Lindor Records 1500th Career Hit and Joins Roberto Clemente on Rare List

Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports

FLUSHING, NY — During his Cleveland days, an up and coming Francisco Lindor revealed why he wears No. 12. 

“My dad wanted to be like Roberto Clemente. He respected Clemente a lot. That’s one of the reasons why I wear No. 12. I flipped the number because of Clemente. He was one of my favorite players. Clemente is the idol in Puerto Rico. Everywhere I go, I see Clemente in Puerto Rico.”

At this certain point of his career, Lindor had just begun his journey into the show of Major League Baseball, with no All-Star appearances or individual accolades under his belt. 

While looking to make a name for himself and his homeland of Puerto Rico proud with No. 12 on his back, he prospered into the big league superstar we all know of and see today—becoming one of the faces of the game along with Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani, Juan Soto, Mookie Betts, Ronald Acuña Jr., among others. 

The now 31-year-old franchise star of the New York Mets—Lindor—compiling three hits and a run scored in Monday’s 2-0 series opener win against the Miami Marlins, marked a career achievement in the process, joining The Great One—Clemente—on an extremely rare list. 

Puerto Rican-born MLB players to reach 1500 career hits. 

The milestone as he is the 24th active player to record 1500 hits, came in the bottom of the fifth inning, Lindor’s third hit of the night, a single to left field off of Miami’s right-handed reliever Tyler Phillips. 

For the Caguas, Puerto Rico native, and multiple-time LatinoMVP award winner, coincidentally enough, he became the twenty-first (21st) Puerto Rican-born MLB player to join the 1500 hit club. 

No. 1 Roberto Clemente (3000), No. 2 Iván Rodríguez (2844), No. 3 Carlos Beltrán (2725), No. 4 Roberto Alomar (2724), No. 5 Orlando Cepeda (2351), No. 6 Bernie Williams (2336), No. 7 José Cruz (2251), No. 8 Yadier Molina (2168), No. 9 Rubén Sierra (2152), No. 10 Carlos Delgado (2038), No. 11 Juan González (1936), No. 12 Benito Santiago (1830), No. 13 Vic Power (1716), No. 14 Jorge Posada (1664), No. 15 Mike Lowell (1619), No. 16 Félix Millán (1617), No. 17 Willie Montañez (1604), No. 18 Carlos Baerga (1583), No. 19 Javy López (1527), No. 20 José Vidro (1524), No. 21 Francisco Lindor (1500)

“It’s definitely special,” said Lindor of the 1500 hit career accomplishment Monday night. “I’m blessed to be in the position I’m in. I’ve been blessed to be around a lot of good coaches, hitting coaches, and teammates that give me good scouting reports and help me be successful in this league. I’m very appreciative of the moment and everybody that contributed to my journey, but I’m just happy that we won today.” 

Other than his 1500 career hits, Lindor, a four-time Silver Slugger and two-time Gold Glove award winner, ranks up as one of the best active shortstops to do it and will only continue to climb up the leaderboards, making for a legitimate case in Cooperstown down the line. 

One example being the four-time All-Star’s 248 career home runs—eighth-most by a SS in MLB history–one shy of tying José Valentin. 

“I would love to be there (Cooperstown) one day, but it’s still very far for me,” Lindor said. “I look at a guy like Carlos Beltrán that has twice the numbers I have today and he’s not in there right now and I think he should be a Hall of Famer…

You have guys like Jimmy Rollins that I think should also be in the Hall of Fame. For me, the Hall of Fame, it’s still far-fetched. I would love to be there one day. It would be one of the biggest, if not, the biggest honor of my career, but there’s still a long way to go. I have to put my head down and work as hard as I can for as many years as God is going to give me in this league.”

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