Bill Text: FL S1662 | 2015 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Roberto Clemente

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2015-04-24 - Withdrawn from further consideration [S1662 Detail]

Download: Florida-2015-S1662-Introduced.html

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       Florida Senate - 2015                            (NP)    SR 1662
       
       
        
       By Senator Soto
       
       
       
       
       
       14-04107-15                                           20151662__
    1                          Senate Resolution                        
    2         A resolution by the Senate of the State of Florida
    3         requesting that Major League Baseball retire the
    4         number 21 in honor of Roberto Clemente.
    5  
    6         WHEREAS, Roberto Clemente was born on August 18, 1934, in
    7  Carolina, Puerto Rico, and
    8         WHEREAS, for 18 seasons, from 1955 to 1972, Roberto
    9  Clemente played Major League Baseball and wore the number 21 for
   10  the Pittsburgh Pirates, and
   11         WHEREAS, as a Spanish-speaking black man, Roberto Clemente
   12  battled against discrimination in America and was outspoken
   13  about the inequities he faced, eventually convincing the
   14  Pittsburgh Pirates management to allow black players to travel
   15  in their own station wagon, and
   16         WHEREAS, Roberto Clemente said that enduring the unjust
   17  racial divide during spring training was like being in prison,
   18  and
   19         WHEREAS, Roberto Clemente’s accomplishments as a Major
   20  League Baseball player include 3,000 hits, 4 National League
   21  batting titles, a .317 lifetime batting average, and 12 Gold
   22  Glove awards, making him perhaps the best defensive right
   23  fielder of all time, and
   24         WHEREAS, Roberto Clemente confronted and overcame racism
   25  and language barriers to become the first dark-skinned Latino to
   26  achieve unquestioned superstar status as a Major League Baseball
   27  player, and
   28         WHEREAS, Roberto Clemente’s admiration for Dr. Martin
   29  Luther King, Jr., and his participation in the civil rights
   30  movement were spurred by the racism he experienced in the United
   31  States, and
   32         WHEREAS, Roberto Clemente was an intelligent and passionate
   33  political activist who marched in the protests of the 1960s and
   34  spent time with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., when the civil
   35  rights leader visited Clemente in Puerto Rico, and
   36         WHEREAS, when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated
   37  in Memphis on April 4, 1968, Pittsburg Pirates All-Star Roberto
   38  Clemente was devastated by the news and, with his teammates,
   39  persuaded the Pittsburgh Pirates and Houston Astros to postpone
   40  their April 8 opening day game until April 10 because of Dr.
   41  King’s funeral, and
   42         WHEREAS, during Roberto Clemente’s professional career, he
   43  saw significant change in both Major League Baseball and
   44  American society, and
   45         WHEREAS, Roberto Clemente once said, “Anytime you have an
   46  opportunity to make a difference in this world and you don’t,
   47  then you are wasting your time on this earth,” and
   48         WHEREAS, Roberto Clemente exhibited a passion for young
   49  fans, becoming a role model for all players, but particularly
   50  for Latinos who played with him and against him, and for
   51  generations of players since then who owe him a debt of
   52  gratitude that can never be repaid, and
   53         WHEREAS, Roberto Clemente was voted the Most Valuable
   54  Player of the 1971 World Series and made history by addressing a
   55  national television audience in Spanish during the clubhouse
   56  celebration, and
   57         WHEREAS, on December 31, 1972, the plane carrying Roberto
   58  Clemente on a relief mission to provide emergency assistance to
   59  the victims of a Nicaraguan earthquake crashed into the sea, and
   60  all on board perished, and
   61         WHEREAS, Roberto Clemente was posthumously inducted into
   62  the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1973, becoming only the second
   63  player for whom the 5-year mandatory waiting period was waived,
   64  and
   65         WHEREAS, Roberto Clemente was posthumously presented three
   66  civilian awards of the United States government from the
   67  President of the United States, including the first Presidential
   68  Citizens Medal, the Roberto Walker Clemente Congressional Gold
   69  Medal, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and
   70         WHEREAS, in 2009, the Florida Puerto Rican/Hispanic Chamber
   71  of Commerce, Inc., the United Third Bridge, Inc., the Brevard
   72  County School Board, and other partners named the largest sports
   73  complex in Palm Bay, at Heritage High School, after Roberto
   74  Clemente, and
   75         WHEREAS, the legacy of Roberto Clemente as a hero of the
   76  game and a positive role model extends beyond the island of
   77  Puerto Rico and the Latino community, with his most significant
   78  contributions to a better world recorded in the history books,
   79  not the baseball record book, NOW, THEREFORE,
   80  
   81  Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:
   82  
   83         That the Senate of the State of Florida hereby respectfully
   84  requests and calls upon Major League Baseball to retire Roberto
   85  Clemente’s jersey number 21 both as a fitting tribute to a
   86  remarkable athlete and human being and as a testament of the
   87  best that America’s “national pastime” has to offer.
   88         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution, with
   89  the Seal of the Senate affixed, be presented to Major League
   90  Baseball and Commissioner Robert D. Manfred, Jr., as a tangible
   91  token of the sentiments of the Florida Senate.