The 2005 World Series

Roberto Clemente

He strutted through 18 major league seasons like a high-strung thoroughbred and gained baseball immortality in a tragic career-ending death while acting as a life-sustaining humanitarian. Proud, honest, intense, sensitive and incredibly talented: Adjectives simply oozed from the sometimes-complicated persona of Roberto Clemente.

Clemente, who learned the game on the sandlots of his native Puerto Rico, was baseball's prototypical right fielder from 1955 to 1972, complete with speed, razor-sharp instincts and an arm that was feared by baserunners throughout the National League. He patrolled the vast right field pasture at Pittsburgh's Forbes Field for most of his career, defiantly staking his claim to greatness with 12 Gold Gloves and defensive comparisons to outfield contemporary Willie Mays.

Clemente's hitting style was unorthodox, but effective enough to produce four N.L. batting titles, a 1966 MVP citation and 15 All-Star invitations. Clemente, 5-11 and 180 pounds with chiseled features and quick wrists, stood away from the plate and kept hands and bat cocked until the last possible second, seemingly pulling line drives right out of the catcher's mitt with an inside-out swing. Clemente, who went through his career complaining of aches and pains that never seemed to affect his play, was a notorious bad-ball hitter who posted a .317 career average and led the Pirates to two World Series championships.

Clemente never forgot his roots and was revered in Puerto Rico as a national hero. He was part of a team flying relief supplies to earthquake-ravaged Nicaragua on December 31, 1972, when the small aircraft exploded and crashed into the ocean. His untimely death occurred only a few months after he had recorded his 3,000th career hit and prompted a special election that gave him immediate distinction as baseball's first Hispanic Hall of Famer.