El Profe: The All-Star journey of Roberto Clemente’s jacket

Roberto Clemente’s suit jacket had quite a week. Traveling from its home at the Roberto Clemente Museum in Pittsburgh to the All-Star Game in Washington, D.C., the jacket made an appearance during the Home Run Derby. The jacket’s appearance became the subject of media buzz, as did the man who put in on, Cubs All-Star Javy Báez.

For Latino baseball fans, the Clemente jacket was a significant story. The jacket connected one of Major League Baseball’s most exciting players today with the history of the Great One, raising questions about how pieces of Latino baseball history are handled and Latino stories covered in the sports media.

Take Two

Last week was Báez’s debut at the Midsummer Classic. However, it was not the jacket’s first appearance at All-Star Game festivities. Clemente reportedly wore the full suit at the 1971 All-Star Game.

Once Báez donned the Clemente jacket there were captured images, GIFs, and videos posted across social media. Tens of thousands shared, retweeted or commented on the image of the current All-Star wearing the jacket of one of the game’s all-time greats.

Many emphasized the coolness factor of Báez wearing the Clemente jacket. Some were dismayed, contending Báez was not worthy of such an honor. Is anyone?

Another contingent expressed concerns about potential damage to the museum’s artifact. A few wondered whether ESPN would have handled a Jackie Robinson artifact in the same manner as Clemente’s jacket was—treated like a prop—on the live broadcast.

Plotting a Road Trip

Appearance of Clemente’s jacket at the 2018 All-Star Game principally involved two individuals: Duane Rieder (founder and curator of the Roberto Clemente Museum) and former major leaguer and current ESPN broadcaster Eduardo Pérez.

“I pretty much organized it,” Pérez told La Vida Baseball. “I thought it was a really cool idea as a way to keep Clemente alive.

“It’s the All-Star Game. How can we tie this in with that we have so many Puerto Ricans [six] in the All-Star Game? All of us have grown up, including all these players, knowing how special Roberto Clemente is to all of us, and how he left his footprint not only on Puerto Ricans but on the entire Latino baseball world and beyond.”

Reider jumped on the chance.

“Heck yeah,” was Rieder’s response. “If it can get the word out. If [Báez] can help us plug the Museum … we could never afford that kind of advertising.”

A connection between Báez and the Clemente jacket already existed. The Cubs second baseman put on the jacket at Rieder’s invitation when visiting the Clemente Museum last September, which the Museum posted on Instagram.

“Great time last night, thank you for everything! It was crazy amazing!” Báez responded in September to the Museum’s post.

When Pérez saw the Clemente suit during his own visit to the Museum just before the All-Star break he came up with the idea.

“I thought it would have been a cool thing to have the jacket there to present it to him during the Home Run Derby and then the next day he could wear it for the Red Carpet,” he said.

“It was never to create any disrespect at all, to the family or to the jacket, or to Clemente or to say that he [Javy] is our next Clemente. I’m saying it is a ‘parar pelos’ [hair-raising] moment.”

Journey to Nation’s Capital

Purchased during last year’s auction of Clemente items at All-Star Fan Fest in Miami, care was taken in the transport of the Clemente jacket to the nation’s capital, assured Rieder.

“We carefully prepared the jacket for transport at the museum,” he said. “We had Josh Wilson, a former major leaguer, and his dad drive it down, totally secured. They handed it off to Eduardo and his [ESPN] team and told them to handle it with kid-glove care.”

Everything didn’t go according to plan. Báez didn’t get out of the first round of the derby. The jacket didn’t quite make it to the Red Carpet Arrival during the All-Star festivities.

Instead, the jacket was presented to Báez by ESPN’s Karl Ravech. Báez recalled his original visit to the Clemente Museum during the live interview.

“It was impressive to be in that museum. And then he [Rieder] was like, ‘I have never done this, but I am going to ask you to put that jacket on. Nobody has done it before.’ I just got really excited,” Báez said.

A Historical Concern

Artifacts are the foundation of a historical museum. They are central to how museums can tell stories. Much care is taken in the handling of artifacts. Staff and visitors are required to wear white gloves to avoid contamination from direct handling.

A museum’s survival goes beyond its holdings to matters of financial support and marketing. If the people don’t come and the financial support is not there, museums don’t survive.

All these factors came into play when it came to the decision to allow the Clemente jacket to travel to D.C. Fans everywhere need to know about the Clemente Museum’s existence as much as about its collection of Clemente artifacts, from bats and jerseys, to original photos and artwork, and other original pieces from his life in Pittsburgh and Carolina, Puerto Rico.

That led Rieder to take a chance when Pérez asked about arranging to have Báez wear the suit jacket again. The payoff for Rieder—greater exposure for the Museum dedicated to keeping the memory of Clemente alive—was worth the potential pushback.

There was some pushback. In particular, the moment broadcaster Karl Ravech pulled the jacket from under the ESPN table and passed it along to Mark Teixeira to hand to Báez produced a different kind of hair-raising moment.

“On TV it did appear to maybe have been handled roughly,” remarked Rieder. “Karl Ravech was the one who had it hidden underneath the table in a plastic bag and pulled it out, that wasn’t handled our way. But that was the way ESPN decided to make it happen.”

Closing the Show

The handling of the Clemente jacket made for a cringe-worthy moment for me as a historian. Had the jacket been presented on a suit hanger for the viewers to see and appreciate, then handed to Báez, it would have lessened the visceral reaction. This is, after all, a precious artifact.

The appearance of the jacket during the Home Run Derby was a product of good intentions: The desire to make younger baseball fans aware of Clemente and of the Clemente Museum in Pittsburgh dedicated to telling his story.

“I have to give Duane a lot of credit for loaning us the jacket, and trusting us with it,” Pérez stated.

“I’m just proud that it made that segment,” Pérez said. “It was there for the young people to see how important it is. We have to keep that name alive. Our parents did. It’s our turn to keep it alive so that our kids will too. And [Baez’s] generation, the 20-something generation, has to know that because they never saw him play.”

As for the jacket, the Clemente Museum posted a photo on Instagram on Wednesday, July 18, announcing: “The #clemente suit is safe and sound back home. Thank you @javy23baez for honoring #robertoclemente and wearing it at the #homerunderby.”

Featured Image: Chicago Cubs Instagram