On New Year's Eve 1972 following eighteen magnificent seasons in the major leagues Roberto Clemente died a hero's death killed in a plane crash as he attempted to deliver food and medical supplies to Nicaragua after a devastating earthquake. David Maraniss now brings the great baseball player brilliantly back to life in "Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero " a book destined to become a modern classic. Much like his acclaimed biography of Vince Lombardi "When Pride Still Mattered " Maraniss uses his narrative sweep and meticulous detail to capture the myth and a real man. Anyone who saw Clemente as he played with a beautiful fury will never forget him. He was a work of art in a game too often defined by statistics. During his career with the Pittsburgh Pirates he won four batting titles and led his team to championships in 1960 and 1971 getting a hit in all fourteen World Series games in which he played. His career ended with three-thousand hits the magical three-thousandth coming in his final at-bat and he and the immortal Lou Gehrig are the only players to have the five-year waiting period waived so they could be enshrined in the Hall of Fame immediately after their deaths.
