Clemente's Son to Re-enact Fateful Trip

December 30, 2005
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 8:16 p.m. ET

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) -- The son of Hall of Fame baseball player Roberto Clemente will head to Nicaragua on Saturday to distribute humanitarian aid -- mirroring a trip that claimed the life of his father 33 years ago.

Clemente, a 12-time All-Star who had 3,000 hits for the Pittsburgh Pirates, died in 1972 at age 38 in a plane crash on New Year's Eve. The Puerto Rican native was taking relief supplies to victims of a Nicaraguan earthquake.

Roberto Clemente Jr. will take the same amount of food, medicine and other items that his father carried during the original trip.

''It's been 18 months that I had a spiritual awakening in which I communicated with dad. It was the first time that I really cried for dad ... and it was then that I understood I had to make this trip to obtain spiritual peace,'' he told The Associated Press.

Clemente Jr. was 6 when his father was killed. He said he had a premonition of his father's crash and pleaded with him not to go.

''For me, definitely, it's a trip full of emotions,'' he said. ''For many years I was filled with a feeling of guilt for not stopping what happened and this closes a chapter in my life.''

Major League Baseball hands out the annual ''Roberto Clemente Award'' to a player who ''demonstrates the values Clemente displayed in his commitment to community and understanding the value of helping others,'' according to the MLB Web site.

Clemente Jr. said his vision was to send help one time a year to a country in need to honor his father's memory. He planned to make the Nicaragua trip last year but decided to send aid to victims of the Dec. 26 tsunami in Thailand.

Vera Clemente said the only thing that worried her about her son's trip was the date.

What happened 33 years ago, ''for me is if it was yesterday,'' she said. ''I have faith in God that all is going to go well for him.''