Eddie Vedder has special connection to Pittsburgh's Clemente Museum. Here's why.

Iconic Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder has described Pittsburgh’s Clemente Museum as one of his “top five places on the whole planet Earth.”

Vedder — who returns to Pittsburgh this weekend for a pair of sold-out shows at PPG Paints Arena — isn’t just an admirer of the late baseball legend and humanitarian Roberto Clemente or a fan of the Lawrenceville museum that preserves his legacy.

Vedder’s support has been critical to the museum’s very survival, according to executive director and curator Duane Rieder.

“During covid, he helped us stay in business. Without him, we might have folded,” Rieder said.

In 2020, Rieder said, Vedder helped the museum raise $100,000 to stay afloat. He donated one-of-a-kind auction items, including a Fender guitar autographed by the members of Pearl Jam, and spread the word about the museum to his enormous global following.

“This place, for those of you who don’t know, is heaven on earth, especially if you love Roberto Clemente, which I do, and if you love baseball, which I do. And to top it off, they make their own wine in the basement,” Vedder said in a video made for the museum’s 2020 fundraiser.

Vedder is among those who have paid $12,500 for a barrel of wine — the equivalent of 252 bottles — to become a member of the Clemente Society. Society rules call for members to donate back at least 21% of the wine (a nod to Clemente’s uniform number), with proceeds benefiting the museum.

“It’s a trifecta unparalleled, and it could be one of the greatest nights of your life to go spend some time there,” Vedder said in the video.

Rieder said Vedder has visited the museum in person just once — in 2013, the last time Pearl Jam performed in Pittsburgh.

Rieder isn’t sure whether Vedder, 60, will be able to squeeze in time for a museum visit during his upcoming stay in Pittsburgh.

“I’m crossing my fingers. If we can get him in here for 5 minutes, I’d love to show him around. We’ve added a thousand things since he was last here. His eyes would bulge out,” Rieder said of the museum’s exhibits and artifacts.

Messages left for Vedder’s publicists were not returned.

Vedder, who spent his early years in Illinois, is a longtime fan of the Chicago Cubs. During his first visit to Chicago’s Wrigley Field, a young Vedder watched the Cubs play the Pittsburgh Pirates — and Clemente had a monster game, Rieder said.

On Dec. 31, 1972, when Vedder was 8, Clemente died in a plane crash off the coast of his native Puerto Rico while trying to deliver humanitarian aid to earthquake victims in Nicaragua. His body was never found. Just months earlier, Clemente had become the 11th player in major-league history — and the first Latin American — to reach 3,000 career hits.

“I think that made a big impression on Ed,” Rieder said.

Rieder said Vedder has become a big humanitarian in his own right. Last month, the Clemente Museum called on people to support a cause near to Vedder and his wife: the EB Research Partnership. Since its founding in 2014, the nonprofit has raised over $50 million to support research aimed at treating and ultimately curing epidermolysis bullosa, a group of skin disorders affecting children.

“It seems like people come together under the umbrella of Roberto,” Vedder said in his 2020 fundraising video for the Clemente Museum. “They all have something in common, and I think that’s because they all know his quote: ‘Anytime you have an opportunity to do some good in this world, if you don’t do it, if you don’t take that opportunity, then you’re simply wasting your time on Earth.”