An Interview With David Maraniss

En español | AARP Segunda Juventud Associate Editor Carlos J. Queirós interviewed Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Maraniss about his latest book, Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball’s Last Hero (Clemente: La pasión y el donaire del último héroe del béisbol) (April 2006).

Q: What brought you to write this book? Why now?
A: It is a book that I had always wanted to write. I grew up in Wisconsin, rooting for the Milwaukee Braves, but Roberto Clemente was always my favorite player. There was just something about him, this beautiful fury that separated him from all the other baseball players. It was partly the way he played and looked in the Pirates’ uniform, but mostly just something that emanated from him that I couldn’t fully grasp as a kid. Later in life, I began to understand more about him. By the time I was writing books, I knew that this was a book that I always wanted to write. I’m 56 years old and have been a journalist for over 30 years, and now seemed like the right time.

Q: After the Pittsburgh Pirates’ victory in the 1971 World Series against the Baltimore Orioles, Clemente addressed the cameras first in Spanish. Why do you think he chose to do that?
A: I thought that moment was the essence of Roberto Clemente and symbolizes why he is so revered in all of Latin America. He strived throughout his career to get the recognition he thought he wasn’t getting. Then he has this one great moment on the world television stage and he chooses to speak in Spanish—to thank his parents and sons, to honor all those that came before him in baseball. It was such an expression of pride in who he was and where he was from that everyone I talked to—especially the Latin ballplayers—both young and old, remembers that moment with great clarity.

Q: Do you think the reception of this book will be different among Latino readers?
A: The feelings for Clemente are incredibly deep in all of Latin America and in Pittsburgh too. There are Clemente devotees everywhere. He does have a special, deeper, soulful meaning to Hispanics. If in fact I capture that, it might have that special meaning to them. I tried to write a universal story through Clemente, who is a universal character. I wrote for the largest audience possible. I wanted to write about Clemente from the inside out, to make him a real human being for the readers. I also knew that through him, I could write about not only baseball but also the broader story of race and the Latinization of the United States. Anybody who is interested in human nature, motivation, and the dignity of humanity will be interested in this book.

Q: How does writing a biography change your relationship with a figure? Was it difficult since Clemente wasn’t alive?
A: I discovered in writing the biography of Bill Clinton that it is actually easier to write a biography of someone who is dead. Although you can’t interview them, you have a fuller perspective on their whole life after they’re gone and people are more willing to talk about them. I went into this with the prejudice that I loved Clemente as a player, but I’m trained enough as a journalist of 30 years and as a biographer to know that I’m not going to be blinded by anything. I wanted to present the real Clemente. When I first talked to his family about it, I told them about my biographies of Vince Lombardi and Clinton and gave them those books. I said that I’m only there to write the truth, I’m not going to cover anything up, but I’ll put everything in context and get as close to the truth of this person as I can. So, if you go into the writing with your eyes wide open, it makes the process easier and that is what I tried to do with Clemente.