I am a contemporary of the OP. Clemente died the year before I really started paying attention to baseball, so I never got to see him play. I also don't like paying up for Clemente cards, but I understand why I do, same as Jackie Robinson.
There are a few guys where you simply cannot separate the career from the man and assess only the statistics. Very few people in any walk of life can be described as heroic; Clemente was one of them. I don't think it is too far of a stretch to say that if you could have a son and pick a ballplayer for him to emulate as a man you'd not do better than Roberto Clemente. That's why he is deified by fans and priced so highly by collectors.
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