Adrian Beltre notched his 3,000 hit Sunday, reaching a threshold that only 30 other players in the history of the game have ever accomplished. Beltre’s entrance in the 3,000-hit club came during Sunday’s game against the Orioles, thanks to a double in the bottom of the fourth inning against Wade Miley... a double Beltre smacked on a 3-0 count.
Adrian Beltre reaches 3,000 career hits
He finally joined the club on Sunday against the Orioles.
Photo by Rick Yeatts/Getty Images
Beltre has played in the majors for 20 years, for a total of 2,768 games between his time with the Dodgers, Mariners, Red Sox, and Rangers. He has a .286 career batting average and 454 home runs to pair with his many base knocks, and is one of just 10 players in history to rack up at least 3,000 total hits and at least 400 homers. Beltre is in some special company there, with Hank Aaron, Alex Rodriguez, Willie Mays, Rafael Palmeiro, Eddie Murray, Stan Musial, Dave Winfield, Carl Yastrzemski, and Cal Ripken the only others to achieve the feat.
Of the four teams he has spent time with, Beltre has hit the most in Texas, with 1,107 total. Second is Los Angeles, at 949, then Seattle where he hit 751. His lone year with Boston brings up the rear at 189 total hits.
The only other active player to surpass 3,000 hits is Ichiro Suzuki with 3,059. Albert Pujols is inching closer at 2,911, but after him it’s the 40-year-old Carlos Beltran, who is more than 300 hits away from reaching the club.
Beltre’s quest for 3,000 was briefly interrupted by a fairly ridiculous ejection on Wednesday night, but he wouldn’t be Adrian Beltre if fairly ridiculous wasn’t part of his legacy.
Adrian Beltre is also the first-ever Dominican-born player to reach 3,000 career hits. Albert Pujols will very likely be the second at some point in 2018, and then Robinson Cano (2,308 hits) is the next best-bet.
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