50 years ago, Clemente notched 3,000th hit in his final at-bat

At the time, there was no way of knowing that Sept. 30, 1972 -- 50 years ago today -- would mark the final time Roberto Clemente stepped to the plate in a regular-season game.

Nor was there any way of knowing that Clemente’s fourth-inning double off the Mets’ Jon Matlack would be the last hit he’d collect.

The hit was the 3,000th of Clemente’s career, making the Puerto Rico native the first Latino to reach 3,000 hits and the 11th player overall to join the exclusive club.

It's there his hit total has remained. On Dec. 31, 1972, the Pirates legend died in a plane crash while on a humanitarian mission to deliver aid to earthquake victims in Nicaragua.

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In retrospect, there's something almost mystical about the timing of the milestone hit.

“It was definitely divine intervention that he got his 3,000th hit when he did,” former Pirates first baseman/outfielder Al Oliver told The Athletic (subscription required) in 2020. “The man upstairs had different plans for him.”

At the start of 1972, it seemed likely that Clemente would reach the hallowed mark much sooner than he actually did. Coming off a World Series MVP Award in 1971, Clemente entered the year needing 118 hits to get to 3,000. The previous year, he had tallied his 118th hit before the end of July.

But Clemente appeared in just 67 of the Pirates’ first 114 games, as an intestinal virus and tendinitis in both ankles limited his availability. Battling through his ailments, Clemente heated up down the stretch, going 38-for-114 (.333) to move within one hit of the milestone entering a home series against the Mets in late September.

• Clemente's career highlights

His big moment finally came on Sept. 29 ... or so he thought.

Facing Mets ace Tom Seaver in the bottom of the first inning, Clemente hit a ground ball up the middle that caromed off the glove of second baseman Ken Boswell. While official scorer Donald “Luke” Quay ruled the play an error, the scoreboard operator apparently misheard and flashed “hit,” sparking a celebration from the crowd of 24,193 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. The mistake was soon corrected, taking the hit off the board and putting Clemente back at 2,999.

Clemente finished the night 0-for-4, which meant his quest for 3,000 would carry on for another day.

Then came Sept. 30 and a matchup with Matlack, who was on his way to the NL Rookie of the Year Award. Clemente went down on strikes against the young left-hander in his first at-bat, but in the bottom of the fourth, he laced a clean double to the gap in left-center field: No. 3,000, for real this time.

Clemente went 4-for-17 in the Pirates’ NLCS loss to the Reds, but postseason hits go into a separate category, leaving his regular-season total at 3,000 on the button heading into an age-38 season that he'd never get the chance to play.