Feb 25, 2007 3 min read

PITTSBURGH (AP) – Roberto Clemente Jr. is hoping to add one more honor to his father in the city where his dad made his name as a Hall of Fame outfielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Clemente Jr. wants to convert an old fire station into a museum honoring his father, who died in a plane crash while taking emergency supplies to Nicaragua after an earthquake there in 1972.

“A museum is something that would fit perfectly with school programs, a place where students could gain insight into my father’s life and the lessons he taught us all,” Clemente, 41, told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review for Saturday’s editions.

Clemente, who collected his milestone 3,000th hit in the final regular season game he played for the Pirates on Sept. 30, 1972, was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1973, a few months after he died. The Hall of Fame waived the normal five-year waiting period.

Clemente died when a plane overloaded with relief supplies for crashed off the coast of his native Puerto Rico on Dec. 31, 1972. His body was never recovered.

The city previously renamed the Sixth Street Bridge, which leads to PNC Park, the Roberto Clemente Bridge. And the ballpark’s right field wall is 21 feet high, in honor of his retired uniform number.

Clemente Jr. led some local school students on a tour of the potential museum site on Friday. The firehouse, built in 1896, is now being used as a studio by photographer Duane Rieder, who helps the Clemente family archive photos and other memorabilia.

“We’re trying to figure out if this thing has legs, and after today I’m positive it can work,” Rieder said Friday.

Clemente Jr. said he’s looking for grants or a partner to help finance the project.

The memorabilia collection includes bats, wedding photographs, uniforms, personal correspondence and one of his father’s 12 Gold Glove awards. Clemente Jr. said he also plans to display the car his father won as the Most Valuable Player of the 1971 World Series.

Roberto Clemente won the 1960 World Series with the Pirates, four National League batting titles (1961, 1964, 1965, 1967) and the National League MVP in 1966. He batted over .300 in 13 seasons during a career that spanned 1955 to 1972 and finished with a .317 career batting average.

But Clemente said his father’s life and death offer more lessons than just statistics, as he discovered during the school outing on Friday.

“It was a chance to talk to them about the example my father left us, about being better people, and the decisions they’ll have to face at a very young age,” Clemente said.