Roberto Clemente Net Worth

What is Roberto Clemente's Net Worth?

Roberto Clemente was a Puerto Rican professional baseball player who had a net worth of $300 thousand at the time of his death. That's the same as around $2 million in today's dollars. During a career that was tragically cut short, Roberto earned around $760,000 in salary. In his final season in baseball, he earned $150,000 in salary. That's the same as making around $933,000 today.

Roberto Clemente played the entirety of his 18-season MLB career with the Pittsburgh Pirates, winning two World Series in addition to four NL batting championships and 12 consecutive Gold Glove Awards. On New Year's Eve, 1972, he died in a plane crash while chartering a cargo flight to deliver aid to earthquake victims in Nicaragua.

Early Life and Education

Roberto Clemente was born on August 18, 1934 in Carolina, Puerto Rico to Luisa and Melchor. He was the youngest of seven siblings, with three of his siblings coming from his mother's prior marriage. Clemente started playing baseball at an early age, and when he was 14 he was recruited to play softball with the Sello Rojo team. He was educated at Julio Vizcarrondo High School, where he was a star in track and field and an Olympic hopeful. However, Clemente ultimately chose to pursue a career in baseball instead.

Puerto Rican Baseball

In the early 1950s, Clemente joined the amateur baseball league in Puerto Rico and played for the Ferdinand Juncos. He began his professional career with the winter-league team the Cangrejeros de Santurce, with which he played from 1952 to 1954. Clemente would later play winter ball in Puerto Rico during some of his MLB off-seasons, returning to Santurce but also doing stints with the Criollos de Caguas and the Senadores de San Juan.

Minor League Career

In early 1954, Clemente left Puerto Rico after signing a bonus with MLB's Brooklyn Dodgers. The team sent him to its Triple-A affiliate the Montreal Royals, with which he played 87 games and hit .257 with a pair of home runs.

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Pittsburgh Pirates

Following the 1954 season, Clemente was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates. He struggled to find his footing during his early years with the team due to persistent racism, ethnic tensions, and his lack of English-language fluency. In his rookie season, Clemente hit .255. His second MLB season was more exciting due to his unprecedented walk-off, inside-the-park grand slam in a July game at Forbes Field. Clemente's career was briefly interrupted by his service in the US Marine Corps Reserve from 1958 to 1959. He had his breakout season in 1960, when he hit .314 with 16 home runs and helped the Pirates beat the New York Yankees in the World Series. Clemente continued to shine for most of the rest of his career. In 1961, he won his first of four NL batting championships and his first of 12 consecutive Gold Glove Awards. Clemente was also an All-Star selection in every year of the 1960s except 1968. His other NL batting championships came in 1964, 1965, and 1967, and in 1966 he won the NL MVP Award with a .317 batting average and a career-high 29 home runs. His best batting average was .357 in 1967.

In 1970, Clemente and the Pirates played their final game at Forbes Field before relocating to Three Rivers Stadium. That season, Clemente hit .352 and the Pirates won the NL East, but were swept by the Cincinnati Reds in the NLCS. The Pirates won the NL East again in 1971, and this time made it all the way to the World Series. Facing the reigning champions the Baltimore Orioles, the Pirates won the World Series in seven games, giving Clemente his second World Series title. Moreover, with his .414 batting average and solo homer in the deciding seventh game, he was given the World Series MVP Award. Clemente would play one last season with the Pirates in 1972. That season, he hit .312, won his 12th consecutive Gold Glove Award, and earned his 15th All-Star selection. It was also during his final MLB season — in fact his final regular-season at-bat — that Clemente recorded his 3,000th career hit. His last appearance for the Pirates was in the fifth and final game of the 1972 NLCS, which was won by the Reds. Clemente was posthumously inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1973.

Charity Work

During off-seasons, Clemente participated in charity work in Latin America and the Caribbean. He particularly strove to establish a sports center for disadvantaged kids in Puerto Rico, which was built but not until long after his passing. Clemente also worked to bring disaster relief to Managua, Nicaragua in the wake of the massive earthquake there in late 1972, a mission that would ultimately end his life.

Personal Life and Death

In late 1964, Clemente married Vera Zabala. They had three children together: Roberto, Luis, and Roberto. The elder Roberto played in MLB in the 1980s and later became a baseball broadcaster.

On New Year's Eve in 1972, Clemente died in a plane crash when his chartered cargo flight carrying disaster aid to Nicaragua suffered engine failure and crashed off the coast of Isla Verde, Puerto Rico immediately after takeoff. In his honor, MLB renamed the Commission's Award the Roberto Clemente Award.

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