"Clemente" Docu Omits His Union Leadership & Relationship with Martin Luther King Jr.

PITTSBURGH, PA - Today marks Clemente Day in Pittsburgh, where the Pittsburgh Pirates, along with the Clemente family, hold several events for Roberto Clemente. With the release of the documentary Clemente this week, new attention has been drawn to the life of Latin America’s first baseball superstar.

However, the film, which heavily features his son Roberto Clemente Jr., who endorsed Trump in 2024, omits both Clemente’s union leadership and his relationship to Martin Luther King Jr. Instead, the film attempts to paint Clemente as a Catholic saint and completely omits his political activism as the National League’s first union representative.

Clemente, 38, died on New Year’s Eve in 1972 while on a humanitarian and political mission to Nicaragua to ensure that post-earthquake aid wasn’t being stolen by the U.S.-backed Somoza dictatorship.

Growing up playing baseball in Pittsburgh, it was drilled into my head by Little League coaches, baseball TV announcers, and teachers that Clemente was a selfless humanitarian who gave his life at the peak of his baseball stardom to help others.

Clemente is, in many ways, the patron saint of Pittsburgh. You can see his face painted on murals and his photo in every sports bar. At the Clemente Museum and other places, there is a lot of talk about Clemente’s Catholicism, but very little talk about his politics.

https://paydayreport.com/clemente-docu-omits-his-union-leadership-relationship-with-martin-luther-king-jr/