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Roberto Clemente didn’t only personify greatness off the field … the Hall of Famer was a problem at the plate, winning countless awards throughout his Hall of Fame career, including the 1964 Silver Bat Award for leading the league in batting average!
Lucky for baseball fans, the award, which looks absolutely awesome, is now on the block at SCP Auctions.
FYI, the Silver Bat (different from today’s Silver Slugger award) was given to the player with the highest batting average in both the National and American League during Roberto’s era. Clemente won four NL batting titles with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The Silver Bat was modeled after Clemente’s Louisville Slugger bat. The 34-inch long award is actually made of 55.6 Troy ounces of silver (that’s worth over $1,300 in silver alone). Despite being almost 60 years old, SCP says the bat is still in excellent condition with only a few blemishes.
The award is inscribed with … “BATTING CHAMPION 1964 NATIONAL LEAGUE B.A. .339.”
“Clemente is one of the most prolific hitters in major league history, batting .317 in his career and reaching the prestigious 3,000 career hit milestone,” SCP said.
“This history trophy wonderfully commemorates the season in which Bob had a career-best 211 of those 3,000 hits.”
The 211 hits were good enough the lead the league. Clemente was also named an All-Star in ’64 (one of 15 All-Star appearances), and earned a Gold Glove (one of 12 he won) for his spectacular defense in the outfield.
As great as RC was on the diamond, he was known just as much for his charitable work away from the field.
Tragically, Roberto died in an airplane crash while trying to deliver aid packages to earthquake victims in Managua in 1972. He was only 38.
The Silver Bat Award auction ends Saturday, but it’s not too late to bid, however, it won’t come cheap. The bat already has a bid of over $88k.
SCP expects the SB Award, which comes with a letter of provenance from the Clemente family, to ultimately sell for around $350k.
Happy bidding!