Baseball Players of the Seventies Who Died During their Playing Careers
ROBERTO CLEMENTE is 3000 hit Hall of Famer and one of the most famous players to have died tragically while still active. He was the 1966 NL MVP & won four batting titles in the sixties. He made the All Star team 12 times & won 12 gold gloves in right field. He was MVP of the 1971 World Series, playing great outfield and batting over .400 in the Series with a home run in the deciding 7th game. He got his 3000th hit on the last day of the 1972 season off Mets pitcher Jon Matlack. He did play in the 1972 NLCS & his last game was Game #5 in Cincinnati. He ended his career with a .317 batting average, 240 HRs, 1305 RBIs, 440 doubles, 166 triples, & 1416 runs scored. On Christmas week of 1972 Nicaragua suffered an earthquake. Clemente soon sent over three airplane supplies of relief for the quake victims. He found out the aid packages never made it to the victims due to the corrupt government. He decided to accompany the relief supplies on a fourth flight making sure they go