Before, after or instead of the NFL Draft: Clemente, Warhol and the National Aviary in Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania – Before Joe Greene and Terry Bradshaw, there was Roberto Clemente.

Clemente, who played right field for the Pirates, was killed in a plane crash in 1972, while delivering supplies to earthquake-stricken Nicaragua. He was 38.

The Clemente Museum is one of several unique attractions in Pittsburgh that visitors to the NFL Draft might want to put on their to-do list. Others include the Andy Warhol Museum, the National Aviary, the Moonshot Museum and more.

The Clemente Museum

The museum opened in 2007, after Pittsburgh photographer Duane Rieder befriended the Clemente family while working on a calendar for an upcoming MLB All-Star Game.

Rieder preserved some of the family’s photos and displayed them in his studio, located in a late 19^th-century former firehouse just east of downtown. He added more memorabilia to the collection — and a museum was born.

On display here: correspondence between Clemente and Pirates general manager Branch Rickey, negotiating the rookie’s first-year salary in 1955 (spoiler alert: Rickey prevailed); and six of Clemente’s 12 gold glove awards.

“He probably had the greatest throwing arm of all time,” said docent Gary Euler, 72, who watched Clemente play as a child. “You couldn’t take your eyes off him in the field. Nobody played with more grace.”

There are hundreds of photographs, too, many of them never published, including a 1960 image from spring training of Clemente stretching to catch an outfield fly ball, with clouds forming what look like angel wings in the background.

There are Clemente baseball cards, gloves and bats, plus home plate from the 1971 World Series, “which still may be the greatest World Series ever played,” said Euler.

Also here: a propeller from the Douglas DC-7 plane, overloaded and poorly maintained, that crashed just after takeoff from San Juan on Dec. 31, 1972. Clemente had volunteered to accompany relief supplies to Nicaragua after learning that previous shipments weren’t reaching those most in need.

“You don’t build museums because somebody is a great ballplayer,” said Euler. “He was equally great as a person.”

Admission is $21 and by guided tour only. For information: clementemuseum.com

Andy Warhol Museum

Across the Allegheny River from the Clemente Museum, not far from PNC Park, is a museum devoted to another famous Pittsburgher, pop artist Andy Warhol.

It’s the largest single-artist museum in the United States, featuring an extensive collection of Warhol’s paintings, drawings, films and archival material.

Born Andrew Warhola in 1928, Warhol spent the first 21 years of his life in Pittsburgh before leaving for New York City in 1949.

The museum opened in 1994, seven years after Warhol’s death. Located in a seven-story former warehouse, the museum is organized roughly chronologically, with his earliest art on the top floor, including numerous school-age drawings and early commercial work for shoe manufacturer I. Miller and others in New York.

By the end of the 1950s, Warhol was fully immersed in the Pop Art movement, which merged fine art and pop culture. Among his iconic works on display here: Campbell’s Soup Cans, Three Marilyns and a series of rectangular sculptures featuring Brillo, Heinz and Del Monte brands.

The museum also houses a large collection of Warhol’s experimental films from the 1960s, along with dozens of “time capsules” – cardboard boxes that the artist filled with the photos, letters, receipts and other personal ephemera.

On special exhibit through March 9 is “Andy Warhol: Vanitas,” exploring themes of mortality, vanity and the passage of time.

The Warhol is one of four institutions that make up the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, which also includes the Carnegie Museum of Art, the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and the Kamin Science Center.

Admission is $25 for adults. Information: warhol.org

NFL Draft in Pittsburgh — At the National Aviary in Pittsburgh.Susan Glaser, Cleveland.com

National Aviary

For artistry of a different sort, head a mile north to the National Aviary, home to more than 500 birds and a tropical oasis on even the coldest day.

Highlights here include the Wetlands exhibit, featuring flamingos, ibises, roseate spoonbills and other warm-weather beauties; Penguin Point, where African penguins hop and dive; and the Tropical Rainforest, where Victoria crowned pigeons, egrets and macaws fly overhead.

Several of the exhibits here are free-flight, walk-through areas – meaning there’s always the possibility of an unwanted splat from above. So bring a hat if you’d rather not risk it.

Outside, Condor Court features massive Andean condors, bald eagles and barred owls.

Daily expert talks and feedings are included with admission, and animal encounters are available for an additional fee.

The National Aviary is the nation’s only independent indoor nonprofit zoo dedicated exclusively to birds. Admission is $20.95 adults. Information: aviary.org

More to explore in Pittsburgh’s North Side neighborhood:

Kamin Science Center

Formerly the Carnegie Science Center, the Kamin center is located immediately west of Acrisure Stadium and is the city’s most visited museum, with five floors of interactive exhibits. Of particular interest to sports fans: Sports 360, where visitors can jump and dash through a series of NFL Combine-inspired challenges, swing a bat and shoot a puck with a hockey stick.

Moonshot Museum

Open since 2022, this small museum just north of the science center is on the campus of Astrobotic, an aerospace company that develops lunar landers and other spacecraft. Among the highlights here is watching engineers build the company’s next space explorers.

Rivers Casino

On the riverfront just west of the science center, Rivers Casino features more than 400,000 square feet of slot machines and table games, plus a large BetRivers sportsbook. There are four restaurants here, plus an event center/concert venue. The adjacent 210-room Landings Hotel opened in 2022.

Before, after or instead of the NFL Draft: Clemente, Warhol and the National Aviary in Pittsburgh