Hall of Fame baseball player Roberto Clemente honored in new ...

NEW YORK -- A new exhibit at the Paley Center for Media in Midtown highlights Hall of Fame baseball player Roberto Clemente.

Clemente had a lifetime of dedication to public service, from his early days in Puerto Rico through his stunning major league career and up until his death in a 1972 plane crash while traveling to Nicaragua to deliver aid to earthquake victims. He was 38 years old.

The "Legend of 21" exhibit arrives at Paley Center for Media.

Paley Center's Mercedes Anderson showed CBS New York's Dave Carlin around the new exhibit.

"Every display case tells a story," Anderson said. "This highly accomplished baseball player but also this exceptional humanitarian."

The display includes baseball cards, cereal boxes and even his bat and Pittsburgh Pirates jerseys.

"Twenty-one is the number he chose because it coincided with the number of letters in his name," Anderson said.

Interactive parts of the exhibit let visitors test their knowledge of Clemente or take a photo in a seat from Pittsburgh's Three Rivers Stadium.

"He is a trail blazer for Hispanic players and Afro Latino players. He came up at a time when there was a lot of discrimination, and he leveraged those accomplishments on the field to really make a statement about civil rights," Anderson said. "And baseball players today look back on him as an icon and as a role model."

The exhibition runs through Oct. 29. For more information, visit paleycenter.org/events/exhibit-roberto-clemente.

Dave Carlin

Dave Carlin serves as a reporter for CBS2 News and covers breaking news stories and major events in the Tri-State Area.

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