Or the Complete Story About How I Got to See Another One of the Greatest Milestones in the History of Baseball
Part I: The Introduction
Part II: The Player
Part III: The Set-Up (you are here)
Part IV: The Letdown (January 29)
Part V: The Moment (January 30)
Part VI: The Aftermath (July 30)
I was first introduced to baseball on July 5, 1993. I was living in the Kansas City area at the time, and my dad took me to a Kansas City Royals game against the Baltimore Orioles. I suppose I was aware that there was a sport called baseball before that, but that first game was where I got a true taste of the game. I watched the Royals beat the Orioles 7-1. I got to see future Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr., but I missed seeing George Brett, who had the day off. Early on, I didn't go to many games because my parents weren't really into baseball, and the only reason we went to the one we did was because one of my dad's friends had extra tickets. So my primary focus came to be on the history of the game, especially after my parents got the companion book for Ken Burns's Baseball documentary for Christmas 1994. I first started following the game in 1995, when I jumped on the Cleveland Indians bandwagon. They reached the World Series but then lost to the Atlanta Braves. As the 1996 season began, I had my mom buy me a lot of the preview magazines including Athlon Sports, ESPN SportZone, and some books about baseball history. It was with these early resources that I became aware of the three big milestones: 300 wins, 500 home runs, and 3,000 hits.
Like many other fans at the time, I was enthralled with the longball, and so the 500 home run club became my favorite in those early days. I memorized the list of 500 home run players, and as Eddie Murray made his chase on the 500 home run milestone, I started fantasizing that he'd do it against Kansas City and I'd be there for the game. (He ended up getting traded to the Orioles and got his milestone home run in Baltimore.) I wasn't really concerned with 300 wins because I wasn't really focused on pitchers or pitching win, and I didn't really care to learn the 3,000 hit club because it was so big compared to the others. So I didn't really care that Paul Molitor was closing in on 3,000 hits and actually reached the milestone in Kansas City on September 16, 1996. I had my first lesson about heartbreak when the Cleveland Indians lost to the Orioles in the Division Series in 1996, and then to the Florida Marlins in the World Series a year later. I got caught up in the magical home run race in 1998, and closely followed Mark McGwire as he went for 500 home runs a year later. I saved the newspaper about McGwire's 500th home run when he reached it on August 5, 1999. I didn't save the newspaper the next day or the day after that when Tony Gwynn and Wade Boggs got to 3,000 hits respectively.
It was during this time that Adrian Beltre went through the minors and made his Major League debut. I didn't know who Adrian Beltre was at the time. I had gotten the Baseball America 1997 Almanac for my birthday in 1997, and while I read through it countless times I wasn't aware that it had mentioned Adrian Beltre until 20 years later. I wasn't even in the country when he made his Major League debut on June 24, 1998. Instead, I was spending a summer vacation with my family in Taiwan, watching Chinese dubs of American cartoons like Quack Pack and Sonic the Hedgehog. When I went back to the US Adrian wasn't on my radar, mostly because I was following primarily American League teams while he played for the Dodgers. I suppose I heard his name a couple of times during his Dodgers years, but it didn't leave much of an impression on me.
In 1999, my family moved from Kansas to Northern Virginia, and the closest Major League team to me went from the Royals to the Orioles. The Orioles had Ripken, who was by then already a baseball legend and was closing in on 3,000 hits. Because he was so popular it was hard not to ignore the 3,000 countdown that was going on that year, but a back injury knocked him out for the rest of the season nine hits away. When the season started back up he got the last nine hits, but I wasn't really aware of it when it happened. When I went to my first Orioles game with a friend on August 12, 2001 I was aware that he was at 3,152 hits, only two hits away from tying George Brett's hit total. This was mostly because I had become a big fan of Brett. Ripken got only one hit in the game and ended the game one hit off from tying Brett. Later that year I heard that Rickey Henderson got his 3,000th hit, but I certainly wasn't counting down.
