OAKLAND -- Vimael Machín knows all about the importance of Roberto Clemente.
Growing up in Humacao, Puerto Rico, the history of Clemente was practically required knowledge for Machín while attending the Puerto Rico Baseball Academy as a teenager. Getting the opportunity to honor Clemente during Wednesday’s game against the Astros by donning the legend’s No. 21 on the back of his jersey -- which all Puerto Rican players got to do around Major League Baseball in celebration of Roberto Clemente Day -- is something the A’s infielder does not take lightly.
“It means everything. He was a legend back in Puerto Rico,” Machín said. “Not all of us have the opportunity to wear a big league uniform. To wear No. 21 is an honor. He was a role model for a lot of people back home in Puerto Rico. Not only as a player, but as a person just helping others. I’m going to wear it with a lot of pride.”
Machín did not know it until Wednesday, but he and Clemente are actually linked together in their baseball careers.
One fact often overlooked about Clemente is that before he began his Hall of Fame Major League career with the Pirates, he was a Rule 5 Draft selection by Pittsburgh, which picked him off the roster of the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1954. Machín, a Rule 5 Draft pick by the A’s this past winter, was unaware of this until he came across a post on Twitter about it Wednesday morning. He will now use that as inspiration as he looks to develop into a mainstay with Oakland this season.
“When I was reading about it, I was like, ‘Oh wow. He went through the same thing I did,’” Machín said. “It’s something that I can look at him and see he did it and have that same mentality to be the best player I can be.”
For Machín, what he sees in Clemente is a blueprint for how to make it in the Major Leagues. He pointed to how Clemente arrived to the United States without speaking English and overcame that obstacle to become one of the most influential figures in all of baseball.
“He didn’t know English at first and learned it just like me,” Machín said. “It’s tough for us as Latin players to fly to a different country not knowing anything. For him to do what he did, I look at him and the way he played baseball and helped others. That impacted me.”
While the 26-year-old Machín has only been able to relive Clemente’s greatness through old clips and videos, A’s manager Bob Melvin had a chance to watch the Pirates outfielder toward the end of his career.
“He was about as complete of a player as you will ever see,” Melvin said. “The tenacity of which he played with some emotion to it, the arm in right field was off the charts. His hitting style was really unique. Just one of the great, exciting players of all time.”
Like Machín, Melvin would also like to see No. 21 retired across baseball.
“If you watched Puerto Rican players, he’s the guy,” Melvin said. “I think his whole legacy and how abruptly it ended and what he was doing would all suggest that’s a guy you celebrate. I would be all for that.”