On This Day ...

 

Have you ever done a web-search on one of those ‘This Day in History’ sites? I’m sure that most have.
But let me ask … Does any one historical event come to mind for this day, December 31^st? Of course, with exception, that it's New Years Eve. I’ll provide the year momentarily. Though one added note about this particular year … Only twenty days prior, Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt became that last astronauts to walk on the moon. No help, huh?

I was quite disappointed to discover how little some ‘Day in History’ sites offered in regards to this individual. At times their only contribution was the DOB, occupation and date of death. Most of those sites are mainly about advertising, more than 'history'. While other sites were quite generous, providing material that I had not even known.

December 31st, 1972

This person, OK, l’ll give it away, guy … was originally signed by my own Brooklyn Dodgers. Kind of like our Portland Trailblazers not signing this little known fella … named ... Michael Jordan. Ouch! Also on that Dodger team was a pitcher by the name of Tommy Lasorda. Our mystery man was a U.S. Marine and his last name is Walker. But, I’m almost positive that this name will not be of much help. He wore a number on his shirt made up of the total letters of his name. So cool ... and original! And his batting coach was the great George Sisler.

He was once asked about racial and ethnic tensions, to which he responded, “I don’t believe in color”. This he said, was the way that we were taught as children.

It was said by a close friend, Luis Mayoral, that he was to Latinos what “Jackie Robinson was to blacks”. As well, he would become the first Latin American player selected to baseball’s Hall of Fame. They even waived their five-year rule because of him.

When he was in his home country, he played for the Cangrejeros (Crabbers). In 1956 he hit baseballs lone walk-off inside the park home run. And a month before my birth he accomplished a rare feat of hitting three triples in a single game. He became an annual winner of baseball's Golden Glove award (Best defensive player at his position), as well as a fifteen-time All-Star. Once he was the league MVP, as well as being the 1971 World Series MVP.

And his very last at bat of his career, was his illustrious three thousandth. For those non-baseball fans (Will Horton), this is one of baseball’s most elite accomplishments.

So … lot’s of facts about one of my childhood favorites. One, whom, as a young boy, I would often pretend to be ... along with others, like Sandy Koufax and Willie Mays. This gentleman, number ‘21’, stands above all. Hard, diligent play has always been very important to me as a ballplayer. But above this … is sportsmanship! This man displayed both ... to the extent that baseball’s award presented annually to a Major League player for exemplary sportsmanship and community service is named after him.

His name … ‘Roberto Clemente Walker’. Known by most without his maternal family name of Walker. Early in December of 1972, Roberto had visited Managua, Nicaragua. Three weeks later, on December 23^rd, an earthquake stuck the country. Roberto began arranging emergency relief medical flights. Though, with concerns that the supplies from the first three flights never reached the intended victims, he determined to accompany the fourth flight into the country. His motto was, "If you have a chance to help others and fail to do so, you're wasting your time on this earth".

Fifty years ago today, on December 31st, 1972, Roberto Clemente boarded that plane in the evening, flying only briefly, before crashing into the ocean. It is said that a fellow Puerto Rican friend describe this news as the “night that happiness died”.

Mr. Clemente, most of the above are trivial facts of your life as one of baseball's greats. As amazing as they are, nothing compares to how you lived your life. It is in honor of that life that I leave this blog. Thank you number ‘21’. Thank you for showing us what compassion looks like … Thank you for showing us that we “don’t need to believe in color”. Might we all go out "And live the life of a common fellow".

 

With Admiration … 

 

 

 

 

 

 Roberto's last interview ~ https://youtu.be/RFEH5nxSoKc ~ (Life, Racial and Baseball)

About the plane ... and crash ~ https://youtu.be/CC4V_1aJzzc

 

That Was Then ...

 It was the mid 1990’s and I was enjoying a wonderful summer day while completing a landscape project on my hillside. The good news about the blaring music was that it was 1960’s and 70’s soft rock. A genre that I greatly enjoy and fondly reminisce. None-the-less, the seemingly 120 decibel’s exiting her speakers was a bit much even for me. I walked over and knocked onto the wooden screen door. With no response, I hollered, “Terri, can you turn the music down”? Again, no response. Fortunately while dancing to the music, she began a pirouette. It was then that our eyes caught one another. So I attempted one more time, and hollered, “Terri, can you turn the music down”? To which she replied, “Just a minute neighbor, the music’s too loud”! “Exactly”!

Those early years brought a variety of surprises in our neighborhood ~~ the last which occurred in 2007. It was on a Fall day when Terri went across the street offering an apology to a couple little girls. Now a decade and a half later and her ‘15 Year Sobriety’ coin in hand, she says, “That was then”. 

And this is joy ~

There’s not a one of us with whom change is not necessary. But I guess when a “transformation” is so dramatic, so life “altering”, that one can simply pull a coin out of their pocket and exclaim, “That was then”!

Choosing never again to have reason to offer such an apology, those little girls you might say, forever renewed her life. So yes, she has reason to exclaim with joy, “That was then”!

And I can say … there has NEVER been a neighbor quite like Terri. Ha! And I rejoice with her at fifteen years. And here’s to the next ... fifteen ...