Call Me Roberto!: Roberto Clemente Goes to Bat for Latinos

Gr 1-4–From his time as a young boy in Puerto Rico, playing ball with a tin can and a tree branch to a World Series–winning MVP, Roberto Clemente was an extraordinary baseball player. Recruited onto a Major League team at age 19, Clemente was drafted onto the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1954. Despite his skill, however, as a Black man in the 1950s, he faced taunts from spectators and journalists, and prejudicial treatment in hotels and businesses, which separated him from his teammates during training sessions. Over the years, however, he was recognized with multiple awards and accolades. The text is mostly clear and accessible, though some of the language is geared to true baseball fans, e.g., “he ropes a single to center field, driving in a run.” The real stars of the book are Gutierrez’s incredible illustrations; Clemente’s face is rendered realistically while vivid colors, shapes, and lines swirl and swoop across the pages, mimicking the arc of a ball or a path of a base runner. Words relating to the text are included in the mixed-media art, including the title words “Call me Roberto,” which was Clemente’s plea to not anglicize his name to “Bob,” as some wanted. Included are an author’s note that describes Clemente’s early death at age 38 in a plane crash, a time line, illustrator’s note, glossary of Spanish words, photographs, and a selected bibliography.