History & local legend
Roberto Clemente reached 3,000 career hits at Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers Stadium on September 30, 1972, with a double against New York Mets pitcher Jon Matlack. Broadcaster Luis Rodríguez Mayoral watched the milestone and later connected it with conversations that had troubled him in retrospect.
On July 7 in Atlanta, Clemente had shown Mayoral his swollen ankles and insisted that he needed to reach 3,000 that season. He hoped Puerto Rican flags would fill the stands when it happened. After the September hit, Mayoral met him downstairs and kissed him on the neck, then explained that Clemente’s mother had sent the kiss.
It was Clemente’s final regular-season hit. He died on December 31 when a relief flight carrying supplies for earthquake victims in Nicaragua crashed after leaving Puerto Rico. In his later account, Mayoral wondered whether his friend’s insistence that July reflected a premonition.
