Clemente: Inner circle of the elite, or on his way?

[rhettyeakley]

Originally Posted by rats60

Probably the same thing that happened when the Red Sox and Yankees agreed to trade Ted williams and Joe DiMaggio. Willie Mays has said that Clemente was the best player (other than himself) that he saw play. Orlando Cepeda, who was a teammate of Aaron and Mays, said Clemente was better. In the mid- sixties there was definitely a big 3 of Aaron, Clemente and Mays and it was debated who was the best.

Clemente is not and has never really been considered the “big 3” with Mays and Aaron. If anything someone like Frank Robinson would be more the person that should be in that conversation, and even he doesn’t measure up to those two (but does have superior statistics than Clemente). I like Clemente but he was no Mays or Aaron.