CLEMENTE INSPIRES LATINS.

Byline: Mike Kiley Chicago Tribune 

Books concerning the African-American struggle to be accepted into major-league baseball have grown in volume during the last couple decades. You could search all day, however, for the Latino section in baseball's library and not find sufficient literary representation. That's a different kind of language barrier.

Just as baseball without African-Americans is inconceivable, players from Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Mexico and the Dominican Republic have become an integral part of a game that knows no boundaries. Some see themselves as the sustained embodiment of Roberto Clemente, fostering his caring image as a man who chose to excel as a community figure and an athletic superstar.

His 3,000 hits made him the 11th player ever to reach that height Sept. 30, 1972. But Clemente's place in history was secured Dec. 31 of that year when a DC-9 he chartered to airlift relief supplies to an earthquake-devastated Nicaragua crashed and killed him during takeoff from Puerto Rico. What Clemente helped to start, however, has assumed a dynamic life of its own.

Amaury Telemaco, a rookie Cubs pitcher from the Dominican Republic, is one of the latest to come through the Latin pipeline. While he wires money home monthly for his mother, four brothers and three sisters, the 22-year-old's dream extends far beyond a Cy Young Award and personal enrichment.

``I want to buy my mother a big house so she lives like a queen, just as she deserves,'' said Telemaco, whose father died in 1993. ``No, not this year. Maybe a new roof this year. But I have my savings account started and it will happen some day. I'm their support.''

The sense of family is especially strong among Spanish-speaking players. You need only watch any batting practice as they congregate behind the cage and converse with an obvious relish.