Wash Heights Pol Pushes To Retire Roberto Clemente's Number Across MLB

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY — Upper Manhattan Rep. Adriano Espaillat introduced a bill in Congress on Friday urging Major League Baseball to retire Roberto Clemente's 21 jersey number league wide, and to add his place of death in Puerto Rico to the National Register of Historic Places.

Clemente was a Puerto Rican baseball player who played 18 seasons for the Pittsburgh Pirates, before he tragically died in 1972 at the age of 38 in a plane crash where he was delivering relief supplies to Nicaragua following a massive earthquake.

“Roberto Clemente was the model player social advocate, and I am proud to introduce a resolution to honor his life and legacy and urge the MLB to retire the number 21 league-wide as a show of respect for the tremendous impact on the lives of others through his humanitarian efforts around the world," Espaillat wrote in a news release for his legislation.

Currently, Jackie Robinson, who broke the color barrier in the MLB, is the only player to have his number 42 retired league wide.

Following Clemente's death, he became the first Caribbean and the first Latin-American player to be inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1973. During his playing days, he was the first person of Latino heritage to win a World Series as a starter, to be named MVP, and to be named World Series MVP.

Clemente's No. 21 is retired by his team the Pittsburgh Pirates, and the MLB renamed its annual Commissioner's Award to the Roberto Clemente Award.

“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, both on the field and in the streets,” wrote Espaillat in a news release. “After the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., in 1968, Clemente led his teammates in refusing to play Opening Day until after Dr. King’s funeral and even wrote a public statement showing his respect of Dr. King’s visionary leadership."

Espaillat has been a vocal baseball fan during his years in office, and stays involved in the Upper Manhattan Little Leagues.

You can read the full bill on the House of Representatives website.