II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 877
To require the Secretary of the Treasury to mint commemorative coins in
recognition of the life and legacy of Roberto Clemente.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MARCH6, 2025
Mr. S
CHUMER(for himself and Mrs. CAPITO) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Hous-
ing, and Urban Affairs
A BILL
To require the Secretary of the Treasury to mint commemo-
rative coins in recognition of the life and legacy of Ro-
berto Clemente.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Roberto Clemente 4
Commemorative Coin Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
The Congress finds the following: 7
(1) Roberto Clemente Walker was born on Au-8
gust 18, 1934, to Don Melchor Clemente and Luisa 9
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Walker in Barrio San Anto´n, Carolina, Puerto Rico, 1
as the youngest of 7 children. 2
(2) Clemente excelled in athletics as a young-3
ster and, at the age of 17, was playing for the 4
Santurce Cangrejeros ‘‘Crabbers’’ of the Puerto 5
Rican Baseball League. 6
(3) In 1954, the Pittsburgh Pirates selected 7
Clemente in the first round of the Major League 8
Baseball Rule 5 draft. 9
(4) Pirates center fielder Earl Smith wore jer-10
sey number 21 until he parted ways with the team 11
in April 1955, and Clemente wore number 13 until 12
then. 13
(5) In 1955, Clemente made his Major League 14
debut as he went on to play for the Pittsburgh Pi-15
rates, starting as a right fielder. 16
(6) When the team traveled to Richmond, Vir-17
ginia, for games or Florida for spring training, 18
Clemente encountered Jim Crow laws for the first 19
time when the Black players had to stay at a sepa-20
rate, inferior hotel and were refused the option to 21
dine with their White counterparts. 22
(7) Clemente was known for being a proud 23
Afro-Latino and protested the discrimination that 24
Latin and Black ball players encountered. 25
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(8) Clemente was known for defending the 1
rights of Black and Brown people, both on the field 2
and in the streets. 3
(9) After the assassination of Martin Luther 4
King, Jr., in 1968, Clemente and his teammates re-5
fused to play until after the funerals and even wrote 6
a public statement showing their respect for Dr. 7
King. 8
(10) Clemente became a union leader in the in-9
cipient Major League Baseball Players Association 10
and defended players’ rights to demand better work-11
ing conditions and benefits. 12
(11) In every city where the Pirates played, 13
Clemente visited sick children in hospitals. 14
(12) Clemente established training clinics, pro-15
viding baseball lessons and fun for boys and girls in 16
Pittsburgh, his home island of Puerto Rico, and 17
throughout Latin America. 18
(13) In 1958, Clemente enlisted in the United 19
States Marine Corps Reserve after the 1958 season 20
and spent 6 months on active duty at Parris Island, 21
South Carolina, and Camp LeJeune, North Caro-22
lina. 23
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(14) Clemente served until 1964 and was in-1
ducted into the Marine Corps Sports Hall of Fame 2
in 2003. 3
(15) By the end of his career, Clemente had 4
joined the exclusive 3,000-hit club, was selected to 5
15 All-Star teams, and won 12 Gold Gloves, 2 World 6
Series, and a National League MVP award. 7
(16) In Clemente’s 18 seasons with Pittsburgh 8
he won 4 batting titles, hit 240 home runs, and 9
posted a lifetime .317 batting average. 10
(17) In late 1972, a 6.3 magnitude earthquake 11
ravaged Managua, Nicaragua, and killed 5,000 peo-12
ple. 13
(18) In his philanthropic spirit, Clemente sent 14
shipments of humanitarian aid to the country. 15
(19) After learning that 3 previous shipments 16
had been diverted by corrupt Somoza Government 17
officials, Clemente decided to accompany one of the 18
aid shipments. 19
(20) The four-engine DC–7 plane Clemente 20
chartered for a flight on New Year’s Eve crashed in 21
the Atlantic Ocean immediately after takeoff from 22
the coast of Isla Verde, Puerto Rico. 23
(21) On December 31, 1972, Clemente died in 24
the plane crash at the age of 38 years young. 25
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(22) Since 1973, Major League Baseball gives 1
out the Roberto Clemente Award to one player in 2
the league who ‘‘best exemplifies the game of base-3
ball, sportsmanship, community involvement and the 4
individual’s contribution to his team’’. 5
(23) In 2002, Major League Baseball declared 6
the first annual Roberto Clemente Day. 7
(24) In 2021, Major League Baseball an-8
nounced September 15 would be the permanent date 9
of Roberto Clemente Day to coincide with the begin-10
ning of Hispanic Heritage month. 11
(25) Clemente was the first Latino player to ac-12
complish many feats in Major League Baseball. 13
(26) Clemente was the first Puerto Rican, and 14
first person of Latino heritage, to win a World Se-15
ries as a starter, be named league MVP, be named 16
World Series MVP, and be elected to the Hall of 17
Fame. 18
(27) Clemente was posthumously elected to the 19
National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1973, being the 20
first National League baseball player to receive the 21
mandatory 5-year waiting period waiver. 22
(28) Clemente was a legend in life and death, 23
a baseball star, a humanitarian activist, and a sym-24
bol of Latin American pride. 25
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SEC. 3. COIN SPECIFICATIONS. 1
(a) D
ENOMINATIONS.—The Secretary of the Treas-2
ury (hereafter in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’) 3
shall mint and issue the following coins: 4
