NL Batting Leaders (#61, #63, #65)

These are the 1969 NL leaders in batting average, RBI, and home runs. Willie McCovey gets 2/3 of a triple crown, and was 5th in batting average, 28 points behind Pete Rose.

I was surprised to see Lee May among the home run leaders. He finished ahead of Ron Santo and Jimmy Wynn, who are usually among the leaders (along with automatics McCovey and Hank Aaron). May's 38 were one less than his career-high in 1971. He's also 5th in RBI with a career-high 110.

Roberto Clemente (#350)

Look! Topps finally relented after 15 years and acknowledged his first name to be Roberto, not Bob.



Clemente was a fixture in the Pirates' outfield since 1955. His only season in the minors was 1954 with the Montreal Royals (the Brooklyn Dodgers' triple-A team). According to Baseball-Reference.com, Roberto was signed by the Dodgers before the 1952 season, but didn't play until 1954.

The Pirates selected him in the Rule 5 draft following the 1954 season. I wonder if the Dodgers ever stopped kicking themselves for that mistake?