Congress Working On Bill Named After Pirates Legend
The legacy of legendary Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Roberto Clemente has long stood the test of time not just for his stellar play on the field, but the impact he made off of it.
Clemente's impact could soon expand, as state representative of New York in District 13, Adriano Espaillat, introduced a bill to Congress, H.R. 6751, which is the Roberto Clemente Commemorative Coin Act. The act will commemorate coins in honor of Clemente and his son, Roberto Clemente Jr., said the money will go to the non-profit side of the Roberto Clemente Foundation.
"This bill directs the Department of the Treasury to mint and issue coins in recognition of the life of Roberto Clemente, baseball player and human rights activist," Congress writes. "All sales of coins issued under this bill must include a surcharge to be paid to the Roberto Clemente Foundation."
Espaillat first introduced the bill was first introduced to the House of Representatives on Dec. 13, 2023. It eventually passed through the House nearly a year later on Dec. 4 and reached the Senate the next day. The act was read two times and was referred to the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs committees.
With new representatives set to join the House and Senate after the recent election cycle, the act won't be on the ledger again until 2027 and will have to start over with the approval process rather than picking up where it left off. For the time being, Clemente Jr. said the family will have to decide on the design for the coin.
"We got lucky a year and a half ago, I got a call from the US Mint that someone had really put [Roberto Clemente's] name on the list, and they were following up," Clemente Jr. said on MLB Network. "We obviously were very honored that that was the process, and understood what the process was when they explained it. Now, after that pass list, we now as a family need to start looking at different images or drawings from artists to now make those the image of the coin."
Clemente is one of the greatest players to ever grace the diamond, as he finished his career as an MVP, 15-time All-Star, two-time World Series winner and World Series MVP, a 12-time Gold Glove winner and he won the batting title four times. He also finished his career with 3,000 hits and a .317 career batting average across his 18-year career in Pittsburgh.
Clemente leads the Pirates all-time in hits, games played at-bats and total bases and he's in the top three in Wins Above Replacement, plate appearances, runs scored, doubles, triples, home runs and RBIs.
The Pirates legend also has the Roberto Clemente Award named after him, which is an annual award that recognizes one player from every team for their efforts in helping others and those in need in their communities.
