The Great One

Today marks what would have been the 89th birthday of The Great One, Roberto Clemente, who is one of the game’s most remarkable players on the field with the Pittsburgh Pirates and one of the planet’s most remarkable men off the field.

Alas, Clemente’s life is cut short on New Year’s Eve 1972 during a plane crash in which he is trying to deliver much-needed supplies to earthquake-ravaged Nicaragua.

Clemente’s death at age 38 comes less than three months after he records the 3,000th and final hit of his Hall of Fame career.