THIS DAY IN BÉISBOL December 31: Roberto Clemente dies in air crash at 38

The baseball world was shocked and stunned after news spread that Pittsburgh Pirates icon Roberto Clemente had been killed in an airplane crash on this day in béisbol, December 31, 1972.

Clemente, 38, died along with four other passengers and crew on the four-engine DC-7, which slammed into the ocean shortly after 9 p.m. after taking off from San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The baseball star, 38, was on a humanitarian mission to bring relief supplies to victims of an earthquake that had recently struck Nicaragua.

A lifetime .317 hitter and outstanding right fielder who amassed 12 Gold Glove awards, Clemente won four batting titles and was named National League MVP in 1966. He was a member of the Pirates’ championship teams in 1960 and 1971 and had exactly 3,000 hits when he died.

He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1973 after the board waived the usual five-year waiting period, further cementing his status as a baseball legend.

Associated Press Alamy, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons, LatinoBaseball illustration