Roberto Clemente: 3,000 Hits, a Last Hit and a Legacy That Outlived Him
His 3,000th hit was his last in the regular season. Three months later he was gone. The numbers and the story of the first Latin American Hall of Famer.
On September 30, 1972, at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh, Roberto Clemente lined a double off the New York Mets’ Jon Matlack. It was his 3,000th hit. It was also his last regular-season at-bat.
Three months later, Clemente was dead.
The player
Clemente was born on August 18, 1934, in Carolina, Puerto Rico. He spent all 18 seasons of his career with the Pittsburgh Pirates, from 1955 to 1972, and his numbers hold up against anyone of his era:
| Hits | 3,000 |
| Batting average | .317 |
| Home runs | 240 |
| RBI | 1,305 |
| Gold Gloves | 12 |
| All-Star seasons | 12 |
He won four National League batting titles (1961, 1964, 1965 and 1967), the 1966 National League MVP award and the 1971 World Series MVP award. His 12 Gold Gloves came in 12 straight seasons, 1961 through 1972.
He was the first Latin American-born player to reach 3,000 hits. Five more have done it since: Rod Carew, Rafael Palmeiro, Adrián Beltré, Miguel Cabrera and Albert Pujols. Clemente still leads all Puerto Rican-born players in hits.
The last mission
In December 1972, an earthquake struck Managua, Nicaragua. Clemente organized relief shipments from Puerto Rico, and on December 31 he boarded a chartered cargo plane carrying supplies to the survivors. The plane crashed into the Atlantic shortly after takeoff from San Juan. Clemente was 38. His body was never recovered.
The legacy
The response was without precedent. In March 1973, the baseball writers held a special election and waived the usual waiting period. Clemente received 92.7% of the vote and became the first Latin American-born player in the Hall of Fame. The Pirates retired his No. 21 that April.
That same year, MLB renamed its award for the player who best combines excellence on the field with service to the community. It has been the Roberto Clemente Award ever since.
Ten Latin American-born players have won it through 2025:
| Year | Winner | Born in |
|---|---|---|
| 1977 | Rod Carew | Panama |
| 1998 | Sammy Sosa | Dominican Republic |
| 2006 | Carlos Delgado | Puerto Rico |
| 2008 | Albert Pujols | Dominican Republic |
| 2011 | David Ortiz | Dominican Republic |
| 2013 | Carlos Beltrán | Puerto Rico |
| 2018 | Yadier Molina | Puerto Rico |
| 2019 | Carlos Carrasco | Venezuela |
| 2021 | Nelson Cruz | Dominican Republic |
| 2024 | Salvador Pérez | Venezuela |
Clemente was later honored with the Congressional Gold Medal (1973) and the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2003). For many Latino players and fans, he remains the measure of what a ballplayer can be.
See Roberto Clemente’s full career, season by season →
Statistics from the SABR Lahman Baseball Database. Batting titles, Hall of Fame vote and honors from the National Baseball Hall of Fame and other published sources.