I have to confess some qualms about using the word “hero” in the subtitle. It is an overused word, especially in sports. We can have idols, or favorite players, but seldom are athletes true heroes. But Clemente fit the classic definition of a hero–someone who gives his life in the service of others.
The larger themes his story touches on made me want to write the book, and many of those themes are more relevant than ever today–the rise of Latinos in baseball and American life, the evolution of a character beyond the playing field, the transformation of a human being into a mythological figure.
Clemente had to fight all the stereotypes that were thrown at Latinos in this country. Life magazine in 1960 said he displayed a “typical Latin American style showboating”–using an example of an inside-the-park home run in which he bowled over the third-base coach on his way to score. If it had been Don Hoak or Pete Rose, they would have praised his hustle.
Clemente is virtually a patron saint in much of baseball-playing Latin America, because of the pride with which he played and lived and the manner in which he died.
In his hometown of Carolina, Puerto Rico, there is a 30-foot cenotaph depicting his life and in the middle panel he is shown standing proudly holding a lamb. That reflects the reverence with which he’s held.
Ozzie Guillen, manager of the White Sox, said after the World Series last year that he had a virtual shrine to Clemente at his home, the one Latino ballplayer he admired above all others.
In his final years, Clemente said that if you have a chance to help others and fail to do so, you are wasting your time on this earth. That is the motivation that led him to try to bring humanitarian aid to Nicaragua after the earthquake in December 1972, and it was that effort that led to his death in a plane crash.
My grandfather was a printer, my dad was a newspaperman, and my mother was a book editor. They gave me enormous freedom to screw up, but surrounded me with books and ideas that helped me find my way. My siblings were all scholars. I was the dumb one in the family who followed my dad into journalism (1).
My dad taught me to hate prejudice and ignorance, but not to hate prejudiced and ignorant people. There is a huge difference.
My dad was an officer in an all-black regiment in World War II, and always taught me to be sensitive to the underdogs and the repressed. Among other things, he taught me to never root for the Red Sox because they were the last team to integrate. But even he would love them now with “Big Papi” and Manny (Boston sluggers David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez).
I wrote Lombardi (2) for two reasons: I grew up in Wisconsin and Lombardi and the Packers of the glory years were a huge presence in my life. But more than that, I saw an opportunity through Lombardi to write about the mythology of competition and success in American life.
He did not believe in winning at any cost, and never really said the phrase most attributed to him: “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.” It was first uttered publicly by a young actress in a John Wayne move called “Trouble Along the Way.”
Clinton was the most fascinating political character, for better and worse, that I will ever encounter. His life’s story was fascinating (3), and it also provided me with an opportunity to write about my generation, the post-war “Baby Boom” generation. His life is a continuous cycle of loss and recovery and loss again and recovery again.
I think all people have a yin and yang. Clinton in particular was an exaggeration of all of us. What Lombardi, Clinton, and Clemente all had in common, as different as they were, is an enormous will to overcome the odds and succeed.
The best thing about the media are the thousands of fearless journalists who still are out there trying to find the truth. The worst thing about journalism is that the culture is making it harder for them to do their invaluable work.
(1): Now as an associate editor at the Washington Post.
(2): “When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi.”
(3): In his book titled “First in his Class: A Biography of Bill Clinton.”
