[Aquarian Sports Cards]

I think, and it's merely conjecture, that Kaline having his career year at age 20 and then never quite sustaining that level of greatness, where Clemente scuffled a little his first few years and then became a model of consistency even into, what are for many players, his twilight years.

It just leaves you with a different feeling. Kaline was, for all intents and purposes done at 38. Nothing to be ashamed about, but those two last years tarnish how people remember him. Clemente died after his age 37 season hitting .312.

If Kaline had died after his age 37 Season, in which he hit .313, the "what ifs" would've been a huge part of our memory of him. Instead we know what happened. He got old.