A Hero's Story

I recently read David Maraniss’s fine biography of the Puerto Rican baseball player Roberto Clemente, and I had a surprising reaction. The book wasn’t about baseball, though that was the reason I chose it. It was about a hero.

Maraniss, a winner of the Pulitzer Prize for his work on the Washington Post, tells us that Clemente was his favorite player, and in fact that this was Maraniss’s only baseball book. (He also wrote two other sports biographies: When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi and Path Lit by Lightning: The Life of Jim Thorpe.) 

The book starts out as a traditional biography, describing Clemente’s childhood, young adulthood, and early baseball life. In fact, at the beginning of his twenties, he appears to have been self-centered and narcissistic.

But gradually, as Clemente matures and Maraniss’s wise, elegant style asserts itself, the book changes. Clemente learns to speak English, laugh at himself, and help teammates. He blossoms into one of the game’s great players, and the fans grow to love him. He becomes a hero. 

In fact, by the end of the book, Roberto Clemente’s life assumes the character of myth, and we find ourselves, because of his greatness and generosity, caught up in the glory and tragedy of his life. 

I urge you, with the help of David Maraniss, to meet this remarkable man—a great baseball player who transcended sports to become a hero.