This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 12/15/2023
Of the thousands of professional baseball players who have donned the uniform in the long history of the sport, only a handful are remembered for being even greater off the field than they were for their exceptional performance on the diamond. Roberto Clemente was one of them! Forever the final member of the illustrious 3,000 hit club, "Arriba" excelled in offering humanitarian efforts worldwide, coming from meager beginnings and proudly paying it forward to serve as an ambassador to his native Puerto Rico. But it was Clemente's baseball prowess that earned him a place in the Baseball Hall of Fame. In the past, the Clemente rookie card had been grouped with the premiere appearances of Sandy Koufax and Harmon Killebrew as being the "the big three" that paces the 1955 Topps set. That characterization no longer applies as Clemente's increasing popularity has moved his 1955 Topps card to the forefront of baseball card collecting. Like Koufax and Killebrew, Clemente was a highly-touted prospect who went several years before developing into a Hall-of-Fame caliber player. Always hovering around the .300 mark, Clemente's breakout season was 1961, when he hit a career-high 23 round-trippers while his .351 batting average earned him the first of four National League batting titles. As for the featured card, this well-framed and intensely pigmented example shows many characteristics usually reserved for specimens at the MINT level, revealing no more than micro touches to the corners that may make the technical grade accurate but do little to dissuade the naked eye. The reverse shows the customary slight toning that comes with age, however, the red, black, and green pigmentation is very bold and the canvas shows no liabilities whatsoever. A very high-end example that serves as a centerpiece to any advanced '55 Topps set or HOFer collection.