One of the quirkiest stars in the history of Major League Baseball has now all but ensured that in addition to his oddities fans will remember his greatness, which for too much of his career was ignored. During the fourth inning of a Sunday afternoon tilt between the Texas Rangers and Baltimore Orioles, Texas third baseman Adrian Beltre lashed a double to left field and in doing so he became the thirty-first member of the 3,000 hit club. To understand the significance of that achievement it must be noted that 18,748 men have laced up their spikes in Major League Baseball since the foundation of the National League in 1876 which means that Beltre’s achievement puts him the top 0.165 of one percent of hitters in the game. This hit was not important in the box score (the Rangers lost 10-3) but in putting his name into a club that is so exclusive it does not include Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Barry Bonds, and many of the game’s other elite hitters it ensures fans, myself including will remember to list Beltre among the great third baseman in the game’s history.
The reason that this needed assurance is that for all his zaniness (he has hit a home run on one knee multiple times which should be impossible, freaks out when people touch the top of his head, and despite having an occasionally stoic face looks like he is enjoying a kid’s game as he should) Beltre’s resume is scant on awards. Despite being one of the top fielding third baseman of all time according to dozens of the alphabet soup sabermetric measures he only has five Gold Gloves. Further demonstrating his underrated stardom is his seasonal Wins Above Replacement have exceeded five wins ten times yet he has only appeared in four Midsummer Classics. However, those who favor counting stats (Hits, Home Runs, and Runs Batted in) have always been able to counter that before today he hadn’t reached a significant baseball milestone like 3,000 hits, 500 home runs or a .300 Batting Average. Today any doubt of Beltre’s greatness has been washed away and assuming he plays for a couple more seasons he could join Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Eddie Murray, and Rafael Palmiero (three Hall of Famers and Palmiero who as a result of a steroid scandal has been informally blackballed) as the only members of both the 500 Home Run Club and 3,000 Hit Club. Even if he doesn’t do that and retires tomorrow there will be a reasonable debate as to who the greatest third baseman of all-time is and in addition to Mike Schmidt, George Brett, and Brooks Robinson Adrian Beltre should be mentioned loudly.
