One of the cooler aspects of the World Baseball Classic (at least, in my opinion) is that it's one of the rare times that national pride and baseball intersect. It doesn't happen in the Olympics and it's limited during the season, but during the WBC it's evident just how much baseball means in various countries around the world. A nice example of this is how touched Carlos Delgado was when he was told he could wear Roberto Clemente's No. 21 for Puerto Rico for the WBC.
Delgado says he's "honored and flattered" that Lou Melendez, the GM of Puerto Rico's team, asked the Clemente family's permission and they said yes. There's nerves, too - "I have to make sure I don't embarrass myself," Delgado said.There's not a better player in the game today to honor Clemente than Delgado, who's done his own share of charity work throughout his career. Really though, it's just cool to see a player so touched by what seems to be such a simple gesture. Retiring a player's number is a nice, but sometimes the most fitting tribute is to see his number on the back of someone that he inspired.
[...]
"People thought he was a good player, but the stuff he did off the field goes beyond the 3,000 hits, the Hall of Fame," Delgado said. "This guy dedicated his life to helping the needy. Obviously, in that era, players didn't make the kind of money they do today, but he gave a lot. People still talk about him 36 years later, schools are named after him, stadiums, parks."
