MLB stars honor Clemente's legacy with baseball clinic in Puerto Rico

Hundreds of Puerto Rican children were given a rare chance to meet their baseball idols this week.

Some of MLB's biggest names were hard at work conducting a clinic on the tiny Caribbean island as part of a goodwill tour that ended with a gala Saturday. Tampa Bay Rays starter Chris Archer was just one name in a long list of superstars invited on the tour, and he had nothing but praise for the event, dedicated to the memory of the late Puerto Rican legend, Roberto Clemente.

"It was awesome," Archer told Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com. "We are just trying to do a sliver of what (Clemente) did and continue to pass on that legacy. It was very successful. I compliment the Major League Baseball Players Association for putting this together. It was a very unique one-on-one experience for the kids and that's what this trip was all about."

Archer was joined by a host of other talents at the clinic, including Rays teammate Alex Colome, Houston Astros sluggers Carlos Beltran and Jose Altuve, and Puerto Rico natives Francisco Lindor and Javier Baez, to name a few. Several former MLB athletes also took part in the effort, such as Dennis Martinez, who later admitted at a gala that Clemente had a profound effect on his 23-year career.

"Clemente was the first person to tell me that I was a special player, and I was just a young player when he said it," Martinez said. "But he said it and I believed him. I believed I was special because Roberto Clemente saw something special in me. And I'm grateful to God for the career that I had."

Clemente, a Hall of Fame inductee in 1973, died at the age of 38 in a plane crash while helping deliver relief aid to earthquake survivors in Nicaragua. The former Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder is celebrated with an annual award given to the MLB player who "best exemplifies the game of baseball, sportsmanship, community involvement, and the individual's contribution to his team."