About 300 items from the legendary baseball star Roberto Clemente's personal collection were auctioned during All-Star week in Miami, Florida. The total sales came in more than $3 million.
In December of 2014, baseball journalist and Clemente enthusiast Danny Torres and former Major League Baseball executive Luis Rodriguez-Mayoral join SportsJam host Doug Doyle to talk about Clemente's impact on baseball and beyond.
Danny Torres is a native of the Bronx. Torres is an educator and free-lance sports writer. He's written for many outlets including mlb.com, The National Baseball Hall of Fame, The New York Mets and latinosports.com.
Torres is one of the founding members of The Society of Clemente Enthusiasts, a dedicated group that follows the late right fielder's extraordinary career on and off the field. His group replicates Clemente's mantra of giving back to charitable causes.
Luis Rodriguez-Mayoral, a one-time front office executive with the Texas Rangers and Detroit Tigers, is the first MLB Executive born in Puerto Rico and the author of many baseball books. Mayoral was also a very close friend of Roberto Clemente.
The "Great One" never had a salary higher than $150,000, and the Hall of Famer’s career earnings over 18 seasons with the Pirates didn't even reach $1 million.
The most expensive item in this month's Clemente auction, a silver bat Clemente was awarded as the National League batting champion in 1967, sold for $493,500. It was a record price for that particular trophy, eclipsing the $313,500 bid for Mickey Mantle’s 1956 American League batting champ award.
To hear some great stories about the hall of fame outfielder and humanitarian, click above to hear the entire SportsJam with Doug Doyle podcast.
