PITTSBURGH — The day was Sept. 30, 1972, and the Pittsburgh Pirates were hosting the New York Mets at Three Rivers Stadium.
It was essentially a meaningless game, as the Buccos had already clinched the NL East title.
Little did most baseball fans know, the game would end up going down in history.
In the fourth inning, 38-year-old right fielder Roberto Clemente stepped to the plate sitting on 2,999 hits for his career.
In what would end up being the final regular season at-bat of his illustrious career, The Great One doubled for his 3,000th hit.
Clemente was the 11th MLB player to reach the historic number and the first Latino to reach the 3,000-hit milestone.
Three months later, Clemente tragically died in a plane crash off the coast of Puerto Rico trying to bring emergency supplied to Nicaragua.
WPXI
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