Quote:
Originally Posted by cgjackson222
I don't know if people recognize Clemente as better than Musial. And I still think he may be less popular than Mantle, Mays and Aaron. But I think he is right behind them in popularity (maybe tied or head of Aaron?).
I believe the humanitarian award named for him was created shortly after his passing. I was born in 1980, and Clemente's always been my favorite player, and a lot of that had to do with his humanitarianism.
But I see your point that he has had a surge in popularity related to the growing Latino population in this country and the continued popularity of baseball in Latin America.
I also think that during Clemente's career, he had limited recognition until he won the MPV in '66 more than a decade into his career, and then it took off with the World Series MPV in 1971, late in his career. He started off pretty quietly statistically, and didn't make an All Star team until his 6th year. http://www.espn.com/sportscentury/fe.../00014137.html |
Yeah, not saying he was better than Musial - just saying that on-field greatness and how that translates to a hobby and popularity can sometimes be odd. True that he wasn't recognized nearly as he should have been during his career. There were also the 4 batting titles which seems to me were treated somewhat quietly. I was born in '77, but it wasn't until the last 15 years that I really began to think of Clemente differently in terms of his humanitarian efforts.