If you look up the definition of hero, it's someone who gives up their life helping others.

Baseball was the vehicle to get his message across that did stuff that still today, no other player has done.

I didn't go to college, but I went to the University of Baseball and Clemente was one of my professors.

He was born to play baseball.

Hes one of those ballplayers, one in the millions that come with the talents that he have.

But his humanitarian side is what really perpetuated him in such a way that people that are not even sports or baseball fans still admire him for what he was as a human being.

Jesus Christ and Roberto Clemente, both of them, give their lives for the human beings.

That's the things that Titans do.

In the clubhouse, we had this dream of having a sports city.

Sport city is not another facility.

It's not just another complex.

The Ciudad Deportiva de Clemente My father was an intellectual mind behind it.

Picture this I was only six when Dad died.

When the accident happened.

Okay.

I was only six years old.

My older son is 31.

Okay.

My youngest son wasn't even born when I came back in November to Puerto Rico to start dealing with Sports City.

Hes 25.

The feeling of have this this name right there, Clemente, is like feels like the gravity.

You know you the gravity keeps you there but at the same time trying to swallow you.

You know, if you don't stand firm, the gravity pulls you on their back.

You know what I'm saying?

So to put things in perspective, the frustration of doing what you know, what we were doing and providing the service and all that, and then all of a sudden have to deal with this nonsense for a document that based on on their irresponsibility, because this is what it is, they were responsible and not accounting for all the payments that we had had conducted.

Right?

This situation was created.

So I'm here, I'm investing in my own money, painting, fixing.

I mean, we had this place immaculate, immaculate and and then all of a sudden, because of a newspaper article.

Graffiti.

That was that was a drop that really.

Ugh, ok once again, I can't even talk about it.

Internally and personally, I got a big fight because I grew up seeing all my family, like giving all we have to others.

And always we saw that bad vibes in the people, you know, the speaking, the the people who can't see the, the, the reality, you know.

One of the best players that I ever saw was a teammate of mine, and that was Roberto Clemente.

A player who would do it all.

He was so smart.

Think that he was born to play baseball.

I thought the guy, you know was a kid.

I thought he was like a size of Shaquille O'Neal.

He was 5-10, 175.

But he portrayed this human being as being like Superman.

If you read his life story, you'll find out how great a human being Roberto Clemente was outside, being one of the best and greatest baseball players who ever lived.

See, when I start playing in 1955, The players, go off on their mouths.

Because I remember that lots of players, they they they were sent to the minors because they opened their mouths and the organization, they didn't like the way he spoke or something like that is cheapened down.

So when I came, I remember that every time that I used to read the paper about a Latin player or a black player, they all have to say something sarcastic about it.

For example, the first day that I get to to Fort Meyer, that was a newspaper down there.

The newspaper said Puerto Rican hot dog arrived in town.

So now these people never knew nothing about me, but they knew there I was a Puerto Rican.

As soon as I got to camp, they billed me as a Puerto Rican hotdog.

Now, this is something that I refuse to admit.

I talked to some of the Latin players, which and that particular time they was in the and minor, in the major league, and they told me, Roberto, you better keep your mouth shut, because you know, they will ship you back.

I said, I don't care one way or the other.

If I do enough to play here, I have to be good enough to be treated like the rest of the players.

He was a model that we used to look for, and I believe that the SS is his biggest legacy.

The show up of of giving his own life for the benefit of others.

He didn't say much.

It was quiet.

He's the quiet type.

But what he did, he didn't tell anybody about it.

I knew because we were family.

When everything we got together and talk about it.

It was about the person that he was and what he was doing off the field and how he affected so many kids.

Just thousands and thousands of kids in Puerto Rico and the States.

He was a better man than he was a player and that never was talked about.

He never got good press as far as being a humanitarian.

Toward the end of his career, we heard that that was his dream to have a sports city that would encompass education, sports hand in hand.

It was the most incredible place ever, even when it was just a little beaten up.

They still had great fields where kids could go and play and learn.

He wanted kids to get off the street.

Ciudad Deportiva Roberto Clemente para un Puerto Rico seguro.

President Nixon made a personal contribution to Sports City along with getting HUD, Housing Urban Development, to participate financially.

So it was out there if the president hears about it and wants to get involved.

So it was out there, but it was a big deal for him.

Dad came up with this concept.

He never had the chance to find the land where to do it.

But immediately after the accident, Mom took the task upon herself.

Not even a month later, and Mom started working to find a place and to accomplish what Dad would have wanted.

Dad always told Mom he knew he was going to die young.

They were only married for eight years.

That's it.

That's all their spent together in their lifetime.

And here you have Mom, with that love and devotion to do what she was able to accomplish, to continue his legacy.

She passed that onto us.

So this place where we're standing, Sport City, it's not another municipal complex.

I can't even explain how much this is part of our lives.

It's more like like my grandfather is the message he's trying to to put he he defends everyone.

Not not the the Negroes or Latinos or the the communities or niche.

He defends everyone.

If you had a heart, a blood, veins, you're my brother.

It doesn't matter.

Your color, your country doesn't matter.

So it's.

