This lot is closed. Bidding ended on 5/31/2012.
Roberto Clemente played for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1955 through 1972. Clemente was awarded the National League MVP Award in 1966. He was on the NL All-Star team 15 times, received 12 Gold Glove Awards, and led the NL in batting average four times. In 1972, Clemente got his 3,000th major league hit. Off the field, Clemente was involved in charity work in Puerto Rico and other Latin American countries, often delivering baseball equipment and food to those in need. He died in an aviation accident on December 31, 1972, while en route to deliver aid to earthquake victims in Nicaragua. Clemente was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame posthumously in 1973, becoming the first Latin American to be selected and the only current Hall of Fame member for whom the mandatory five-year waiting period has been waived. “National League of Professional Baseball Clubs” contract between “Pittsburgh Athletic Co, Inc” and “Roberto Clemente (Walker)” during the year “1972” in the amount of “63,333.34”. Signed on the back page on “February 7, 1972” by Roberto Clemente in bold, blue ink rating a strong 9. Also signed by Pittsburgh General Manager Joe Brown in blue ink rating a 7 and National League President Charles Feeney in blue ink rating a 7-8. The six page tri-fold contract is in NM overall condition, rare and historic quite as the man himself. Accompanied by a LOA from JSA.