There are some people who you can watch play and know right away they are true hall of famers.

Consider, for example, some of the greats that many of us have cheered in Pittsburgh.

Watching Roberto Clemente, for instance, always was a magical experience. You could sense his greatness as a player and as a person by the way he carried himself on and off the field. He remains one of the greatest defensive right fielders to have ever played the game, and his arm was one of the strongest — and most accurate — ever. He won 12 Gold Gloves — a number which ties him with another all-time great– Willie Mays — for the most by an outfielder.

Clemente was a star at the plate, compiling a .317 average during his 18-year career, which saw him record 3,000 hits — 440 of which were doubles, 166 were triples and 240 were home runs. He helped lead the Pirates to World Series wins in 1960 and 1971.

As great of a player as he was, Clemente also will be remembered as being an outstanding human, the type of person who would insist on riding a chartered plane that was scheduled to deliver aid to earthquake victims in Nicaragua on New Year’s Eve in 1972 — and who would lose his life when that plane crashed.

Clemente was a hall of famer as a player and a person, the type of person that the waiting period for his spot in Cooperstown was waived.

Fans in the Tri-State Area also have fond memories of another baseball Hall of Famer who played with the Pirates and who grew up in our backyard — Bill Mazeroski. One of the greatest defensive second basemen to ever play the game, Mazeroski transformed the act of turning a double play into a work of art. He won eight Gold Gloves — tying for third on the list of second basemen with Frank White and trailing only behind Roberto Alomar with 10 and Ryne Sandberg with nine.

Like Clemente, Mazeroski was a member of two World Series wins — 1971 and 1960, the year his walk-off home run gave the Pirates a 10-9 Game 7 series-clinching win. That’s something that had never been done before, and has never been done again.

Despite that greatness in the field, Mazeroski’s trip to the Hall of Fame was not as smooth, and he would not earn enshrinement until 2001, his election coming from the Veterans Committee. It seems the panels who made the selections didn’t think he hit well enough.

Hockey fans in our area have been blessed to have been able to watch two players who transformed the National Hockey League in different eras — Mario Lemieux and Sydney Crosby.

Lemieux already is in the hockey hall of fame, and the countdown toward Crosby’s induction will begin the moment he leaves the ice for the last time.

And then there’s the Steelers — there have been too many great players and coaches who have earned spots in the Pro Football Hall of Fame during the past 50 years or so to be able to discuss.

Who gets into a hall of fame and who gets left out always is a subject for debate. And, if you have any doubts that it is true, it’s appropriate –with Christmas just a few days away — that you consider this year’s inductees into the Toy Hall of Fame.

Earning enshrinement into that hall, which is housed in the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, N.Y., were three solid toys — the board games Battleship and Trivial Pursuit and the ubiquitous slime.

Each of this year’s honorees certainly met the hall’s standards, which are deceptively simple: They must be widely recognized and remembered; they must have enjoyed popularity across generations; they must help to foster learning, creativity or discovery through play; and they must have profoundly changed play or toy design.

Battleship and Trivial Pursuit each have sold more than 100 million copies. Slime was first sold commercially in 1976, but its do-it-yourself versions have been around for quite some time.

This year’s honorees were selected from a field of finalists that included Catan, Connect Four, Spirograph, the Star Wars light saber, Furby, Tickle Me Elmo, the scooter, cornhole and snow.

According to the museum, 91 toys have won spots in the hall of fame since it was founded in 1998.

Still missing are two of my all-time favorites, Tudor Electric Football and the Strat-O-Matic sports simulation games. Electric football — the iconic game which features play on the vibrating metal field — and Strat-O-Matic — which uses a combination of dice and cards to simulate baseball, football, basketball and hockey games — have never been able to make the cut.

Come Thursday morning, toys of all shapes and sizes will be found under Christmas trees around the world. Some will be played with for a short period of time and then put away forever and be forgotten. Others, though, will find a special place in the hearts of children –and adults — and will continue to be enjoyed for many hours and across several generations.

Those are the special toys — and the ones that someday be enshrined into the Toy Hall of Fame.

Merry Christmas.

(Gallabrese, a resident of Steubenville, is executive editor of the Herald-Star and The Weirton Daily Times)