Roberto Clemente Dies in a Plane Crash on New Year's Eve

On December 31, 1972, Roberto Clemente was killed when a DC-7 cargo plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean moments after takeoff from San Juan, Puerto Rico. He was 38 years old. All five people aboard died. Clemente was flying to Nicaragua to deliver earthquake relief supplies, and the plane, overloaded by more than 4,000 pounds and plagued by mechanical problems, never reached altitude.

A devastating earthquake had struck Managua on December 23, killing thousands and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless. Clemente organized relief efforts immediately, arranging three planeloads of supplies and a ship. But reports reached him that Nicaraguan soldiers were seizing the aid before it could reach survivors. Clemente decided to accompany the fourth flight himself, believing that his fame would protect the cargo from theft.

The aircraft had a troubled history. Its number-two engine had failed on a previous flight. A test flight on December 2 had ended with the plane in a drainage ditch, bending propeller blades and damaging the landing gear. Repairs were incomplete. The plane was not fit to fly.

Three months earlier, on September 30, Clemente had collected his 3,000th career hit, a double off Jon Matlack of the Mets. It was the last at-bat of his regular season and, as it turned out, the last at-bat of his life. He finished with a .317 career batting average, 12 Gold Gloves, four batting titles, and two World Series championships with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Hall of Fame waived its five-year waiting period, and Clemente was inducted in August 1973, the first Latin American player to receive the honor. MLB renamed its annual humanitarian award after him. His death at the end of 1972 closed the year, and an era, with a loss the sport has never fully absorbed.