In 2003 and 2004, my interest started to shift towards the 300 win club, largely because Roger Clemens and Greg Maddux reached the milestones that many doubted would ever be reached again. Adrian had his huge year in the latter season, and his exploits on the field certainly crossed my path, but I wasn't springing to follow the Dodgers day by day because of it. At the end of the season I was aware of his free agency, but when I saw that he signed with the Seattle Mariners for an obscene amount of money, I thought that was nice and moved on with my life.
2005 was a big year for me in my life as a baseball fan. Part of it was because the Montreal Expos had moved to Washington DC and became the Washington Nationals. There was finally a team that I can get to on my own (provided somebody got me a ride to and from the Washington Metro.) It was also the year where I became a fanatic over pitchers and the 300-win milestone. I wrote a massive post about the 300-win club, and made Excel spreadsheets tracking the wins for pitchers. It was the year that Roger Clemens had his final great year, keeping his ERA below 2.00 almost all season while leading the Astros from the ashes of a 15-30 record to a World Series appearance. And of course it was the year that Major League Baseball finally cracked down on steroids and other performance enhancing drugs (PED). I remember watching the Congressional testimonies after it happened, and was heartbroken by the sad performance by Mark McGwire, who was a hero just seven years earlier.
Even though the Nationals had arrived in DC, the DC area still had a large Orioles following. Rafael Palmeiro was playing for the Orioles then, and like with Ripken six years earlier, the Washington newspapers were having a 3,000 countdown for him. I wasn't paying too close of attention to it, but I was happy for him when he finally reached the milestone. And like many others I was shocked when I found out about his positive steroid test. I knew it was strange that he had more homers than Mickey Mantle, and to have gotten caught when he was due to reach a crowning achievement was just too crazy.
I had become a fan of Craig Biggio back in the late 1990s when I inexplicably decided to be a fan of the Houston Astros. I became more of a fan when Roger Clemens decided to sign with Houston in 2004. I started to follow the Houston Astros a lot and were cheering for them as they were making their post-season runs in 2004 and 2005. I knew quite well that Biggio was going for his 3,000th career hit in 2007. I didn't keep tabs on his progress every single day, but I did check MLB.com frequently, and knew when he got to the milestone. I was doing a summer course about Intro to News Writing, and we had to write a news article about a current event. I chose to wrote about Biggio's 3,000th hit and Frank Thomas's 500th home run, which happened on the same day.
I don't think you need a reminder about what happened on June 4, 2009. I think I have written plenty about the subject. At the time Adrian Beltre was in his final year with the Mariners. His power outage since going to Seattle was common knowledge. I didn't really think about him beyond that. I had no idea that he had 1,634 hits at the time, and if I did I wouldn't have cared.
2009 was also significant in that I moved to Fort Worth, Texas to begin my medical school training. I was more than aware of the fact that the school was located fairly close to the Ballpark in Arlington. In fact, after my parents had gone back to Texas after helping me move in, one of the first things I did was drive out to where the Ballpark was. I attended my first game in Texas on July 20, 2009 against the Red Sox, and 11 days later I went to another game on July 31. I had made a sign saying that it was the 19th anniversary of Nolan Ryan's 300th win. They were playing the Mariners at the time, but Adrian Beltre didn't play because he was out with shoulder surgery. I didn't think I was missing anything.
2010 was a big year for me because it was when the Rangers were actually getting good. I found time to go to a half dozen games that spring, and was pleased by how well they were doing. The 2010 Rangers gave me a chance to attend my first post-season game, Game 3 of the Division Series against the Rays, which was also the first playoff game in Texas since 1999. (They lost.) Later, they beat the New York Yankees to win the pennant, and I was more than willing to splurge to get tickets to that. (They also lost.) 2010 was also a big year for Adrian Beltre. He had signed his one-year contract with Boston. I'll probably get a lot of hate for this, but I grew up being somewhat of a Yankees fan since Mickey Mantle was my first favorite player. (Hey, he has the same name as Mickey Mouse.) As a result I will admit I do tend to root against the Red Sox. I was more than aware that Adrian had signed his contract, and was more than aware that he was having a solid year. I will confess that I was rooting against the Red Sox in hopes that the Rays and Yankees would make it instead. When that happened, I didn't concern myself about Red Sox or Adrian Beltre anymore.
