When the Great One goes to Brooklyn

Beating out both the New York Giants and crosstown Yankees, as well as the Milwaukee Braves, the Brooklyn Dodgers 72 years ago today sign future Hall of Fame right fielder Roberto Clemente.

Clemente, then all of 19 years old, signs a one-year contract worth $5,000.

The contract also comes with a $10,000 signing bonus.

The Braves actually offer more money, but Clemente says no, thanks, as he already commits himself to the Dodgers.

The Dodgers then try to hide Clemente on the roster of their Montreal farm team for the 1954 season, but to no avail as any other team with a halfway competent scout can see Clemente is something special.

Roberto Clemente with the Pirates in the mid-1950s

The Pittsburgh Pirates after the ’54 season pluck Clemente from the Montreal roster in the Rule V draft.

Clemente then begins his major league career with Pittsburgh in 1955.

Over the next 18 seasons, the Great One collects 3,000 hits, 15 All-Star Game selections, 12 Gold Gloves for his excellence in right field, four batting titles, two World Series championships and one National League MVP award.

Clemente then receives a much-deserved expedited election to the Hall of Fame in 1973 after his tragic death in a plane crash on New Year’s Eve 1972.

“He’s a shining star to many, many people,” says Joe L. Brown, the Pirates’ general manager from 1956-76 and for the near totality of Clemente’s career in the majors.

“He grows and grows over time. He doesn’t diminish,” Brown says. “The sad part is that there are not enough TV pictures of him. He made so many great plays that people can only talk about. You could never capture the magnificence of the man.”

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