OnlyBucs

I can't help but draw some connection between Kobe Bryant's death and that of Roberto. Obviously, it's not a perfect comparison, and there are a lot of dissimilarities, but I imagine the world's reaction when Roberto died (I wasn't born yet) was similar to the world's reaction today. (Obviously, allowing for the fact that the internet and social media has had a drastic change.) Not really looking for a reaction. Just throwing it out there.

I've heard some local sports news guys say the same thing.

We live in a different world now and far from just the emergence of social media and the internet. ESPN didn't even begin until 1979. 24-hour sports cycles documenting nonstop coverage of every sport didn't exist. Sports was 5 minutes on the local newscast and a game of the week. Clemente felt underappreciated nationally because the MLB publicity went to the large market cities, the game of the week participants and World Series stars.



Everyone knew about Mays (who began as a New York Giant), Mantle, the legacy of the Yankees, Mr. Cub in Chicago, Hammerin' Hank for the HR titles, LA's Koufax and Drysdale and others who got reported on regularly. But Pittsburgh rarely got a game of the week or any national attention. When Mazeroski went to the all-star game, AL players curiously watched him field during warmups because they had heard so much about his defense but never got a chance to see it. When Brooks Robinson dominated the 1970 WS with his incredible fielding, it was the national story. But it wasn't anything Oriole fans hadn't been seeing routinely for more than a decade. So when Clemente dazzled the nation in the 1971 WS, he was finally thrust into the national spotlight for doing nothing different than he had been showing Pirates fans for almost 2 decades. Such was the state of MLB at that time. If you weren't in a major market or had a chance to excel on the national stage of a WS, few outside your own market really knew much about you.



Kobe Bryant played in a major market but didn't even need that to be known not just nationally but even worldwide. Countless 24-hour sports networks have documented his play from day 1. Everyone was aware that he was an all-time great even if (like me) they didn't follow the NBA. Countless NBA games are shown nationally and anyone who doesn't make a conscious effort to avoid seeing highlights has seen tons of footage of Kobe. Everyone feels like the know him. And even if you didn't feel that way, you can't escape the countless sports networks doing tributes (ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPN News, Fox Sports, NBA Network).



When Clemente died it was only a little more than a year since he became a household name in MLB after the 1971 WS. There was no ESPN, no MLB Network. It got a great deal of national attention but as much for the cause-attempting a mission of mercy-as for the fact that he was a baseball icon. But except for mention in newspapers, magazines, and the sports segment of local newscasts there just did not exist the vehicles for nonstop national coverage that exists today. It's just the changing way of the world. Before there were TVs in every home, reporting was limited to newspapers, radio and newsreels that accompanied movies in the local theaters. At that time no one ever thought there would be as much media as there was in December 1972. And now there are media options that weren't even dreamed of when Clemente died.