Nellie King is a wonderful storyteller who has countless memories from his long association with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Indeed, he witnessed many historic moments during his days as a pitcher (1954-1957) and a broadcaster (1967-1975) with the Buccos. Now King has preserved some of those memories and moments in a series a limited-edition lithographs that are available to the general public through his company -- the Nellie King Sports Connection.

The series includes three different lithographs commemorating the final game at Forbes Field, the first game at Three Rivers Stadium, and Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente’s 3,000th hit -- which turned out to be the final regular season hit of his career. Only 1,000 copies of each lithograph have been produced. Each includes a photograph of the historic moment, a copy of Nellie’s original scorecard from that particular game, and his first-person account of what took place.

King got the idea for the project after making many of his old scorecards available for fundraisers organized by Pittsburgh-area non-profit organizations.

"I would take some to charity events to be auctioned off, and gosh, they started to go for $400, $600, $800 apiece," King said. "I was amazed at what people would bid for them. When they started to go for that kind of money, it convinced me there was some real value to them."

Here are some additional details on each lithograph:

"Final Game at Forbes Field" (priced at $150) includes an 11" x 16" black & white photo of the final inning of that June 28, 1970 game between the Pirates and the Chicago Cubs. It is also personally autographed by Hall of Fame second baseman Bill Mazeroski, who recorded the final out in the history of the storied Oakland ballpark.

"First Game at Three Rivers Stadium" (priced at $140) features a color full-field 9.625" x 5.75" photo of Dock Ellis’ first pitch to Cincinnati’s Ty Cline from the July 16, 1970 contest, plus a list of Three Rivers Stadium "firsts" and facsimile autographs of Mazeroski and fellow Hall of Famer Willie Stargell.

"Roberto Clemente’s 3,000th Hit" (priced at $130) includes a 12" x 9" black & white photo of the historic moment on September 30, 1972 when Clemente doubled off Jon Matlack of the Mets. The shot was captured by Les Banos, the Pirates team photographer at the time. It also features a commentary by King, who saw The Great One’s first hit as a teammate in 1955 and his 3000th hit as a broadcaster.

King is also making an unlimited number of a fourth lithograph -- entitled "Roberto Clemente Tribute" -- available. This valuable item (priced at $50) features an 8" x 10" black & white photo of Clemente being interviewed by King in the dugout at Three Rivers Stadium, as well as a commentary by Nellie regarding his relationship with Roberto.

It wasn’t hard for King to select which moments, scorecards, and photographs he wanted to commemorate.

"They were all great moments in Pirates history," he said. "The closing of Forbes Field. For goodness sakes, how many people didn’t have a grandfather or a great grandfather who talked about Forbes Field? Then the new ballpark -- Three Rivers -- was the first ballpark the City of Pittsburgh built, so that was a big deal with the move Downtown. The visibility of the thing for the city was amazing. You come through the tunnel and there it is. You could see it right away."

In 1960 he began a career in radio doing sports on small stations in Latrobe and Greensburg, PA. From 1961 to 1966 he covered Arnold Palmer’s play in the Masters, US Open and the PGA Championships. In 1967 he auditioned and won the position of color announcer on Pirate baseball vacated by Don Hoak. Working with long-time Pirate announcer Bob Prince from 1967 to 1975, he covered nine exciting seasons of Pirate baseball, incluing five Division Championships and a World Series Championship in 1971. From 1975 to 1993 he served as Sports Information Director at Duquesne University. He also did color on Duquesne basketball for 26 seasons. Currently retired he is the part time coach of the Duquesne golf team.

Nothing from his days in baseball is more precious to King than the time he spent with Clemente, who died prematurely and tragically in an airplane crash on New Year’s Eve in 1972 while helping to transport relief supplies to earthquake victims in Nicaragua.

"I got very close to Clemente in his last years when I was broadcasting," King said. "I played with him, but I got more fascinated with him and had an opportunity to spend more time chatting with him when I was a broadcaster. I was fascinated with the depth of the guy. The pride that he had was so intense. It was tremendous. It was so tragic to see the guy die the way he did.

"I’ll never forget, I did an interview with Clemente between games of the doubleheader that took place on the last day at Forbes Field. I asked him, ‘How long do you think you’d like to keep playing?’ He said, ‘Well Nellie, I’d like to keep playing as long as I can help the team.’ Then there was a long pause, and he said ‘You know, I would like to get 3,000 hits.’ That was kind of ironic, almost prophetic. It was a moving moment that really stuck with me."

There will always be a special place in King’s heart for Forbes Field, too.

"It was strictly a baseball park. Football there was just a waste of time," King said. "It was just made for baseball. The openness of the place was great. You’d look out and you could see Schenley Park. You were so close to the fans, you knew everybody. I kid that I got to know everyone on the third base side because I was always backing up third. People would say, ‘Are you back here again, Nellie?’

"The thing I like most about what has happened down at PNC Park is that the atmosphere outside prior to a game is similar to what it was like at Forbes Field. People congregate. At Three Rivers, you got in the car and drove pretty much right to the gate. The atmosphere on the North Shore now is similar to what it was like out in Oakland. It’s a community."

A portion of the proceeds from the "Roberto Clemente Tribute" piece will benefit the Boys & Girls Clubs of Western Pennsylvania. Some of the proceeds from the sale of the other three lithographs will benefit the Roberto Clemente Foundation and the Jack Berger Pirates Alumni Scholarship Fund.