Espaillat To Honor Roberto Clemente

Espaillat urges Major League to retire the number 21 in honor of Clemente’s life and career

Representative Adriano Espaillat (NY-13) recently reintroduced his resolution recognizing the significant human rights activism and baseball stardom legacy of Roberto Clemente, the first Puerto Rican and first person of Latino heritage to win a World Series as a starter, be named Most Valuable Player Award (MVP), be named World Series MVP, and be elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

“Roberto Clemente was a trailblazer in the fight for Puerto Rican civil rights and utilized his stardom to advocate and defend the rights of Black and Brown communities around our nation,” said Rep. Espaillat. “Clemente was inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s visionary leadership, which spurred his own actions to demand equity for communities of color, better working conditions for MLB players, and his work to help level the playing field through training clinics for minority youth.

“Roberto Clemente was a model player and social advocate, and I am proud to reintroduce a resolution to this Congress to honor his life’s work by urging the Major League Baseball (MLB) to permanently retire the number 21 and expand Roberto Clemente Day to include all ballparks requiring players, coaches, managers, and umpires to wear Clemente’s uniform number, 21, on that day.

“My legislation is a show of respect for the tremendous impact Roberto Clemente had on the lives of others through his humanitarian efforts around the world and his legacy that continues to inspire each of us,” Espaillat concluded.

Clemente became a union leader in the incipient Major League Baseball Players Association and defended players’ rights to demand better working conditions and benefits. In every city where the Pirates played, Clemente visited sick children in hospitals. He put his heart and soul into training clinics, providing baseball lessons and fun for boys and girls in Pittsburgh, his home island of Puerto Rico, and throughout Latin America.

As the League did with Jackie Robinson’s iconic 42 in 1997 on the fiftieth anniversary of his breaking the color barrier in professional sports, the Espaillat Resolution is urging the MLB to retire the number 21 league-wide in recognition of the fiftieth anniversary of Roberto Clemente’s tragic yet heroic death.

Since 1973, Major League Baseball has presented the Roberto Clemente Award to one player in the league who best exemplifies the game of baseball, sportsmanship, community involvement and the individual’s contribution to his team. In 2002, Major League Baseball declared the first annual Roberto Clemente Day and in 2021,the MLB announced September 15th would be the permanent date of Roberto Clemente Day to coincide with the beginning of Hispanic Heritage month each year.

—Submitted by the Office of Adriano Espillat