Like many other Rangers fans, I was hoping that the Rangers would re-sign Cliff Lee to become their pitching ace. But of course once Lee signed with Philadelphia, Texas went for their plan B, Adrian Beltre. I wasn't quite sure what to think about that. I knew he had a strong year in 2010, and I knew he was pretty good defensively. However, I also knew about his reputation as somebody who only played well in years before free agency and dogged it otherwise. I hadn't paid enough attention to him the rest of the time to know anything else about him. I figured I'd see how he'd do once the season starts.
I didn't have much of an opportunity to go to Rangers games in early 2011, with med school classes and then board examinations. Still, I was able to catch some games on TV. And early on I was able to see that his defensive reputation was well earned. On April 19, 2011 the Rangers were playing the Angels. Vernon Wells Baltimore-chopped a bouncing ball towards the third base side. It got past the pitcher and looked like it was going to be an infield hit. Yet here comes Adrian charging the ball. He caught the ball, then threw the ball to first while falling to get the runner. I was able to make it to some games in June after taking the boards. I went to my first game on June 8 against the Tigers, who were giving the Rangers a hard time that year. Adrian had himself a big game, with two hits and a home run. This was after the Rangers put the game out of reach, and my memories about the hits were fuzzy at best, but my fears about Adrian under-producing had been assuaged. Derek Jeter got his 3,000th hit a month and a day later. I was not following his progress, but I was happy for him when the news popped up on MLB.com, and eventually brought the game on the iTunes Store.
By the time the playoffs started I had moved to Longview in East Texas for clinical rotations. I still followed the playoffs from afar, and was overjoyed when the Rangers came back from the embarrassing shutout against Matt Moore, and was happy that Adrian Beltre had hit three home runs. Part of me was disappointed it wasn't one of the more established stars with the Rangers, but I was happy they were moving on. I got tickets to go to Game 1 of the ALCS against the Tigers, which happened the day after I traveled up to Dallas to watch Jackie Chan's 1911. Adrian only had a harmless single that I don't remember, but the Rangers took a 3-2 lead that they were able to hang onto after a lengthy rain delay. I was watching in an Outback Steakhouse when the Rangers beat the Tigers in Game 6 and was happy for the team. It also meant I was getting to watch my second World Series Game, this time in Game 3. That was the day Adrian broke out with four hits, but I honestly don't remember any of them, because that was the day of Albert Pujols's three home runs, and the Cardinals winning big 16-7. I couldn't bear to watch Game 6 on TV, but when Adrian homered in the seventh inning to give the Rangers a lead, I decided I had to go check it out. I went to the lounge in the hospital I was at where they had the game on. There I got to see the Rangers blow the lead in both the 9th and 10th inning. Normally I like to stay until the bitter end if I go to the game, but when I'm watching on TV I can leave it. When Ron Washington pinch-hit for Scott Feldman in the top of the 11th, I knew the Rangers didn't have any hope of winning the game. I was at a McDonald's drive-thru when Freese hit his home run. The 2011 season ended on a sour note for the Rangers just short of a title, but it was still a solid first season for Adrian Beltre. I'll be lying if I said he was immediately my favorite player, but he was a player I liked.
The 2012 season was a bit of an odd year. I was traveling the country for rotations and interviews, and was watching nine games in nine different stadiums. None of them were the Rangers. I still followed the Rangers from afar, especially as Josh Hamilton went off to his hot start, and watched their ebb and flow. By the time I finally went out to a Rangers game, they were in the midst of their collapse. The Rangers were playing the Athletics, and fell into the hole early. Adrian was having a great year, but he didn't do well that game with only one harmless single. I spent more of the time being critical of the Rangers' young pitcher Martin Perez. When the Rangers' collapse was complete, I had already bought tickets for the Wild Card Game. I had a residency interview in Shreveport that day, but I left right after the interview and drove three and a half hours and got to the game just as it was starting. I was still in my interview suit. I felt the sinking sense of deflation with every missed opportunity. Most of the ire was directed against Hamilton and Mike Napoli, two 2011 heroes. I didn't take notice of Adrian's failings, since he did well enough in the regular season. I'll admit when the MVP votes were announced I was a little surprised when I saw that Adrian finished second.
