Jason Mackey reflects on Roberto Clemente‘s lasting legacy as the fiftieth anniversary of his death in a plane crash. He was on his way to help in relief efforts after an earthquake in Nicaragua.

My family went to visit old friends that day, a couple that was very close to my grandmother. Both my mom and aunt worked as baby sitters for the couple’s children. One of the sons-in-law had received a copy of the second edition of MacMillan’s The Baseball Encyclopedia for Christmas. I was fascinated by the book, and as I was leafing through the pages, the son-in-law asked if we had heard that Clemente had died. My dad and I were both shocked.

Clemente was near the end of his career when I started watching baseball. I mostly saw him during the 1971 post-season, in which he played well during both the NLCS and the World Series. Mostly I remembered his great arm:

The article speaks with people who remember so much more about the man, not just the ballplayer.