UNDER THE MICROSCOPE: Life Detective seeks out stories of life’s unseen forces to gain a better understanding of life’s mysteries.  On Major League Baseball’s 2022 Opening Day, we explore an inspiring spiritual connection between two Pittsburgh Pirates: Roberto Clemente, a Hall of Famer who died in a plane crash in the Caribbean Sea in 1972, and Neil Walker.  

#21 Roberto Clemente: Baseball Star, Citizen, and Humanitarian

Born in 1934 as the youngest of seven children, Roberto Clemente came from humble beginnings in Puerto Rico.  An outstanding youth athlete, he eventually went on to baseball stardom as right fielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates.  In his 18 years of playing major league baseball, his accomplishments were clearly those of an all-time great with Hall of Fame credentials:

  • 3000 career hits, only the 11th player to reach that milestone as of 1972;
  • League Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 1966;
  • A .317 batting average;
  • 12 consecutive Gold Gloves for outstanding defensive play; and
  • World Series MVP in 1971.

Beyond baseball stardom, Clemente was a Marine. He enlisted in 1958 and completed 6 months at Parris Island, SC and then served in the reserves until 1964. He was also well known for his off-season charitable work.

Did Clemente foretell his own death?

Just before Christmas 1972, Nicaragua suffered a devastating earthquake.  Clemente immediately arranged for several planeloads of relief supplies to be sent to Nicaragua. Out of concern that local leaders were diverting the supplies to those in need, Clemente decided to make the next delivery himself.  Unfortunately, an overloaded (and perhaps poorly maintained) DC-7 cargo plane he boarded in Puerto Rico crashed shortly after takeoff into the Caribbean Sea – Clemente and three others perished in the crash on December 31, 1972.

After his death, stories emerged about Clemente perhaps predicting his own demise.  In a 2002 ESPN documentary, Clemente’s wife Vera said that Roberto had told her on many occasions that he believed he was going to die young.    Then there was a 1971 interview during which Clemente was asked as to when he might reach the 3,000 career hit milestone and he responded “Well, uh, you never know. I, I, uh, if I’m alive, like I said before, you never know because God tells you how long you’re going to be here. So you never know what can happen tomorrow.”  Clemente did reach the milestone in what turned out to be the final at-bat of his career.

OK, this doubting Thomas is still skeptical that Clemente “foretold” his own death.  But even if one dismisses that some special mystical intuition was involved, and that it was just coincidence he was still able to secure the 3,000 hit just before his career and life ended, the Clemente-Walker connection is a compelling tale supporting the proposition that there are unseen forces at work in the real world.

The origins of Roberto Clemente connections to Tom & Neil Walker

Assisting Clemente in gathering supplies for his trip to Nicaragua was Major League Baseball pitcher Tom Walker.  Walker happened to be in Puerto Rico playing winter baseball in December 1972 and developed a relationship with Clemente.  Though Walker was intending to accompany Clemente on the DC-7 flight to Nicaragua with several others, Clemente told Walker to stay behind. Tom Walker recounted the story at MLB.com:

“I can still see him standing on the ramp to the plane, and I was talking to him,” Tom Walker said. “I’m probably the last ballplayer to see him alive. As I worked my way back to my apartment that evening, the person across the street from me came over to tell me that his plane had crashed and there’s no survivors.”

Tom Walker went on to a relatively short career in major league baseball. He was invited to Pirates Spring Training in 1978 and pitched briefly in the Pirates’ minor league system.  Eventually, he settled in Pittsburgh.  In 1985, Tom’s youngest son, Neil Walker, was born.

PNC Park – The Clemente Wall in right field

Tom & Neil Walker continue the legend of Roberto Clemente

Neil Walker confirms what many may be thinking:

“It’s strange to think about now, but my father was so close to death. One decision was the difference, as far as his living or dying, which, of course, affected my own existence and that of my siblings. It’s not that we would have had vastly different lives, but we wouldn’t even exist at all if our father had gone on that plane.”

Neil grew up in the Pittsburgh-area and was a star football and baseball athlete in high school.  In 2004, he was drafted in the first round of the MLB draft by (of course) the Pittsburgh Pirates.  In 2009, Neil made his MLB debut at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, the stadium built with a right-field fence known as “the Clemente Wall”: the fence was designated as such in honor of Clemente’s standard position of right field as a player and constructed 21-feet high in honor of Clemente’s jersey number, 21.   Neil Walker eventually became the starting second basemen for the Pirates, and for many games over several seasons one could see an image that sticks with me: Neil standing at his position while in the background was the Clemente Wall containing a banner image of a baseball with #21 on it.

By 2017, Neil Walker had moved on to playing for the New York Mets, but still retained his home in Pittsburgh.  His Father, Tom, also still lived in Pittsburgh and remained connected to the Pirates organization.  In early October of 2017, Tom Walker participated in an event  gathering relief supplies for where else, Clemente’s homeland and site of his fateful plane crash, Puerto Rico.  Hurricane Maria, a devastating category 5 storm, had hit the island just two weeks earlier.  For sure, the supply-gathering event was held at PNC Park, very near the Roberto Clemente Bridge.  Tom couldn’t help but relive those last few minutes he had spent with Clemente.  The eeriness and sense of deja-vu he felt were overpowering to him:

“As Walker drove home up I-79, he had to turn off the radio. When he saw his wife, Carolyn, at home, he gave her a hug and told her he loved her, and that he was emotionally drained from reliving that day in 1972.

“It’s just one of those moments that got to my soul,” Walker said. “It really did. But I’m happy about it. … I’m happy that his legacy and spirit still lives on.””

Image from 1989 movie, “Field of Dreams”

One last connection . . .

Oh, and one item I intentionally held back for dramatic effect.  Clemente’s full birth name was “Roberto Enrique Clemente Walker” – Clemente being his paternal surname followed by the maternal surname (Walker) in accordance with Puerto Rican tradition.  His Baseball Hall of Fame plaque was corrected in 2000 to read “Roberto Clemente Walker” at the request of his wife, Vera.

Walker? Of course!