La Vida Baseball, the leading multi-language Latino baseball lifestyle media company, today announced the launch of “The Year of 21,” a multi-platform content initiative created to inform, engage and educate fans worldwide about the life, the impact and the legacy of Roberto Clemente.
In collaboration with a range of media platforms, content creators and unique voices, “The Year of 21” will elevate the living legacy of Clemente’s humanitarian worldview, cultural impact and athletic brilliance through an unprecedented year-spanning reflection of history, current-day vitality and impact well into the future. The season-long celebration launches in April.
“For baseball fans, Roberto Clemente and his number ‘21’ are truly iconic, and the spirit of his legacy is more relevant than ever right now,” La Vida Baseball Managing Director Jesse Menendez said. “2021 is the right moment to elevate and celebrate everything Clemente stands for. Using the entire “The Year of 21” to elevate his legacy is something La Vida Baseball, its platforms, its partners and its community are built to execute better than anyone.”
“On behalf of the Clemente family, we’re excited to be partnered with La Vida Baseball for ‘The Year of 21,’ Roberto Clemente, Jr. said. “We’ve had a great relationship with La Vida Baseball since they launched years ago and they are the right partner to continue our father’s legacy and build upon the growing positive movement of what the number 21 signifies through stories that involve fans, celebrities and generations around the world.”
La Vida Baseball has been acquiring exclusive content assets, securing commitments – headlined by full support of the Clemente Family – and conducting more than 100 in-depth interviews with current and former MLB players, fellow Hall of Famers, star-struck celebrity fans, Clemente family members and others to power the project.
“The Year of 21” programming lineup will include a signature documentary series, a lineup of incredible short-form films, all-star roundtables, a Mi Clemente video series, a dynamic podcast series, energizing live events, memorable regional tie-ins, limited-edition merchandise collaborations and exclusive collectibles, with even more programming elements to be released at key moments during The Year of 21. Additional media, content and sponsorship partners will be announced in the coming weeks.
The La Vida Baseball network was launched in 2017 by TeamWorks Media, the award-winning content studio, and has since become the hub of coverage and community of the Latino influence within baseball, its lifestyle, its players and its fans. La Vida Baseball has created more than a dozen content franchises featuring more than 200 current and former MLB players, baseball media and celebrity super-fans, including “Being Guillen,” featuring the family of longtime MLB star player and manager Ozzie Guillen; “Polvoro, Voz y Diamante,” a rollicking weekly Spanish-language show; the “La Vida Baseball Live” studio show; and wildly popular Instagram Stories and viral moments curated by on-air talent Jennifer Mercedes and Julie Alexandria, widely shared by MLB players and fans.
”In this time of such upheaval and social consciousness both in and out of the athletic world, there may be no more important figure to honor and recognize than Roberto Clemente, and we are excited to be able to work with the Clemente family and a growing list of partners to bring his entire story, as well as those of who he has impacted, and continues to impact to life,” TeamWorks Media CEO Jay Sharman said. “In all our work, we have seen the reverence and respect athletes from all walks of life, and especially Latino athletes, have for Roberto, and we feel that ‘The Year of 21’ will expand the celebration and appreciation of Roberto Clemente to an even wider, cross-generation audience.”
Clemente, the Hall of Fame outfielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates and one of the most inspiring athletes in modern history. Clemente’s charity work in Latin American and Caribbean countries during the off-seasons, especially his work in his native Puerto Rico with young people, was what he may be best remembered for. On December 31, 1972, he lost his life in a plane crash at the age of 38 while attempting to deliver aid to earthquake victims in Nicaragua. The following season, the Pirates retired his uniform number 21, and MLB renamed its annual Commissioner’s Award in his honor; now known as the Roberto Clemente Award, given to the player who “best exemplifies the game of baseball, sportsmanship, community involvement and the individual’s contribution to his team.” His impact went well beyond his 3,000 hits and a myriad of other marks in and around baseball and the city of Pittsburgh. His trailblazing work for causes and in uniting peoples of different backgrounds across the Americas is even bigger, than his athletic impact.
