Wake Up With The Last Hit In Roberto Clemente's Career, Number 3,000
Roberto Clemente, what a guy. A unreal talent on the diamond, and a better person. From all the books I’ve read, articles I’ve seen, stories I’ve heard, it seems as if Clemente was one of the all-time greats who died too soon. A career .317 hitter, 240 home runs, 1,305 RBIs, a 15 time All Star, NL MVP in 1966, World Series Champion in 1960 and 1971 (World Series MVP), 12 time Gold Glove winner, 4 time batting champ, and exactly 3,000 career hits.
Clemente got his 3,000th hit in his last ever regular season at-bat with a double in Three Rivers Stadium.
He ended his career with exactly 3,000 hits because he was killed in a plane crash on New Years Eve in 1972 while on his way to Nicaragua attempting to deliver supplies to victims of a massive earthquake. He had been to Nicaragua 3 weeks before the earthquake and wanted to give back to the city he was just in. The plane was overpacked with supplies by 4,200 pounds and it was reported that the plane crashed into the ocean seconds after take off and crashed due to engine failure. The pilot’s body was the only body found from the 5 people on board. Only 1 of his Pirates teammates did not attend Clemente’s funeral, Manny Sanguillén. Sanguillén left Pittsburgh and went to the where they thought the plane crashed and attempted to find Clemente’s body, that is some powerful shit.
MLB waived the waiting period for the Hall Of Fame for Clemente and he was inducted in 1973 with 92.7 % of the votes (393/420). I will say this. You’ve got to be a real ass to not vote for a humanitarian ballplayer who died delivering earthquake supplies who had 3,000 hits.
One of the crazier parts of the story was a pitcher on the Montreal Expos, Tom Walker, helped Clemente pack up the plane and was supposed to ride down with him. They aren’t really sure why, but Clemente told Walker to stay in Puerto Rico, where the plane was taking off from, and enjoy New Years Eve. Tom Walker stayed, and eventually had a son named Neil Walker. You know Neil Walker as the former Met, Pirate, and Yankees infielder.
When he died, he had great numbers, but I’d love to see the numbers he could have put up in a full career, probably around 300 home runs, way over 3,000 hits, and a batting average near .320. I also heard he had an unreal arm. He seemed like an all around great guy.
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