Stan Musial's 3,000th Hit

Stan Musial was not in the starting lineup at Wrigley Field on May 13, 1958. He came off the bench as a pinch hitter, doubled, drove in a run, and was done for the day — one at-bat, one hit, the 3,000th of his career. St. Louis beat the Cubs 5–3.

The timing was awkward on purpose. Musial sat two hits short so the milestone might land back home in St. Louis, and the Cardinals needed him anyway. He was thirty-seven, a three-time Most Valuable Player, and had spent every one of his twenty-two seasons with the same franchise.

Musial played through 1963 and left with 3,630 hits, 475 home runs, 1,951 runs driven in and a .331 average, having been named to an All-Star team in twenty different seasons. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1969.