While the Dodgers and the Giants were winning all the pennants in the National League, the Pittsburgh Pirates were quietly assembling the team that would win the 1960 World Series. One of the key players was Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente, who began his rookie season in 1955. This offered blue lineup card is from the June 24, 1955 game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago Cubs from Wrigley Field. The Cubs won this game 10-3 and this card has “ON ROAD – OFFICIAL BATTING ORDER CLUB PITTSBURGH” printed on the top with two columns “ORIGINAL” and “CHANGE”. The “ORIGINAL” column has the pre-printed order numbered 1-9 and the “CHANGE” column has B and C lines next to the corresponding order number. Printed in blue pen is “E O BRIEN SS Cole 3B Clemente RF Thomas CF. Mejias LF Shepard C Long 1B J. Obrien 2B Friend P” with “Face” and “Purkey” added below. The lineup could not be before 1955 since Clemente was a rookie then, and not after 1956, since Cole was no longer on the team and Shepard was retired. Also, Mejias also did not play in 1956, so this card can be further narrowed to 1955. This exact lineup was only used once in 1955 (and therefore only once ever) and that was on June 24, 1955 (Per Baseball Reference). Since most lineup cards were thrown out, it is likely that at most a small handful of the rookie lineup cards still exist making this a very scarce and highly sought after lineup card from the rookie season of Hall of Famer and All Time Great Roberto Clemente.

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