(1) $5
GOLD COINS.—Not more than 50,000 $5 5
coins, which shall— 6
(A) weigh 8.359 grams; 7
(B) have a diameter of 0.850 inches; and 8
(C) contain not less than 90 percent gold. 9
(2) $1
SILVER COINS.—Not more than 400,000 10
$1 coins, which shall— 11
(A) weigh 26.73 grams; 12
(B) have a diameter of 1.500 inches; and 13
(C) contain not less than 90 percent silver. 14
(3) H
ALF-DOLLAR CLAD COINS .—Not more 15
than 750,000 half-dollar coins which shall— 16
(A) weigh 11.34 grams; 17
(B) have a diameter of 1.205 inches; and 18
(C) be minted to the specifications for half- 19
dollar coins contained in section 5112(b) of title 20
31, United States Code. 21
(b) L
EGALTENDER.—The coins minted under this 22
Act shall be legal tender, as provided in section 5103 of 23
title 31, United States Code. 24
(c) N
UMISMATICITEMS.—For purposes of sections 25
5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all coins 26
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minted under this Act shall be considered to be numis-1
matic items. 2
SEC. 4. DESIGN OF COINS. 3
(a) D
ESIGNREQUIREMENTS.— 4
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The designs of the coins 5
minted under this Act shall be emblematic of the life 6
of Roberto Clemente, including his human rights ac-7
tivism and baseball stardom legacy. At least 1 ob-8
verse design shall bear the image of Roberto 9
Clemente. 10
(2) D
ESIGNATION AND INSCRIPTIONS .—On 11
each coin minted under this Act, there shall be— 12
(A) an inscription of Roberto Clemente; 13
(B) a designation of the value of the coin; 14
(C) an inscription of the year ‘‘2027’’; and 15
(D) inscriptions of the words ‘‘Liberty’’, 16
‘‘In God We Trust’’, ‘‘United States of Amer-17
ica’’, and ‘‘E Pluribus Unum’’. 18
(b) S
ELECTION.—The designs for the coins minted 19
under this Act shall be— 20
(1) selected by the Secretary after consultation 21
with the Roberto Clemente Foundation, Roberto 22
Clemente’s living family members, and the Commis-23
sion of the Fine Arts; and 24
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(2) reviewed by the Citizens Coinage Advisory 1
Committee. 2
SEC. 5. ISSUANCE OF COINS. 3
(a) Q
UALITY OFCOINS.—Coins minted under this 4
Act shall be issued in uncirculated and proof qualities. 5
(b) P
ERIOD FORISSUANCE.—The Secretary may 6
issue coins under this Act only during the 1-year period 7
beginning on January 1, 2027. 8
SEC. 6. SALE OF COINS. 9
(a) S
ALEPRICE.—The coins issued under this Act 10
shall be sold by the Secretary at a price equal to the sum 11
of— 12
(1) the face value of the coins; 13
(2) the surcharge provided in section 7(a) with 14
respect to such coins; and 15
(3) the cost of designing and issuing the coins 16
(including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, 17
overhead expenses, marketing, and shipping). 18
(b) B
ULKSALES.—The Secretary shall make bulk 19
sales of the coins issued under this Act at a reasonable 20
discount. 21
(c) P
REPAIDORDERS.— 22
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall accept 23
prepaid orders for the coins minted under this Act 24
before the issuance of such coins. 25
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(2) DISCOUNT.—Sale prices with respect to pre-1
paid orders under paragraph (1) shall be at a rea-2
sonable discount. 3
SEC. 7. SURCHARGES. 4
(a) I
NGENERAL.—All sales of coins issued under this 5
Act shall include— 6
(1) a surcharge of $35 per coin for the $5 7
coins; 8
(2) a surcharge of $10 per coin for the $1 9
coins; and 10
(3) a surcharge of $5 per coin for the half-dol-11
lar coins. 12
(b) D
ISTRIBUTION.—Subject to section 5134(f) of 13
title 31, United States Code, all surcharges received by 14
the Secretary from the sale of coins issued under this Act 15
shall be paid to the Roberto Clemente Foundation to be 16
used for general expenses associated with the fulfillment 17
of the mission of the Roberto Clemente Foundation, in-18
cluding for costs associated with educational, youth sports, 19
and disaster relief historic preservation. 20
(c) A
UDITS.—The Roberto Clemente Foundation, 21
shall be subject to the audit requirements of section 22
5134(f)(2) of title 31, United States Code, with regard 23
to the amounts received under subsection (b). 24
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(d) LIMITATION.—Notwithstanding subsection (a), 1
no surcharge may be included with respect to the issuance 2
under this Act of any coin during a calendar year if, as 3
of the time of such issuance, the issuance of such coin 4
would result in the number of commemorative coin pro-5
grams issued during such year to exceed the annual 2 6
commemorative coin program issuance limitation under 7
section 5112(m)(1) of title 31, United States Code (as in 8
effect on the date of the enactment of this Act). The Sec-9
retary may issue guidance to carry out this subsection. 10
SEC. 8. FINANCIAL ASSURANCES. 11
The Secretary shall take such actions as may be nec-12
essary to ensure that— 13
(1) minting and issuing coins under this Act 14
will not result in any net cost to the United States 15
Government; and 16
(2) no funds, including applicable surcharges, 17
shall be disbursed to any recipient designated in sec-18
tion 7 until the total cost of designing and issuing 19
all of the coins authorized by this Act (including 20
labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, overhead ex-21
penses, marketing, and shipping) is recovered by the 22
United States Treasury, consistent with sections 23
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5112(m) and 5134(f) of title 31, United States 1
Code. 2
Æ
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