Bill Text: FL S1666 | 2015 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Roberto Clemente

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2015-04-23 - Adopted [S1666 Detail]

Download: Florida-2015-S1666-Introduced.html

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       Florida Senate - 2015                            (NP)    SR 1666
       
       
        
       By Senator Soto
       
       
       
       
       
       14-04509-15                                           20151666__
    1                          Senate Resolution                        
    2         A resolution remembering Major League Baseball star
    3         and Baseball Hall of Fame member Roberto Clemente.
    4  
    5         WHEREAS, Roberto Clemente was born on August 18, 1934, in
    6  Carolina, Puerto Rico, and
    7         WHEREAS, for 18 seasons, from 1955 to 1972, Roberto
    8  Clemente played Major League Baseball for the Pittsburgh
    9  Pirates, and
   10         WHEREAS, as a Spanish-speaking black man, Roberto Clemente
   11  battled against discrimination in America and was outspoken
   12  about the inequities he faced, eventually convincing the
   13  Pittsburgh Pirates management to allow black players to travel
   14  in their own station wagon, and
   15         WHEREAS, Roberto Clemente said that enduring the unjust
   16  racial divide during spring training was like being in prison,
   17  and
   18         WHEREAS, Roberto Clemente’s accomplishments as a Major
   19  League Baseball player include 3,000 hits, 4 National League
   20  batting titles, a .317 lifetime batting average, and 12 Gold
   21  Glove awards, making him perhaps the best defensive right
   22  fielder of all time, and
   23         WHEREAS, Roberto Clemente confronted and overcame racism
   24  and language barriers to become the first dark-skinned Latino to
   25  achieve unquestioned superstar status as a Major League Baseball
   26  player, and
   27         WHEREAS, Roberto Clemente’s admiration for Dr. Martin
   28  Luther King, Jr., and his participation in the civil rights
   29  movement were spurred by the racism he experienced in the United
   30  States, and
   31         WHEREAS, Roberto Clemente was an intelligent and passionate
   32  political activist who marched in the protests of the 1960s and
   33  spent time with Dr. King when the civil rights leader visited
   34  Clemente in Puerto Rico, and
   35         WHEREAS, when Dr. King was assassinated in Memphis on April
   36  4, 1968, Pittsburg Pirates All-Star Roberto Clemente was
   37  devastated by the news and, with his teammates, persuaded the
   38  Pittsburgh Pirates and Houston Astros to postpone their April 8
   39  opening day game until April 10 because of Dr. King’s funeral,
   40  and
   41         WHEREAS, during Roberto Clemente’s professional career, he
   42  saw significant change in both Major League Baseball and
   43  American society, and
   44         WHEREAS, Roberto Clemente once said, “Anytime you have an
   45  opportunity to make a difference in this world and you don’t,
   46  then you are wasting your time on this earth,” and
   47         WHEREAS, Roberto Clemente exhibited a passion for young
   48  fans, becoming a role model for all players, but particularly
   49  for Latinos who played with him and against him, and for
   50  generations of players since then who owe him a debt of
   51  gratitude that can never be repaid, and
   52         WHEREAS, Roberto Clemente was voted the Most Valuable
   53  Player of the 1971 World Series and made history by addressing a
   54  national television audience in Spanish during the clubhouse
   55  celebration, and
   56         WHEREAS, on December 31, 1972, the plane carrying Roberto
   57  Clemente on a relief mission to provide emergency assistance to
   58  the victims of a Nicaraguan earthquake crashed into the sea, and
   59  all on board perished, and
   60         WHEREAS, Roberto Clemente was posthumously inducted into
   61  the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1973, becoming only the second
   62  player for whom the 5-year mandatory waiting period was waived,
   63  and
   64         WHEREAS, Roberto Clemente was posthumously presented three
   65  civilian awards of the United States government from the
   66  President of the United States, including the first Presidential
   67  Citizens Medal, the Roberto Walker Clemente Congressional Gold
   68  Medal, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and
   69         WHEREAS, in 2009, the Florida Puerto Rican/Hispanic Chamber
   70  of Commerce, Inc., the United Third Bridge, Inc., the Brevard
   71  County School Board, and other partners named the largest sports
   72  complex in Palm Bay, at Heritage High School, after Roberto
   73  Clemente, and
   74         WHEREAS, the legacy of Roberto Clemente as a hero of the
   75  game and a positive role model extends beyond the island of
   76  Puerto Rico and the Latino community, with his most significant
   77  contributions to a better world recorded in the history books,
   78  not the baseball record book, NOW, THEREFORE,
   79  
   80  Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:
   81  
   82         That Roberto Clemente is remembered as a remarkable athlete
   83  and human being whose life was a testament of the best that
   84  America’s “national pastime” has to offer.