Clemente Drive renamed to honor baseball legend's late wife, too

On Dec. 2, Mayor Bill Peduto joined the Clemente family, former Pittsburgh Pirates and Roberto Clemente Foundation leaders to unveil new street signs renaming Clemente Drive to Roberto and Vera Clemente Drive.

The street near Posvar Hall was first named after iconic Pirates outfielder Roberto Clemente in 1976, but his family felt that something was missing. Clemente's surviving children, Roberto Jr., Luis (pictured) and Roberto Enrique, wanted to honor the baseball legends’ late wife, Vera, as well.

“When Roberto Clemente led the Pirates during the 1960s and the club featured players from around the Caribbean, it wasn’t easy for them and their families to become comfortable in Pittsburgh,” said Pitt history professor Rob Ruck, who knew Vera personally. “But Vera Zabala Clemente welcomed them into her home, helping them adjust to a strange land. And when Roberto died, she picked up his torch.”

After the Major League Baseball Hall of Famer was killed in a plane crash while delivering relief aid to Nicaragua in 1972, Vera continued her husband's legacy of philanthropy, completing his dream of building a sport facility, Ciudad Deportiva, in his birthplace of Puerto Rico. She and the foundation also built a pediatrics clinic in Mayasa and later helped Nicaragua recover from Hurricane Joan in 1988. She died in 2019.

“Vera Clemente responded to personal tragedy, losing her husband when she was 31 with three young sons, with empathy and respect for other people. It could hardly be more fitting than to join her name with Roberto’s on the street that now honors them both,” Ruck said.

The renaming ceremony took place alongside the Forbes Field Wall, just across the street from the encased Forbes Field home plate located on the ground level of Posvar Hall.

— Kara Henderson