Roberto Clemente's 3,000th Hit

It was the last hit of Roberto Clemente's career. On September 30, 1972, in front of a home crowd in Pittsburgh, he doubled in his second at-bat, scored a run, and came out of the game. The Pirates beat the New York Mets 5–0. He did not get another regular-season hit.

Clemente was thirty-eight and had played all eighteen of his seasons for Pittsburgh. He had a Most Valuable Player award, twelve consecutive Gold Gloves in right field, four batting titles and a World Series MVP from the previous autumn, when he hit .414 against Baltimore.

On December 31 of that year he boarded a cargo plane carrying relief supplies to earthquake victims in Nicaragua. The plane crashed shortly after takeoff and he was killed at thirty-eight. His career total stopped at exactly 3,000 hits, and the Hall of Fame waived its waiting period to elect him in 1973.