What adversity did Roberto Clemente have to overcome while playing baseball?

Answer 1

The color barrier, among others.

Answer 2

Roberto Clemente was a black Puerto-Rican athlete, playing Baseball at a time when the sport had only been integrated for seven years and a lot of prejudice still remained. He was first signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1954, but because he was both black and Latino, he encountered considerable discrimination, which shocked and disappointed him (he had not encountered so much prejudice in Puerto Rico). For one thing, he was paid substantially less of a starting bonus than white players received. In his first year, the Dodgers played their spring training games in Florida, which was still segregated: he had to endure hotels that refused to let him stay there and beaches that would not allow him to go swimming. There is some evidence that his white teammates did nothing to defend or encourage him. Things did not improve when he was signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates-- many fans said insulting things about him because of his accent. He gradually won everyone over, but he certainly did not have it easy in the early years of his career.