Clemente's Legacy | Pittsburgh and Puerto Rico, Connected

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Just a few weeks ago, I got on a one-way flight to Pittsburgh. After graduating from the Río Piedras Campus of the University of Puerto Rico, I felt like I was leaving my home and my happiness to start a new and different life in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The funny thing is, I'm originally from Pittsburgh. In fact, I had lived all my life in The City of Bridges until I moved to La Isla del Encanto to get my Master’s Degree. What I didn't know was that in those years living in Puerto Rico, far from my family and everything I loved, I was going to find a new love for an island, its people and culture in the middle of the Caribbean. I didn't know that in those years I was going to make a new home, nor did I know the connections I was going to uncover between Pittsburgh and Puerto Rico.

Making Connections to Pittsburgh

Although the differences between Pittsburgh and Puerto Rico are many – the language, the music, the weather – I discovered that there are more similarities than meets the eye, stemming from a deeper perspective.

When people think of cities with close ties to Puerto Rico, they don't often think of Pittsburgh. New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Florida typically win the prize for places that have a lot of Puerto Rican culture coursing through the streets.

However, the connection between Pittsburgh and Puerto Rico runs deeper than the percentage of Puerto Ricans per capita. The relationship between Pittsburgh and Puerto Rico is something that begins with a shared sense of pride in one man: Roberto Clemente.

The Great One

The rivers of Pittsburgh connect with the infinite seas of Puerto Rico through the love and legacy of Roberto Clemente. Pittsburgh owes much of the pride around Roberto Clemente’s name to the people of Puerto Rico who lent their star, The Great One, to the City of Bridges.

Clemente chose Pittsburgh as his second home, but the love, loyalty and pride he had for his country cannot be denied or forgotten. Without Puerto Rico, there is no Roberto Clemente. That is why the city of Pittsburgh, for all its love around Roberto Clemente, is indebted to La Isla del Encanto.

Preserving Clemente's Legacy | Sept. 30 Open House

The Clemente Museum, located in the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh, PA, is attempting to honor the connection between Pittsburgh and Puerto Rico with the goal of preserving the legacy of Roberto Clemente. The museum wants to show all who come the great impact Roberto Clemente had around Pittsburgh, Puerto Rico and the world.

On September 30th, the anniversary of Clemente's 3,000th hit, there will be an Open House dedicated to Puerto Rican culture at the Clemente Museum. As part of the celebrations, there will be several activities to honor and benefit Roberto Clemente’s birthplace. This includes a traditional Afro-Puerto Rican Bomba and Plena band, Puerto Rican Food (Comida Criolla) from a local, Puerto Rican-Owned restaurant and typical Puerto Rican dance and art workshops. It is an event for the whole family!

As a way to give back to the Puerto Rican community, the museum will also be raising funds to donate to the Puerto Rican Non-Profit Organization, Taller Comunidad La Goyco. La Goyco is a neighborhood organization located in the Machuchal sector and Calle Loiza of Santurce, Puerto Rico that develops cultural, community, and health initiatives. Repurposed from an old elementary school building that was closed by the Department of Education in 2015, the building has become their center of operations.

Taller Comunidad La Goyco is located in the Santurce neighborhood of San Juan where Clemente began his professional baseball career at the age of 18. Tito Matos, one of the organization’s co-founders, a well-known Puerto Rican “Plenero” who dedicated his life to the well-being of his community and his people, similar to Roberto Clemente. Tito Matos, who also passed away suddenly and unexpectedly, embodied the same humanitarian spirit and upheld similar values of social justice as Roberto Clemente. Tickets for the event are on sale on our website.

Feeling the Connection

Aida Raquel Lozada Rivera, a professor at the University of Puerto Rico’s Río Piedras Campus, recently traveled from Caguas, Puerto Rico to visit the Clemente Museum. She describes why she feels a close connection to Pittsburgh: “The connection between Puerto Rico and Pittsburgh is permanent and will continue forever, as Clemente's image is imprinted in our hearts."

She tells of how the people of Puerto Rico have chosen Roberto Clemente to represent their flag, their roots, and their identity, and adds that Pittsburgh, as a city, has adopted Roberto Clemente and treated him like a son. In a sense, it is a shared loyalty to Clemente because of the way he is remembered and loved in Pittsburgh and Puerto Rico.

Clemente played 16 seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates, winning two World Series and was the recipient of 12 Gold Gloves. Still, Clemente's legacy goes far beyond his professional accomplishments. His real successes lie in the humanitarian work he did around his island and his adopted home.

