On New Year's Eve, December 31, 1972, while taking relief supplies to earthquake-torn Nicaragua, Roberto Clemente and all on board a DC-7  was killed in a plane crash off the coast of San Juan. Hearing that other supplies were being stolen, Roberto Clemente proclaimed that they would not steal from him. Against warnings that the old DC-7 was seriously overloaded, he was not going to let that stop him.

The DC-7 was packed with five men and 16,000 pounds of supplies. Shortly after take-off, the DC-7 engines burst into flames, and the DC-7 pitched into the sea off San Juan. To date the aircraft has never been located. From 1955 to 1972, Roberto Clemente, baseball player for the Pirates had a remarkable batting average .317 over 18 seasons, collecting 3,000 hits, placing in the Pirates' Top Ten and had placed the team in the 1960 World Series victory.

Roberto Clemente was the team's first Latin player. In 1973, Roberto Clemente was elected the first Latin American player on the baseball Hall of Fame.