I was able to go to a few more Rangers games in 2013. I skipped the last day of my very first My Little Pony convention in Lewisburg north of Dallas and drove down to Houston to attend the official Opening Day game and the Astros' very first game in the American League. They celebrated the occasion by dominating the Rangers 8-2, with Adrian going hitless along with several other of his teammates. I decided to attend the Rangers' Home Opener that year to watch them play the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The game was notable mostly because it was Josh Hamilton's first game back in Texas after signing with Los Angeles in the off-season. He had already drawn some boos in the Wild Card Game the year before, and then in the off-season made some inciting comments saying that Texas was more of a football city. When he took his first at-bat of the game, I recorded a video of the boos raining down on him throughout the stadium. These boos turned to cheers when Adrian hit a game-tying home run to erase a 2-1 lead in the 7th, and then when Ian Kinsler singled in the go-ahead run in the 8th.
I was following the team from afar when they went through their ups and downs throughout the season. I celebrated with the team when they had their three straight walk-off home runs. Then I cringed when they blew their lead in September to fall out of the race. I was doing my internal medicine residency in Longview at the time. When they clinched the tie-break, I was determined to go, even if I was working until 5 every single day. I got my ticket and drove two and a half hours. I was aware that Adrian Beltre was going for his 200th hit. He got hit number 199 when I was still on my way there, and the Rangers were already down 3-0 by the time I arrived. I didn't have much optimism that the Rangers could pull it off, so I spent the rest of the game seeing if Adrian could get that 200th straight hit. He couldn't, and the Rangers lost once again.
In 2014, I had fully immersed myself into the My Little Pony fandom. I paid just enough attention to baseball to update my pitching win spreadsheets. I watched only two games that year, and neither of them featured the Rangers, which was okay because that was the year they collapsed and ended up in last place.
Up until that point Adrian Beltre was to me just another player in the team that I liked. I really can't name a favorite player on the Rangers from 2009-14 because I liked the team as a cohesive whole rather than as individual players. It also didn't help that much of my focus was on pitchers, and the Rangers never had the marquee pitcher that grabs your attention. (I suppose Darvish was one, but I never did get over my skepticism about him.) It wasn't until 2015 that I became more aware that Adrian Beltre was somebody special. Part of it was that he was moving up in the Baseball Reference WAR (bWAR) leaderboard. Part of it was that he was moving up the hits leaderboard. Part of it was that I was finally able to appreciate that he was a leader and a motivator on the team.
This certainly wasn't apparent in my first Rangers game since the tie-break game of 2013. I decided to go to the Rangers-Red Sox game on May 31, 2015 as a joke. My friend Adam said he was going to the Rangers game that day with another friend Amy. I had the day off so I decided to go to the game as well and surprise them. Another one of our friends Brandi wanted to come as well, so I got us both tickets in the section next to Adam and Amy, but I told Brandi to keep it a secret. Even though I had worked a night shift the night before, I was still excited to go out to the game. The look on Adam's face when he walked by and did a double take when he saw us was priceless. The game itself was kind of blah until the very end. I did notice that Adrian was playing well, driving in a run and scoring a run on a groundout and a single. He singled again in the fifth, and that was the day he tore his thumb ligament. I was a bit disappointed to see him leave the game, but prodigal son Josh Hamilton made it all worth it with his walk-off double.
By the time Adrian came back in late June, A-Rod had already gotten his 3,000th career hit with a home run. (Once again, I wasn't aware of it until after it happened.) By that time I had at the very least memorized the 3,000 hit players and was starting to learn some of the players with 2,500 hits. I knew that Adrian was moving up the list, so I started to periodically check where he was relative to other players with 2,500 hits. I attended another game with Adam and Brandi on August 29, 2015 (this time Adam knew about it). Adrian excited the crowd with a loud flyout in the first, then made sure to hit it out in the third. I looked at where he was and saw that he had tied Lou Gehrig with his 2,721st hit with that home run. He passed Gehrig with a single in the seventh, but sadly I don't remember the play itself.
