Roberto Clemente

When Roberto Clemente was growing up in Puerto Rico, his family had no money to buy him a baseball bat and balls. So he made his own from old golf balls or crunched up socks. Roberto encountered both fortune and pain on his road to becoming a professional baseball player. In addition to being a great baseball player, Clemente was also a great humanitarian. In 1972, when an earthquake destroyed much of Managua, Nicaragua, Clemente volunteered to help in the relief effort. His plane never made it, and he died a hero.