The WBO family sends congratulations to the Pittsburgh Pirates and Major League Baseball for its wonderful tribute to Roberto Clemente Walker yesterday.

“The Great One” was a unique talent, a great ambassador for the sport and a selfless humanitarian, who tragically died on December 31st, 1972 when the airplane he boarded to deliver much-needed supplies to Nicaragua, which had been affected by a massive earthquake on December 23rd, went down off the coast of Puerto Rico.

Clemente was an All-Star for 13 seasons, playing in 15 All-Star Games. He was the National League (NL) Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 1966, the NL batting leader in 1961, 1964, 1965, and 1967, and a Gold Glove Award winner for 12 consecutive seasons from 1961 through 1972. His batting average was over .300 for 13 seasons and he had 3,000 hits during his major league career. He also was a two-time World Series champion. Clemente is the first Latin American and Caribbean player to win a World Series as a starting position player (1960), to receive an NL MVP Award (1966), and to receive a World Series MVP Award (1971).