Celebrating Native American Heritage Month: Moses Yellow Horse, 1920s MLB player

Moses J. Yellow Horse, born January 28, 1898 in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), was a full-blooded Pawnee, who played two seasons in Major League Baseball. He began playing baseball when he attended the Chilocco Indian Agricultural School. After leaving Chilocco, he pitched for the Little Rock Travelers, a minor league team in the Southern Association.  He helped the team win its first championship in 1920. 

In 1921, he joined the Pittsburgh Pirates.  His MLB debut was on April 15 when he relieved pitcher Peter Hamilton.  The Pirates won the 3-1 over the Cincinnati Reds.  Later that year, he injured his arm and the surgery forced him to sit out for two months.  In 1922, he injured his arm a second time.  In his two years with the Pirates, he compiled a record of 8 wins and 4 losses.

With his major league career over, Yellow Horse moved to the minors, but his career was plagued with injuries and alcoholism.  He played for the Sacramento Senators of the Pacific Coast League. He was traded to Fort Worth but then soon was returned to Sacramento.  They sold him to Omaha.  He pitched his final game May 16, 1926. 

In 1945, he stopped drinking, which had created a divide between him and the Pawnee tribe, and found steady work.

He passed away in Pawnee, Oklahoma in April 1964.

Celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month: Roberto Clemente, first Latino inducted into Nat'l Baseball Hall of Fame

Roberto Clemente, born August 18, 1934 in Puerto Rico, played eighteen seasons in Major League Baseball for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1955-1972.

He joined the United States Marine Corps Reserve in September 1958 and served a six-month active duty in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Washington DC.  He gained an early release from Sate Senator John Walker for the 1959 season.  He continued to serve during off-seasons through 1964, as a private first class.

During his career, he made All-Star 15 times, helped the Pirates to two World Series championships, was National League MVP in 1966, World Series MVP in 1971, won 12 Gold Glove Awards, and was the NL batting champion 4 times.  

He was involved with charity and humanitarian work throughout his career in Latin America and the Caribbean during the off-seasons.  On December 31, 1972, the plane he was riding in crashed off the coast of Isla Verde, Puerto Rico, while carrying relief supplies and aid packages to the victims of an earthquake in Nicaragua.  An award in his honor the Roberto Clemente Award, is given to the player who "best exemplifies the game of baseball, sportsmanship, community involvement and the individual's contribution to his team".

He was posthumously inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1973, becoming the first Latin-American to be inducted.  He was inducted into the Marine Corps Sports Hall of Fame in 2003 and the Puerto Rican Veterans Hall of Fame in 2018. He has also been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.