It's hard.

I know, Vera, you know, and the boys have done the best that they can do.

But I've heard it's not in great shape.

And that makes all of us sad, because that was a big deal for him.

He did a lot for the city.

Our city.

And you hoped that he could carry it back.

And just do it.

To bring the Sports City to where it should be.

I don't think if Roberto were alive now, he would think that Sports City has evolved like he dreamt about.

You go to a sandlot and you see kids trying to play.

You're trying to enjoy them and, you know, try to correct them and try to, you know, given that that advice so they can be in a good pass and a good way to go live their life.

And this is in sports or be in the life and, you know, in school and all that stuff, trying to to to give that advice to do the right thing.

That was the thing that Roberto Clemente most of the people know what he's trying to make that mark.

We can see the impact he made in another country that's big for us because we we love baseball here.

Baseball is everything.

For Puerto Rico ballplayers, we want to follow that.

We want to follow that path.

that Roberto Clemente you know, did we want to make it that too.

Baseball is like real life.

If you if you help your teams, they're going to help you.

Same thing with your family.

If you help your family, they're going to help you.

Now I'm playing here in his town in his baseball field.

Has his name.

My dad is a big fan for Roberto Clemente.

My grandfather too, his dad too, you know, and going to hear his stories about what he heard about Clemente back in his days.

You know, just bring me too, then learn about his story, learn about his path, and, you know, make me proud to follow that legacy, too, you know?

And he did very amazing things on the field and out of the field, you know, and that makes me proud.

The way hed lie, was perfect.

I don't want to I don't want to sound like crazy, but was perfect, because he was helping another people for another country.

The impact that he make about baseball and humanity to bring hope to other people, that's that's amazing, man.

Try to do the right things for other people so nobody can see it.

But you can have that satisfaction to do the right things for other people.

That's amazing man.

You know, kids could go there and play sports and not get in trouble, right?

And so that's what he he just wanted that.

So they just need something.

It doesn't have to have a golf course and a hotel.

It just needs to have baseball fields.

I don't know if maybe this is just a law.

Hopefully.

And maybe they can get back to it, but time makes it difficult to do that.

If it's not on fire right now, it's hard to bring it back to that burn.

Hopefully they do, and if they contact me, I'll be involved in a minute.

It'd be an honor.

Let's quit blaming people about whose fault it was.

From the first day I said to myself, I am from the minority group.

I'm from the poor people I represent the poor people.

I am representing the common people of America.

So I going to be treated as a human being.

I don't want to be treated as a black or a Puerto Rican or nothing like that.

I wanted to be treated like any person that come for a job and every person that come for a job, no matter who it is or what kind of a race of color he is, if he does it well, He should get it right.

Like like white.

Whoever was part of this, they understand.

Whoever truly worked here and saw at times of of like like really times where, where moneys were not coming in or, or we operate fiscal year.

So we're supposed to get the grant on July.

We will get it in probably August.

September.

Mom would pay from her own money the employees to be able for them to be able to continue to operate while then the money will come in.

Hey, he used to work for us.

He worked five years.

He was one of our employees.

Well, yeah, almost ten years was.

Yeah.

Almost ten.

There's a lot of people that taught that never they were not part of it.

They were not involved at all here.

They would not even come here.

So they were talking without even knowing what was happening, what was going on, you know, and the people, the gossip just continues, you know, and went on and on and on.

Meanwhile, we're I can, I can when I speak, I speak loud making you understand.

There's no doubt, no doubt in my mind.

You know, I'm not afraid of anything because we have all the evidence of what went on here.

And whoever's making an accusation is going to have to, I said, process me.

We were interviewed with Channel 4, and the reporter asked me if I would be willing to bring out the financial reports or whatever I said.

I'm not going to spend a single second of today in what we submitted when it was due.

They have all the copies of those financials in the government through Sports and Recreation Department.

Even though I did not play sports in Ciudad Deportiva Roberto Clemente, I remember all the marathons to get money for it.

And since I became a representative in 2012, since day one, I have been trying to unlock that safety box called the closed and abandoned Ciudad Deportiva Roberto Clemente.

It doesn't resemble the general basic idea of having a great complex of many, many sports like basketball, volleyball, swimming, soccer, track and field, and of course, baseball.

That was the main purpose and the main dream of Roberto Clemente when he was alive, to have an organization and have a property that will drive out the kids from the street and help them out throughout sports and well behaving.

There's more than ten years of annual reports that has not been filed, so that's why there is a national audit going on.

And that's why this administration for the past six years has been freezing out any money that the foundation has some entitlement because they need to comply.

These requirements has been sent to the Clemente Foundation for answering.

And they have an answer.

And it's like like in total it's like six boxes.

And we are talking roughly over 18 to $20 million.

That has no linkage or formal explanation.

I have seen proposals and conceptual designs and some kind of not well defined promise that there is a $1 billion funding that will gush into Ciudad Deportiva.

Let's hope, like this time we can get our act together.

And when September 30th hits and everybody once again remembers, Clemente remembers hit number 2000, at least we can have a basic cleanup of the former Ciudad Deportiva.

