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which was accepted by his wife Vers Clemente.
Clemente will forever be remembered for his work both on and off the field for Pittsburgh and across the world. Clemente helped usher in some of the best years of Pirates baseball in the 1960s, following several years of bad luck in the 50s. He overcame a lot including a near career-ending car crash in the mid-1950s and a bout with Malaria before the 1956 season. Clemente also honorably served the United States as a Marine during the off-seasons from 1958 to 1964. He was inducted into the Marine Corps Sports Hall of Fame in 2003 and into the Puerto Rican Veterans Hall of Fame in 2018. Clemente will forever embody what it means to be a Pirate and a Human Being. That is why every time players take the field they slap the sign above the steps from the clubhouse that reads "When I put on my uniform, I am the happiest man alive."
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