Clemente’s Legacy: The stalwart leadership of Yadier Molina

On an island where many still feel as though the federal government didn’t do enough to help in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria’s merciless destruction, one group of talented men rushed back to help Puerto Rico get back on its feet after last baseball season.

They cried with their people, showed empathy by hugging their fellow Boricuas as they cried on their shoulders and, perhaps more importantly, they raised funds and donated their own money to bring relief supplies and much needed food and water to their people.

Young big leaguers and veteran superstars all pitched in while embodying the legacy of the Great One, Roberto Clemente. They all did their parts, contributing their proverbial grain of sand, but it’s interesting to note how many of today’s players kept bringing up the example that Cardinals All-Star Yadier Molina set during relief efforts last year.

As La Vida Baseball put together the Clemente’s Legacy Series to remember the way today’s Puerto Rican superstars helped rebuild their island after Hurricane Maria made landfall on Sept. 20, 2017, many kept mentioning Molina.

Molina and Carlos Beltrán, who retired after helping the Astros win the 2017 World Series last year, have arguably been the two most respected big leaguers among their fellow Boricuas. Actually, they’ve been two of the most respected players among all Latino players of this generation.

They truly embody the legacy of Clemente, who died on Dec. 31, 1972, on an ill-fated relief mission to help Nicaraguan earthquake victims when the cargo plane he was on crashed off the Puerto Rican coast soon after taking off from San Juan Airport.

Clemente was 38 at the time of his death, only two years older than Molina is now. The Great One remains one of the most beloved figures in Puerto Rican history, and somewhat of a Patron Saint of all Latino ballplayers.

Although nobody would have blamed him if he wanted to stay at home with his young family on New Year’s Eve, Clemente had insisted on being on the cargo plane. He wanted to make sure the relief supplies were distributed to the people.

Clemente surely would have been proud of the way today’s Puerto Rican players rushed home to help hand out water and bags of food to hurricane victims last September.

“Puerto Rico obviously needs a lot of help,” Molina told me in May. “They’ve gone through a lot of things with the Hurricane, and the government hasn’t done the necessary things to bring good things.

“There’s been a lot of help, but the electricity is still just at 40 percent. There are a lot of towns without power. We have the opportunity to try to help them with one form or another. That’s what we’re trying to do.”

Molina, a native of Bayamon, has definitely been doing his part to help the less fortunate in Puerto Rico and his baseball hometown of St. Louis throughout his brilliant career. When he’s done playing, he’ll be remembered fondly for more than just being one of the best defensive catchers of his generation.

Molina’s Foundation4 has focused primarily on helping children affected by poverty, cancer or abuse. Since it was established in 2010, Foundation4 has funded a safehouse for battered children.

Molina, who grew up in Puerto Rico, established Foundation4 in 2010 to benefit youth impacted by poverty, and supported Fundacion Go Go, which helps children fighting cancer in Ponce, Puerto Rico.

“Yadier Molina is a leader,” said young Astros All-Star shortstop Carlos Correa, the 2015 American League Rookie of the Year. “Yadier is a person who has led and done a great job helping people not just in Puerto Rico but also in St. Louis. Truly, he’s a great example for us on how to help people.”

Since Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico, Molina, 36, has raised more than $800,000 for the victims. Three days after the 2017 season ended, the perennial Gold Glove winner returned home with relief supplies.

He arrived with seven industrial-sized crates of supplies. He went door to door distributing water and grocery bags with about $150-worth of food to his neighbors.

Although the bridge that separates Dorado and Vega Alta had been destroyed by Hurricane Maria, Molina found a way to cross the river by foot to deliver supplies. He also helped cleaning up debris.

“He went to our two towns and then he went to other towns on the north part of the island,” said Molina’s older brother Bengie, a fellow World Series-winning catcher. “He delivered throughout the north part of the island. He does it from his heart, and I think that’s very beautiful.”

It is definitely beautiful. Actually, it’s more than beautiful.

It is Clemente-esque.

There’s no greater compliment to give a Latino ballplayer, especially those from Puerto Rico, than to compare him favorably to Clemente.

Fittingly, Molina was the Cardinals’ Roberto Clemente Award nominee this year. He may very well be the favorite to win the national award, which will be announced during the World Series.

Awards weren’t on Molina’s mind, though, when he helped the north side of Puerto Rico begin to rebuild after Hurricane Maria. The man who proudly has a Puerto Rican flag inside his locker stall at Busch Stadium merely wanted to help his fellow Boricuas.

It’s a calling he has felt most of his life and one that he has been able to follow throughout his career. He’s a worthy Roberto Clemente Award nominee, if not the most worthy of the 30 impressive men who were nominated by their teams this year.

“To be named the Cardinals’ Roberto Clemente nominee is a great honor because Clemente is a legend and my hero,” he said. “Clemente showed me that it doesn’t matter where you come from, you can help people and that is my goal.”

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