He worked to bring the sport to Puerto Rican children and give them the opportunity to participate in baseball clinics. He recognized a young girl who was hospitalized during the Clemente Day celebration in 1970; and, as everyone knows, he lost his life in a plane crash attempting to bring aid to the Nicaraguan people after an earthquake that caused catastrophic damage to the country and its people.

Baseball as Representation

Puerto Rico, “the world's oldest colony”, does not have traditional representation in US politics. Because of this, Puerto Rican representation in sports is one of the only forms of mainstream representation that the country has in the United States.

Dereck Flores of Carolina, Puerto Rico (Clemente’s birth city) argues, “Just the thought of what his legacy is among non-Puerto Ricans and his unexpected departure from this world is astronomical.”

For Flores and other Puerto Ricans, the symbolic value that the Clemente name has (especially in another place outside the island) is invaluable not only for Puerto Rican pride, but also for the denied presence Puerto Rico has as a “territory” of the United States.

The Modern Pittsburgh/Puerto Rico Connection

Currently, the population of Puerto Ricans living in Pittsburgh is small, although that number is increasing. There are several groups such as Pittsburgh Stands with Puerto Rico' that want to emphasize the deep-rooted connection between the island and the city.

Undoubtedly, there is a large number of people from Pittsburgh that are eager to travel to Puerto Rico and spend a few days under the warm Caribbean sun. However, there is also a large number of people from Puerto Rico that want to travel to Pittsburgh to see Clemente's second home and experience Pittsburgh for themselves.

Everyday Puerto Ricans come to the Clemente Museum; they don't have to be baseball fans, nor necessarily know about the facts or professional achievements of #21. It is the Puerto Rican pride that brings them to Pittsburgh to see how they are still being represented and honored through Roberto Clemente’s legacy.

Johanna Vidal-Phelan, a native of Carolina, Puerto Rico, who currently lives with her family in Pittsburgh, PA, is yet another Roberto Clemente fan who recognizes the value of Clemente's representation around the world. She writes in one of her LinkedIn publications, “I couldn’t stop thinking how astounding it was to meet with and witness fans from all over the country sharing the same admiration for my Puerto Rican hero” (Vidal-Phelan, 2019).

After a visit to the Clemente Museum, she commented on the undeniable connection of Pittsburgh and Puerto Rico, “Knowing that Roberto Clemente was born in Carolina, Puerto Rico, and how he was and is adored by his Pittsburgh fans, has always connected me with the City of Bridges.” She strongly believes that if Pittsburgh embraces Roberto Clemente, and all he stood for, then it is certainly a city where her unique family can belong.

Looking Forward

The colonial relationship between the United States and Puerto Rico is a relationship that requires nuance. The repercussions of colonialism cause much pain, trauma and suffering for many people living on the island. Not only are the direct effects harmful, but it also causes division among the Puerto Rican population and the diaspora. It is a dynamic relationship that is not often discussed between non-Puerto Ricans; this oversight is something that perpetuates the colonial violence of the United States towards Puerto Rico. It is necessary to talk about and integrate historical aspects with the present situation to find solutions to the consequences of this relationship.

The connection between Pittsburgh and Puerto Rico is one that is based on the good deeds of a man who had the opportunity to live parts of his life in both places. My hope is that Roberto Clemente's legacy, and his spirit of helping others, will serve as an example of how the actions of one person can result in such a powerful legacy. Yinzers and Boricuas share the same precious responsibility to represent and advocate for the well-being of others and support justice for all in the name of their shared hero, Roberto Clemente.

Pittsburgh and Puerto Rico will always have the shared experience of representing and honoring the great Roberto Clemente. The most powerful thing that can come out of that beautiful connection is the shared goal of caring for others and respecting everyone regardless of invisible or created borders.

I've been living in Pittsburgh, my new (old) home, for just over a month now. I still feel an immense pressure to not lose my connection with Puerto Rico, while building a new connection within the Pittsburgh community. Working at the Clemente Museum has been an excellent way to continue connecting with Puerto Ricans almost every day.

I understand that it was time for me to leave Puerto Rico (for now), but I am realizing that the shared traits between Pittsburgh and Puerto Rico make me feel at home in both places, even if they are thousands of miles apart. Like Roberto Clemente and the others who have left Puerto Rico, I will always carry Puerto Rico in my heart while advocating for and supporting those who are from La Isla del Encanto.