MIAMI — Roberto Clemente never had a salary higher than $150,000, and the Hall of Famer’s career earnings over 18 seasons with the Pirates were well south of $1 million. Turns out his memorabilia collection was a gold mine. About 300 items from Clemente’s personal collection were auctioned Tuesday at the All-Star FanFest in Miami and totaled sales over $7.5 million.
The most expensive item, a silver bat Clemente was awarded as the National League batting champion in 1967, sold for $493,500. It was a record price for that particular trophy, eclipsing the $313,500 bid for Mickey Mantle’s 1956 American League batting champ award.