Puerto Rican baseball legend's legacy honored with tribute and new museum plans

NEW YORK (PIX11) – Fifty-two years ago today, the world lost a Puerto Rican baseball legend.  

More than a half-century later, one community is on a mission to keep Roberto Clemente’s legacy alive. A tribute and a new museum are in the works. 

For more than two decades, Eli Rodriguez had been collecting Roberto Clemente memorabilia.  

It’s more than a passion project; he says it’s his calling. The Castle Hill YMCA was converted into a museum containing almost 500 hundred items, from baseball cards to Wheaties boxes. 

Saul Mata, a 20-year-old leftie pitcher at Iona University, is seeing the Clemente rookie card for the first time. 

He says it’s a thrill. 

A non-profit called Project Club Clemente has launched a community-based mentoring program.

It plans to build a new museum in the Bronx in honor of the No. 21 Baseball Great and Humanitarian.

Clemente was the first Hispanic to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame and the first Hispanic player to collect 3000 hits—his last regular season at bat. 

Clemente died on Dec. 31, 1972, flying food and medical supplies to Nicaragua.  

A mission Rodriguez finished in 2005. 

So far, Rodriguez says the support has been overwhelming. 

Usually tucked away and only brought out for special events, Rodrigues and Velez are now joining forces and dreaming of turning this private collection into a permanent public exhibit for the youth and inspiring the next generation.