And and a basic route of of of of a good use of an outstanding property that is there in Carolina.

Im just trying there there I think I have yeah.

This is Ciudad Deportiva Roberto Clemente from an aerial view.

What we are trying to do, this is where right now they are playing peewee football.

This is the gotcha part.

This is a track and field facility you, you, you saw it from ground level.

And now from this perspective, it's there.

It's alive.

It's not sinking.

They just need a cleanup.

Of course we need to redo the strip, but it's a reusable facility.

So phase one of the rescue process of Ciudad Deportiva is just cleaning the site.

And then it's the basic process of fixing four baseball areas.

It's my position that the government has all the legal power to just cancel that contract, because they have a law that says you need to have an open and running Ciudad Deportiva.

But if they don't want to do that, we are going like old school.

The legislature gave you on ‘74 of the land.

The legislature on 2022 will take it back.

Let's refocus on the size of the controversy.

We are fighting to keep open his dream.

Whenever they're talking about sports, they refer to the fact they point out to the family.

The family, you know, about the family.

And here recently was said, yeah, but the family and sports city.

So they're saying that the family received this amount of money.

We haven't received a single penny from the government as a family.

Sports city is Sport City.

Its not the family.

The only family member involved with this complex is me.

None of my brothers have nothing to do with Sport City.

It's just me, okay?

And I came with a vision of putting sports theory needs to be.

It's.

This is not like I said, this is not another complex in Carolina.

This is not another place.

Whatever.

This is what Dad wanted to do and is what Mom was able to accomplish.

And so, so the two people that gave life to me, gave life to this place, made this place happen.

So to me, Sports City, I see it as another brother is how I see Sports City.

The problem is when your intention is to take the land away, but then on top of it, you're using our brand to raise the funds without permission to give to an entity who has nothing to do with us.

You think we're just going to sit there with our arms crossed?

Because trivial pain to me have been paid by the Puerto Rican people and the Pittsburgh fans.

These people have been wonderful to me, and I think they have pushed me to accomplish what I have accomplished because by the way they treat me, I said that the only thing I have to do is to try to sacrifice myself more and try to pay them with the same treatment that they pay me.

If he would have made that flight and came back, very few people would have probably known about it, but not the whole world.

I believe that it was meant to be that way.

I firmly believe that.

And I will always believe.

Roberto died in a plane crash helping earthquake victims.

It's a different reason that we would retire his number.

He did all that he possibly could do in those 38 years of his life.

One day he came over and said, Jose, I want you to go with me to Nicaragua.

I say, Momen, that's what his nickname was.

Momen, moment.

I say, no, this is Christ, I spent Christmas with my family and now on the next trip, I might go with you.

But not on this trip I want to spend... But why do you want to go?

I mean, you got some people from Pittsburgh coming up to Puerto Rico visit you, and it's Christmas time.

You never, your family to go there.

Why?

He said, “Jose, all the things that I'm planning to Nicaragua.

It's not getting to the people that I wanted to to help.

Somebody taking care of that.

So I want to go over there so I can see that they distribute all the things that I want to send there to the right people.” That's one of the reasons they went over.

Most of the people went to the seashore, where they believe that the airplane was crashed.

Some of them praying, some of them waiting for notices, maybe waiting for a miracle.

I'm just glad that I had the opportunity to have played with him.

Next to him.

I considered him a friend.

I can tell you chapter and verse about the night that Clemente died.

We're hosting a New Year's Eve party at my house.

When we heard the the notice of Roberto Clemente's accident.

Everything stop.

The party stop, the time stop, Pittsburgh also stop.

So I think the whole world stopped that night.

When we get that notice.

About noontime, that next day is the time I thought the shoulders of the city of Pittsburgh slumped.

I don't know how else to describe it.

He'd been such a presence in the city.

20 years of Hall of Famer, Gold Gloves World Series.

It's two.

No, it can't be true.

It's too abrupt.

It's too.

No.

I come from a broken family with no dad.

And I started reading from a guy that kills himself helping people.

That's the most honorable way to die.

But it's a nice way to die helping others.

That's where I stand.

So to me, you know, that's legacy.

We need to continue.

We need to show and teach our children, you know, and for the next Clemente generations to understand it's truly what you feel in your heart.

Roberto was in between man and God.

There was something about him.

He just saw everything differently.

He didn't want to waste one second goofing around.

As they used to call Dad the Great One.

The greatness of the name, what it represents.

But more than anything, how do you carry it?

What do you do with it?

You know, and it's not to just serve yourself.

Its to continue to impact others and be that catalyst.

You know in society that your message gets across the right way.

He taught me how to care about people, and the fact that you might, sometime in your life have a chance to to help somebody that you may never see.

That makes you a champion.

Bobby, what do you want for your sons?

I want them to enjoy life the way I enjoy life.

I love people, I love people that they are not big shots.

I like common people, I like workers, I like people that suffer because these people, they have a different approach of life, of the people that they really have everything in life that sometimes they get bored.

So I want my my kids to suffer.

I want them to have what they supposed to have, but I don't want them to be rich.

I want them to be people like the normal people in America and normal people in the whole world.