Parade of Ridiculousness: Clemente dressed as a bumble bee

The tragic death of Roberto Clemente in December 1972 forever immortalized the original black and white version of this image. Here you see the great Clemente acknowledging the ovation of the Pirate fans following his 3000th hit.

It was September 30th, 1972, the Pirates had clinched the NL East title 9 days earlier -- but Clemente provided some more drama for the home fans after a long injury plagued season (he only played 102 games) when he laced a double to left center field to lead off the 4th inning for the milestone hit. At the time, no one knew it would be the last (regular season) at-bat and last (regular season) hit of his career. Because Pirate Manager Bill Virdon pinch hit for him (using soon to be retired and future Hall of Famer Bill Mazeroski) before his next turn came up in the game. He did not play in the final three games of the season.

Even though he was still a very productive player when he was playing in 1972, there is no disputing the fact at age 38 -- Clemente was nearing the end of his career. If he had not died, I highly doubt he would have been an active player in 1977 when the Pirates entered their Bumble Bee fashion era. However, I always wondered what he would have looked like sporting these colorful fashion disasters.

Wonder no more Pirates fans.... Roberto Clemente even looked great even wearing those hideous late 1970's all yellow Pirates uniforms.