I think the elephant in the room here is that the committee who named the award obviously wanted to be politically correct. So if you assume it needs to be a black player, and Clemente (who had a 14 game World Series hitting streak) already has an award named for him, then it comes down to Gibson, Reggie, and perhaps Mays I suppose.
I hate to think what would've happened had Reggie's already supersized ego been further inflated by this tribute, so with Gibson's World Series record being near perfect, marred only by Curt Flood's foot slipping, I would have chosen him.
But otherwise, if we could be colorblind, I'd go with Mantle or Berra.
|