Clemente Jr. is keeper of family flame

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Being the son of a Hall of Fame athlete isn’t always easy. Some thrive, but many buckle under the pressure of owning a famous last name.

Roberto Clemente Jr. has done well for himself, even after his baseball playing career paled in comparison to that of his father, the former Pittsburgh Pirate great who died tragically at age 38 on New Year’s Eve of 1972 in an airplane crash while delivering aid to earthquake victims in Nicaragua.

The eldest of Roberto’s three sons has carried on the name in a manner that would have made his father proud. He is a broadcaster, businessman and curator of the Roberto Clemente Foundation and “Roberto’s Kids,” the latter endeavor helping youth baseball organizations in the United States, Canada and Latin American countries.

Clemente Jr., 50, will visit Portland Nov. 13 as honored guest and keynote speaker at the 10th anniversary gala for Friends of Baseball at the Oregon Golf Club. (For information see friendsofbaseball.org.)

Friends of Baseball is an organization that provides assistance to youth baseball groups and has sent Roberto’s Kids baseball cleats, socks and other equipment in the past. Clemente Jr.’s Portland appearance is payback.

“I believe in what they’re doing,” says Clemente Jr. in a phone interview from Pittsburgh, where he was attending a reunion of the 1960 Pirates. “I’m glad for the opportunity to go there and motivate the kids and be part of the fund-raiser.”

Clemente Jr. says he has several speaking engagements each year.

“It’s something I enjoy doing, something I believe in,” he says. “Every time I have an opportunity to speak with kids, I do. Every time I travel somewhere, I make it a point to speak to a group of kids and, hopefully, touch them and make a difference with even one or two of them.”

Clemente Jr. was 7 years old when his father died.

“But I have many memories of him,” Clemente Jr. says. “I feel very blessed to have the memories I have.”

Clemente Jr. was born on Aug. 17, 1965, in Santurce, Puerto Rico, to Roberto and Vera Clemente.

“I make fun with Mom — I was born at 11:55 p.m. on the 17th,” Clemente Jr. says. “I missed being born on Dad’s birthday by five minutes.”

Roberto Jr. participated in volleyball, track and field, and basketball, as well as baseball as a youngster and was signed by the Philadelphia Phillies in 1985. He played three years of Rookie and Single-A ball, hitting .190 in 103 games before knee and back injuries curtailed his career.

Trying to live up to the name of one of the legends of the game wasn’t easy for Clemente Jr.

“There was some internal pressure, no doubt,” he says. “The first spring training with the Phillies was a circus. I’m not sure I dealt with it as well as I should have.”

Clemente Jr. says there was another roadblock to a pro baseball career.

“A couple years ago, I was treated at a brain clinic and found I had at least 15 concussions before high school,” says Clemente Jr., who now makes his home in Houston. “I went to play pro baseball with no peripheral vision and only a percentage of my balance. I think some of it was from trying to be Spiderman as a kid — swinging around in trees and doing all kinds of stuff. You can get concussed even from pillow fights.”

That has led to Clemente Jr.’s involvement in “RC21X,” an advanced brain health video game and performance measurement system. (The acronym comes from Clemente’s initials and uniform No. 21.) The video game creates a brain performance profile that can be used to measure further neurocognitive and neuro-motor performance and recovery from injury and illness.

“My focus has been on the technology of RC21X as a monitoring tool,” Clemente Jr. says. “Health and wellness programs don’t have anything for the brain. We started this to get in front of all the health systems. People have to understand you can get concussed and not even know it. We’re working hard to create awareness and give people the opportunity to use this game to spot any problems.”

After his baseball career ended, Clemente Jr. returned to Puerto Rico to help his mother open the Robert Clemente Sports City. Clemente Jr.’s younger brother, Luis, is now president of the athletic complex located on 304 acres a mile from the San Juan airport. There are plans to develop a sports medicine complex on the site.

In 1992, Clemente Jr. helped establish the RBI (Reviving Baseball in the Inner Cities) program in Pittsburgh, aimed at bringing minority youths to the sport. A year later, he started the Roberto Clemente Foundation. Major League Baseball has embraced and helped promote both programs.

In the late ’90s, “Roberto’s Kids” was formed to help provide baseball equipment to young players throughout the world.

“The organization is amazing in terms of what they’re doing to gather equipment and get them to the different countries, from Africa to Washington D.C., so that kids have the opportunity to play,” Clemente Jr. says.

For nearly a decade, Clemente Jr. worked in broadcasting. From 1997-2001, he handled play-by-play duties on television and radio for New York Yankee Spanish-language broadcasts.

“My last call was Game 7 of the 2001 World Series, when Luis Gonzalez got the hit off Mariano Rivera in the ninth inning (for Arizona) to beat the Yankees,” Clemente Jr. says.

Clemente Jr. also hosted a Spanish-language television show for the MLB Network and later worked several years for ESPN. He hopes to have talks with the Houston Astros to do some broadcasting for the club next season.

As he has traveled the country, Clemente Jr. has been surprised at the depth of interest in his father’s career.

“His legacy is stronger than ever,” he says. “It’s amazing that more than 43 years (after his death), we’re having conversations with young people and their parents. Some of the kids have decided to do year-end school projects on him. They have become Roberto Clemente fans. They never saw him play, but they relate to the story of how he lived his life and how he died. It’s truly remarkable how strongly they feel about him.”

Several years ago, Clemente Jr. was seated at a table next to broadcasting legend Dan Rather at a fund-raiser in New York City.

“Dan is a big Yankee fan,” Clemente Jr. says. “He told me a story about watching a game with his grandson, who was 10 years old at the time. Melky Cabrera made a great throw from the outfield to home plate. One bounce to the catcher and he threw the runner out. Dan said, ‘Wow, that was a great throw.’ His grandson said, ‘Yeah, good throw, but not a Clemente.’ The grandson had read books about my dad. Dan was more than impressed.”

Vera Clemente, 74, is in good health and living in Puerto Rico. Luis, who had a short pro career that advanced no farther than Single-A, lives there and still runs the Roberto Clemente Sports City. The youngest Clemente son, Roberto Enrique, did not play professional ball. He, too, lives in Puerto Rico.

“He’s helping Luis,” Roberto Jr. says, “and the most important part is helping take care of Mom.”

kerryeggers@portlandtribune.com

Twitter: @kerryeggers