If you are a baseball fan or from Western Pennsylvania, there is virtually no chance we need to tell you who Roberto Clemente was.
If you're not, know that this Afro Puerto Rican baseball player was one of the rarest of humans - one of the very best to ever have his day job while being one of the most charity focused people in the rest of his life. He spent the majority of his MLB career playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates. He spent significant portion of his non working life doing charity work.
Ultimately it was a journey to Nicaragua to personally ensure goods meant for the poor who had been impacted by an earthquake made it to those in need that led to his untimely death. At just 38, he had developed the kind of heart that would say yes to getting into a tiny plane on New Year's Eve to stop crooked officials from intercepting the goods. Tragically, the plane crashed shortly after take off.Â
There are a million things named in his honor. Streets, schools, a bridge, a day in September, THE PUERTO RICAN BASEBALL LEAGUE. A cookie seemed like small bananas.
So we went with plantains. Sweet ones. If you're lucky enough to have experience fried sweet plantains, your mouth is probably watering right now. A staple in much of the Caribbean and Central America, we knew a blackened golden yellow treat was the right choice for celebrating the Black and Yellow baseball team's most celebrated player. We went with maduritos (ripe sweet plantain chips) and banana liqueur to impart the flavor to the shortbread. If you're lucky enough to snag these before sellout, Dee hopes you take them out to a ballgame.