Under Adrian's leadership and improved play from the rest of the team, the Rangers came back and won the division. (I had watched two other regular season games, but Adrian went hitless in both of them.) With the Rangers going back to the playoffs, I found a great deal for a pair of seats in the Division Series. I invited Adam to go, and we went. Unfortunately, that was the series in which Adrian injured his back in the first game, and he missed Games 2 and 3. Game 3 was the one we attended, and with Adrian out of the lineup and Martin Perez on the mound, the Rangers got dominated by the Blue Jays. Only a few days later the Rangers' season came to a close.
The countdown was officially on in the 2016 season. It was also helpful that it was around then that the Rangers decided to track Adrian's progress on the career hit list. For example, when I went to my first Rangers game of the year on June 24 and Adrian singled in the first, the scoreboard showed that he was only two hits behind the former Tigers great Charlie Gehringer. When Adrian got his 2,900th hit on August 24, I decided to officially start a countdown on Twitter. I knew he wouldn't get 100 hits in the last month, but every time he got a hit, I would find a tweet about the hit and retweet it with the line "#Beltre3000 Countdown: XX." I also wanted to take a video of a hit if I saw it in person and post the video, but unfortunately he went hitless in the next game that I went to on September 17. 2016 was also when I first gave thought about watching somebody reach 3,000 hit in person. That was the year that Ichiro Suzuki was chasing 3,000 hits. By then he was playing a mostly backup role with the Miami Marlins, but there were enough injuries to the starting outfielders that he got significant playing time. I had a friend Kevin who was a big Ichiro fan. He was taking a trip down to Miami in the end of July, and he talked about going to watch the game if Ichiro got close to see if he can watch the milestone. Well it just so happens that Ichiro got hit number 2,998 on July 28, in the first game of a four game series. I told Kevin about it and he went and got tickets for the July 29 game. Unfortunately, it was not to be. I followed along on GameDay, and saw that he lined into a double play, grounded out in the fourth and fifth, and struck out in the eighth. I encouraged Kevin to go to the next two games, but he declined. It was just as well, as he came up off the bench in those games and went hitless.
Ichiro then went hitless in three pinch-hit at bats against the Cubs, then hitless in the first game against the Rockies in Colorado. Then I saw that he got his 2,999th hit as a pinch-hit in the game on August 6. At that time I was in Temple in central Texas and I was enjoying a weekend off in between night float weeks. Denver was about 15 hours away from Temple. I debated whether or not I should drive to Colorado, watch the game and maybe the milestone, then drive back to Texas and sleep before starting night float again. I was debating up until Saturday night, when I watched Pompoko with friends. I ultimately decided not to, because I had done back to back overnight drives two other times, and I was miserable when coming back. And of course, Ichiro got his 3,000th hit that day.
Still, I knew it was only a matter of time when Adrian Beltre would get to 3,000 hits. He finished the season at 2,942 hits, only 58 hits away from 3,000. I thought it would be really cool if I got to watch him get to 3,000. After all, in six years with the Rangers he had turned himself into a Hometown Hero. He was voted one of the Franchise Four with the Rangers, and he ranked third overall in bWAr with the Rangers franchise. I looked up when he had gotten his 58th of the season from 2010 through 2016. There were some years where he got off to a hot start and got there early, and some year (namely 2015) when he got off to a brutal start and dealt with injuries and didn't get there until late. For the most part, he got his 58th hit usually in late May and early June. Even though it was only October, I decided to use most of my vacation days and take a two and half week period off from May 24 through June 11. I figured I'd be able to follow the team around the country and get a chance to see history.
