Roberto Clemente State Park

Roberto Clemente State Park is a 25-acre waterfront park on the Harlem River in the Morris Heights section of the western Bronx. Named for the Puerto Rican baseball legend who was one of the greatest players in the history of the game, the park is managed by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.

Roberto Clemente was a Hall of Fame right fielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates who won four batting titles, earned 12 Gold Glove Awards, and amassed exactly 3,000 career hits. He died on December 31, 1972, in a plane crash while delivering emergency relief supplies to earthquake victims in Nicaragua, cementing his legacy as both a sports hero and a humanitarian.

The park features an Olympic-sized swimming pool, a gymnasium, athletic fields, basketball courts, a running track, and a waterfront esplanade along the Harlem River. The recreation center provides year-round programming including fitness, arts, and educational activities.

The park serves the Morris Heights and University Heights communities, predominantly Latino neighborhoods with strong connections to Puerto Rican and Dominican culture. Clemente's stature as the greatest Puerto Rican baseball player in history gives the park deep cultural significance for the surrounding community.

Roberto Clemente State Park honors a man who used his platform as a sports star to advocate for social justice and humanitarian causes, and whose death while serving others elevated him from athlete to icon. The park's comprehensive recreation facilities carry forward his belief that sports and community service are inseparable.