page_title: Roberto Clemente
section_title: Major League Baseball (1955–1972)
hierarchical_section_title: Roberto Clemente / Major League Baseball (1955–1972)
caption_attribution_description: English: Cropped and rotated from the PDF at the National Archives. Service Record for Roberto Clemente Walker, 09/30/1958; Official Military Personnel Files, compiled 1912–1998; Records of the Army Staff, Record Group 319; National Archives at St. Louis.
context_page_description: Roberto Enrique Clemente Walker was a Puerto Rican professional baseball right fielder who played 18 seasons in Major League Baseball for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1973, becoming both the first Latin American and Caribbean player to be enshrined. His untimely death established the precedent that, as an alternative to the five-year retirement period, a player who has been deceased for at least six months is eligible for entry into the Hall of Fame.
  Clemente was an All-Star for 13 seasons, playing in 15 All-Star Games. He was the National League Most Valuable Player in 1966, the NL batting leader in 1961, 1964, 1965, and 1967, and a Gold Glove Award winner for 12 consecutive seasons from 1961 through 1972. His batting average was over .300 for 13 seasons and he had 3,000 hits during his major league career. He also was a two-time World Series champion. Clemente is the first Latin American and Caribbean player to win a World Series as a starting position player, to receive an NL MVP Award, and to receive a World Series MVP Award.
context_section_description: For all but the first six weeks of his major league career (during which time his jersey bore the number 13, while the number now indelibly linked to his name was taken by then-teammate Earl Smith), Clemente wore number 21, later retired by the Pirates.
  During the off-seasons (except the 1958–59, 1962–63, 1965–66, 1968–69, 1971–72, and 1972–73 seasons), Clemente played professionally for the Santurce Crabbers, Criollos de Caguas, and San Juan Senadores in the Puerto Rican baseball winter league, where he was considered a star, and he sometimes managed the San Juan team.
  In September 1958, Clemente joined the United States Marine Corps Reserve. He went on to serve his six-month active duty commitment at Parris Island, South Carolina, Camp LeJeune in North Carolina, and Washington, D.C. At Parris Island, Clemente received his recruit training with Platoon 346 of the 3rd Recruit Battalion. The rigorous Marine Corps training programs helped Clemente physically; he added strength by gaining ten pounds and said his back troubles (caused by being in a 1954 auto accident, see below) had disappeared. He was a private first class in the Marine Corps Reserve until September 1964.
caption: Clemente in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve in September 1958.
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