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Anyhow, the card I am highlighting today is in honor of one of the greatest basbeall players ever and his last card.
Lets go back in time for a moment: the year is 1973, and the baseball season begins like any other except baseball lost one of the greatest stars of all time before the first pitch ever crosses home plate.
Roberto Clemente died in an aviation accident on December 31, 1972 en route to deliver aid to earthquake victims in Nicaragua. Clemente had been involved in this work for several years, helping those in need in hi
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So much has been written about Roberto Clemente; schools have been named after him, documentaries, books and even a movie has been produced.
Roberto Clemente was inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame in 1973, the only player for whom the mandatory five year waiting period was waived. A twelve time all-star, twelve time gold glove award winner , the 1966 NL MVP, 1971 World Series MVP and his uniform #21 is retired (just to name a few of his career highlights). This is not a history of Clemente since I could not do that any justice and will not try.
Roberto Clemente’s last card is the 1973 Topps # 50. I find it most interesting to collect the last cards of hall of famers, to have a glimpse of their career stats and Clemente’s ’73 card tops my list for that reason. The back of the card (yes once again the back tells more of a story than the front) depicts a drawing with 3000 in big print on his bat. Yes Clemente got his 3000th hit in 1972. The major league totals on this card bears that fact as well.
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As far as a Cubs connection goes – July 25, 1956, Clemente hit a walk-off inside the park grand slam at Forbes Field as the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Chicago Cubs 9 – 8.