1969 Topps Roberto Clemente Card - Forbes Field Painting

This 1969 Topps Roberto Clemente card has a surprise on the back - an original painting of Forbes Field. Artist Michael Koser always leaves a little bit of the original card visible through the painting, so you will notice "Clemente" in the sky above the left center field wall. This item is 1 of 1.

You might also notice the front of the card has been altered. The original 1969 Topps Clemente card featured a pink circle to the left of his face with the name "Bob Clemente". For some unspeakable reason Topps insisted on calling him "Bob" from 1957-1969 even though Roberto adamantly hated the name and repeatedly asked to be called "Roberto".

Clemente, who played his entire career with the Pittsburgh Pirates, was a 15X All-Star, 12X Gold Glove winner,  4X NL batting champion, 2X World Series champion and without question one of the most electric players to ever play the game! Tragically, his life was cut short by a plane accident in 1972 just a couple of months after collecting his 3,000th hit. He was posthumously inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame the very next year.

Clemente once said, "I was born to play baseball. I want to be remembered as a ballplayer who gave all he had to give."

The Pirates played at Forbes Field from 1909 to midway through the 1970 season. There was so much history at that beautiful ballpark including the final 3 home runs of Babe Ruth's career, Bill Mazeroski's dramatic HR over the left field wall to win the 1960 World Series and hundreds of exhilarating moments of Roberto Clemente's career!

“Leaving Forbes Field, they took the players away from the fans. It was unique. So what if girders needed replacing? You could do it, add bleacher seats. They had a way – just not a will.” - Longtime Pirates broadcaster, Bob Prince.

Card is ungraded. Corner wear and small crease in middle.