BASEBALL PLAYERS from Puerto Rico

Top 2

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Puerto Rican Baseball Players of all time. This list of famous Puerto Rican Baseball Players is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

1. Roberto Clemente (1934 - 1972)

With an HPI of 52.49, Roberto Clemente is the most famous Puerto Rican Baseball Player.  His biography has been translated into 22 different languages on wikipedia.

Roberto Enrique Clemente Walker (Spanish pronunciation: [roˈβeɾto enˈrike kleˈmente (ɣ)walˈkeɾ]; August 18, 1934 – December 31, 1972) was a Puerto Rican professional baseball player who played 18 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Pittsburgh Pirates, primarily as a right fielder. In December 1972, Clemente died in the crash of a plane he had chartered to take emergency relief goods for the survivors of a massive earthquake in Nicaragua. After his sudden death, the National Baseball Hall of Fame changed its rules so that a player who had been dead for at least six months would be eligible for entry. In 1973, Clemente was posthumously inducted, becoming the first player from the Caribbean and Latin America to be honored in the Hall of Fame. Born in Carolina, Puerto Rico, Clemente was a track and field star and an Olympic hopeful in his youth before deciding to turn his full attention to baseball. His professional career began at the age of eighteen, with the Cangrejeros de Santurce of the Puerto Rican Professional Baseball League. He quickly attracted the attention of the Brooklyn Dodgers who signed him to a bonus of $10,000. However, due to the bonus rule under which Clemente had signed and the Dodgers decision to send him to the minor leagues, they lost Clemente to the Pittsburgh Pirates who drafted him after the 1954 season. Clemente was an All-Star for 13 seasons, selected to 15 All-Star Games. He was the National League (NL) Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 1966, the NL batting leader in 1961, 1964, 1965, and 1967, and a Gold Glove Award winner for 12 consecutive seasons from 1961 through 1972. His batting average was over .300 for 13 seasons and he had 3,000 hits during his major league career. He also was a two-time World Series champion. Clemente was the first player from the Caribbean and Latin America to win a World Series as a starting position player (1960), to receive an NL MVP Award (1966), and to receive a World Series MVP Award (1971). During the offseason, in addition to playing winter ball in Puerto Rico, Clemente was involved in charity work in Latin American and Caribbean countries. In 1972, he died in a plane crash at the age of 38 while en route to deliver aid to victims of the Nicaragua earthquake. The following season, the Pittsburgh Pirates retired his uniform number 21. In his honor, Major League baseball renamed the Commissioner's Award, given to the player who "best exemplifies the game of baseball, sportsmanship, community involvement and the individual's contribution to his team", to the Roberto Clemente Award.

2. Carlos Beltrán (b. 1977)

With an HPI of 31.55, Carlos Beltrán is the 2nd most famous Puerto Rican Baseball Player.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Carlos Iván Beltrán (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈkaɾlos βelˈtɾan]; born April 24, 1977) is a Puerto Rican former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as an outfielder from 1998 to 2017 for the Kansas City Royals, Houston Astros, New York Mets, San Francisco Giants, St. Louis Cardinals, New York Yankees, and Texas Rangers. A right-handed thrower and switch hitter, Beltrán stands 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) tall and weighs 215 pounds (98 kg). Beltrán was the American League (AL) Rookie of the Year in 1999 while with the Royals. He was named to nine MLB All-Star Games and won three Gold Glove Awards and two Silver Slugger Awards. Beltrán was the fifth player to reach both 400 home runs and 300 stolen bases and just the fourth switch hitter with 400 home runs. He has the highest success rate in stealing bases (88.3%) of any major league player with 300 or more career attempts. He also joined the 30–30 club in 2004. In 2013, Beltrán was named the recipient of the prestigious Roberto Clemente Award. He retired after the 2017 season, winning a World Series title with the Astros. Beltrán was among the best all-time statistical hitters in postseason games, which has earned him nicknames such as "the New Mr. October", "Mr. October, Jr.", "Señor Octubre", and "the real Mr. October" from the media. In 56 plate appearances during the 2004 playoffs, he scored 21 runs to set a record for most runs scored in one postseason (Jose Altuve has since tied the record). Following retirement from baseball, Beltrán was hired as the manager of his former team, the Mets, for the 2020 season. However, he stepped down without managing a game after the Astros' sign stealing scandal broke in late 2019. While Beltrán was the only player to be named in the investigation report, the extent of his involvement in the scheme has been disputed. Beltrán was briefly an analyst for YES Network in 2022 and has been a member of the Mets' front office since 2023.