Day 341

Fresh Start_341: Beltre 3K
You can learn a lot from the back of a player’s baseball card. How many hits they had, home runs in a season, season high for RBI’s, or even what the players’ career OPS was. One player in particular today eclipsed a milestone that only thirty other players before him achieved, and he was the first from his country to do it.

If you didn’t get Adrian Beltre from Jeopardy style guess who question, it is Beltre himself. To me Adrian Beltre is a first ballot Hall of Famer without the 3,000 hits. With a double to left field against the Baltimore Oriole pitcher Wade Miley in the third inning this afternoon. Beltre becomes the first Dominican born player to reach 3,000 hits and will go down as one of the games greatest third baseman.

To be frank with you; the 3,000 hit mark is just icing to cake that is the career of Adrian Beltre. Beltre has 5 gold gloves, is a 4 time All-Star, has 454 homers (and counting), and is a career .286 hitter. He was going to make the Hall of Fame without the 3,000 hits—but with that milestone now surpassed you get to sit back and appreciate what he has done for the game of baseball.

Adrian Beltre is like an onion in many ways. He not just a great fielder, or a good hitter, but he is a good person on and off the field. Because he is such a good teammate, I take offense not being able to see him as often as I do. He is one of the players that fly under the radar because of where he plays and the team that he plays for. But, the personality on the field cannot be recognized on the back of his baseball card. Watching videos, listening to interviews, and seeing some of the antics that make Beltre the likeable clubhouse presents that he is, makes me want to sell the farm to go get a guy like him. Every team should have a person like Adrian Beltre in their clubhouse, and it is a shame that the game doesn’t have more people like him.

What is fascinating about the career that Beltre has had so far is that if you look at the back of his baseball card, he has only hit for 200 hits once in his career. He had exactly 200 hits with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2004 and that is it. Came close with 199 hits in 2013 with the Rangers but he has never hit more than that. Which is odd, but factor in that he has played 20 years in the big leagues, he has to be doing something right. So, on this Sunday, I would like to congratulate Adrian Beltre for not only edging his name into baseball history but for making the entire Dominican Republic proud. I hope Beltre gets the ring that has eluded him throughout his career, and you will always have a fan in me.
Sources:(espn.com, baseballreference.com)
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