Roberto Enrique Clemente Walker (August 18, 1934-December 31, 1972) was a Puerto Rican professional baseball player who played 18 seasons in Major League Baseball for the Pittsburgh Pirates, primarily as a right fielder. On December 31, 1972, Clemente was killed when his Douglas DC-7 airplane, which he had chartered for a flight to deliver emergency relief goods for the survivors of a massive earthquake in Nicaragua, crashed and plunged into the water off the coast of Isla Verde, Puerto Rico. He was 38 years old. After his death, the National Baseball Hall of Fame changed its rules so that a player who had been dead for at least six months would be eligible for entry.

In 1973, Clemente was posthumously inducted, becoming the first Latino and Caribbean player and second of Hispanic descent (after Lefty Gomez in 1972) to be honored in the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. Clemente was an All-Star for 13 seasons, selected to 15 All-Star Games, and a two-time World Series champion (1960, 1971). He was the National League Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 1966, the N.L. 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. Clemente was the first player from the Caribbean and Latin America to win a World Series as a starting position player (1960), to receive an NL MVP Award (1966), and to receive a World Series MVP Award (1971). The following recording is from the last interview before his untimely death.