61 years ago, the Pirates selected Roberto Clemente from the Dodgers in the Rule 5 Draft

Hall of Fame outfielder Roberto Clemente played all 2,433 of his career games -- accumulated all 3,000 of his hits, smacked all 440 of his doubles and tossed all 266 of his outfield assists -- as a member of the Pirates. The Great One enjoyed an 18-season career in Pittsburgh, but he came this close to doing all of that in Dodger blue.

On Nov. 22, 1954, the Pirates selected the 20-year-old Puerto Rican prospect from the Brooklyn Dodgers in MLB's Rule 5 Draft. The Dodgers didn't miss him much that first season -- outfielders Duke Snider and Carl Furillo hit .309 and .314 respectively, combined to hit 68 home runs and helped win the '55 World Series for Brooklyn.

But letting Clemente slip through their fingers would obviously turn out to be a mistake for the Dodgers, as he went on to post three straight seasons of eight or more wins above replacement, win the '66 NL MVP Award and help the Pirates to World Series championships in '60 and '71.

Over the course of his 18 MLB seasons, Clemente slashed .345/.382/.466 against the Dodgers with 17 triples and 21 home runs in 291 career games. He didn't hit better than .330 against any other MLB team and is still the only Hall of Famer to have been selected in the Rule 5 Draft.