Auctioning off a piece of Clemente's Plane

Another low in the morbid celebrity fasination business:


Report: Clemente Family Upset About Auction

<!-- END HEADLINE --><!-- BEGIN STORY BODY -->Sun Jun 5, 4:13 AM ET



NEW YORK - Roberto Clemente's family is upset that pieces of the plane he died in are being auctioned off, according to The New York Times. Lelands auction house is selling a light metal piece of the airplane, measuring 19 by 14 inches at its largest point, the paper report on its Web site Saturday night. That section has a minimum auction price of $1,500.

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD align=middle>[size=-2]ADVERTISEMENT[/size]

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><SCRIPT language=JavaScript><!--var plugin=(navigator.mimeTypes && navigator.mimeTypes["application/x-shockwave-flash"])?(navigator.mimeTypes["application/x-shockwave-flash"].enabledPlugin)0);if (plugin){plugin=parseInt(plugin.description.substring(plugin.description.indexOf(".")-1))>=6;}else if(navigator.userAgent && navigator.userAgent.toLowerCase().indexOf("msie")>=0 && (navigator.userAgent.indexOf("Windows 95")>=0 || navigator.userAgent.indexOf("Windows 98")>=0 || navigator.userAgent.indexOf("Windows NT")>=0)){document.writeln('<SCR'+'IPT LANGUAGE=VBScript\>');document.writeln('on error resume next');document.writeln('plugin=(IsObject(CreateObject("ShockwaveFlash.ShockwaveFlash.6")))');document.writeln('</SCR'+'IPT\>');}//--></SCRIPT><SCRIPT language=VBScript>on error resume nextplugin=(IsObject(CreateObject("ShockwaveFlash.ShockwaveFlash.6")))</SCRIPT><SCRIPT language=JavaScript> </SCRIPT><NOSCRIPT></NOSCRIPT></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><SCRIPT type=text/javascript>if (window.yzq_a == null) document.write("<scr" + "ipt type=text/javascript src=""http://us.js1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/lib/bc/bc_1.7.0.js></scr" + "ipt>");</SCRIPT><SCRIPT type=text/javascript>if (window.yzq_a){yzq_a('p', 'P=H2Ni5s6.I3pe7.m7QBbVvAxDRCgQzUKjGHgAA.91&T=15m972b2b%2fX%3d1117984888%2fE%3d95735615%2fR%3dnews%2fK%3d5%2fV%3d1.1%2fW%3ddefault%2fY%3dYAHOO%2fF%3d1904307928%2fH%3dY2FjaGVoaW50PSJuZXdzIiBjb250ZW50PSJob3VzZTtTYW47SXQi%2fS%3d1%2fJ%3d6D23BECE');yzq_a('a', '&U=13992ejj7%2fN%3dik6FLM6.Iq0-%2fC%3d323288.6416709.7392043.1442997%2fD%3dLREC%2fB%3d2712212');}</SCRIPT><NOSCRIPT> </NOSCRIPT>
A gray steel propeller, 14 by 79 inches, has a minimum price of $1,000.

The high bid for the first piece is $1,650 and the high for the second is $1,210. The auction, which includes 28 Clemente-related items, is to end June 24.

Clemente died on Dec. 31, 1972, when the DC-7 he was on during a relief mission crashed after takeoff from San Juan, Puerto Rico. The plane was headed to Nicaragua with supplies for earthquake victims.

"It's disgusting," Roberto Clemente Jr. was quoted as saying. "It's a shame that something so sacred to my family would go on the market like this. It's ridiculous. It has nothing to do with baseball. He's a human being. He lost his life. There's nothing funny about that."

The Clemente family will talk about whether they should take legal actions.

Joshua Leland Evans, the chairman and founder of the auction house, did not return messages from the paper seeking comment.

Greatest Right Fielder of All-Time


Roberto Clemente

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=12 width="26%" align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD width="100%"> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Roberto Clemente
Roberto (Walker) Clemente
<NULL>

Induction Information
Elected to Hall of Fame by Baseball Writers in 1973, Player
393 votes on 424 ballots 92.69%
Hall of Fame plaque for Roberto Clemente

Born: August 18, 1934, in Carolina, Puerto Rico
Died: December 31, 1972, in San Juan, Puerto Rico

ML Debut: 4/17/1955
Primary Position: Right Fielder
Bats: R Throws: R Primary Uniform #: 21

Played For: Pittsburgh Pirates (1955-1972)
Primary Team: Pittsburgh Pirates
<NULL><NULL>

Post-Season: 1960 World Series, 1970 NLCS, 1971 NLCS, 1971 World Series, 1972 NLCS
Awards: All-Star (12): 1960-67, 1969-72; National League MVP 1966; Gold Glove (12): 1961-1972; 1971 World Series MVP




Bio
Roberto Clemente Walker's pride and humanitarianism won him universal admiration. Despite an unorthodox batting style, the Pirates' great won four batting crowns and amassed 3,000 hits. He was equally brilliant in right field, where he displayed a precise and powerful arm. Clemente earned National League MVP honors in 1966, but achieved his greatest fame in the 1971 World Series, when he batted .414. Tragically, Clemente's life ended at age 38 - the victim of a plane crash while flying relief supplies to Nicaraguan earthquake victims.

When I think of a baseball player, I think of Clemente, he just epitimozed the definition .... the look, the body, the all around flare ad greatness.

In 1971,the World Series was his stage and the world watched in awe....you can't write scripts any more poetically, Clemente dying saving others, finishing his career with exactly 3000 hits, his son having the premonition his dad would never return.