The Great One’s final swings

The incomparable Roberto Clemente – seen here in the 1960s through the lens of photographer extraordinaire Neil Leifer – runs a baseball clinic for 300 kids and teens 51 years ago today in the Puerto Rican town of Aguadilla.

Coaxed by the crowd, the 38-year-old Clemente finishes that day in 1972 with a little batting practice of his own – and drills the fifth and final pitch to him 350 feet and over the left-field wall.

Four days later, the greatest player in Pittsburgh Pirates history tragically perishes in a plane crash off the coast of his native Puerto Rico en route to delivering emergency supplies to earthquake-stricken victims in Nicaragua.