The spring of 2017 featured the fourth edition of the World Baseball Classic. The World Baseball Classic started in 2006 as an international tournament in the same vein as soccer's World Cup. The big selling point for the WBC was that unlike all other international tournaments, it has the participation of Major League Players. The first two tournaments happened in 2006 and 2009, both of them were won by Japan. Afterwards it would be held every four years, so the third tournament happened in 2013. That year the Dominican Republic knocked off the reigning champions to capture the title. Adrian Beltre is proud of his Dominican heritage, and in fact still has a home in Santo Domingo where he stays in the off-season. He played in the first classic, but missed the next two, with his shoulder injury in 2009 and with a calf injury in 2013. Disappointed at missing the title, he was determined to play in the latest one to help the Dominican defend their title. However, while working out over the off-season he strained his left calf muscle again. It was thought that he would be out for three weeks and have to miss the early parts of the tournament, but he wasn't going to let his calves stop him again, and came back early to be present for the tournament. He struggled, getting only one hit and the Dominican never even made it out of the first round. With the Dominicans eliminated, Adrian went back to regular Rangers spring training. He felt like he was close to getting his swing back, but he injured his calves again, this time on the right side. Unable to bear weight on his right legs, the 2017 season started without Adrian Beltre.
Adrian stayed behind to rehabilitate his right calves. However, while running he aggravated it while jogging, and the Rangers knew this wasn't something that he was going to come back anytime soon. April soon went to May, and there was no signs of Adrian's return. I knew that I was not going to watch Adrian Beltre get his 3,000th hit during my vacation time. I decided that I would spend the time going around to different stadiums where I've never been. I went to see the Atlanta Braves' new stadium, then traveled north to watch the Philadelphia Phillies, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets. Meanwhile the Rangers were playing inconsistently. They fell to last place, but then went on a 10-game winning streak to put them at second place. By then the Astros had played so well that the Rangers could only get to 6.5 games behind. During this time Adrian was finally making some progress on his rehab, and there was some hope that he could come back soon. On May 29, while I was watching the Mets play the Milwaukee Brewers (and I got my Funko Rainbow Dash figurine to pose with Ryan Braun, the third MVP winner she's met), Adrian was taking some fielding practice. He performed to a satisfactory level for manager Jeff Banister, and he was reactivated and placed in the starting lineup for that night's game against the Rays. I was getting ready to drive from New York back to my parents' house in Northern Virginia when I saw the news. While I was hoping to be counting down to zero by that time, I was counting down to 57. It was still progress.
The rest of my time on vacation was spent playing The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild on my new Nintendo Switch or following Adrian Beltre's progress. (Well, there was also going to a protest in Washington DC and going to New York to meet two of my favorite My Little Pony voice actresses Andrea Libman and Ashleigh Ball on Randy Johnson's 300th Win Day.) I had made the decision to take the plunge and buy MLB.TV earlier in the season. The Rangers are normally within a blackout zone when I was in Texas, but being in Northern Virginia I was able to watch Adrian's plate appearances on my phone. Adrian was playing well in his return. He was getting only a hit or two per game, but at least he was getting a hit every game. The Rangers were playing the Washington Nationals in a three game series from June 9-11. I had to be back in Texas by the night of June 12 to
Still, that left June 9 as a day where I can go to the game. I decided to make a sign with "#Beltre3000 Countdown" and large numbers to be able to count down to 49, where he was by June 4. On June 6 the Rangers were playing the Mets. I was meeting with a friend, but still got done before the game started. I watched his first plate appearance, and he had an RBI groundout. He stepped on the bag improperly and inverted his left foot. He stayed in the game and even got a single for his 2,952nd hit, but had to leave the game in the sixth due to discomfort. He was expected to go on the DL for an ankle sprain. Upon hearing the news I figured I probably won't be getting to see Adrian play, so I printed out a slip of paper that says "On Hold" to put over the countdown numbers. Then on the other side I wrote "Get Well Soon Adrian Beltre."
I still went to the game on June 9, because I had bought a ticket on the first row on the third base side next to the visiting dugout right up against the field. Maybe at least he can see my sign. When I got down to my seat level I saw Adrian taking batting practice, and then fielding the ball. He looked pretty good for somebody with an ankle sprain. As he was leaving the field, he started signing autographs for people behind the dugout. I was at my seat next to the dugout, so I hurried over, but when I got there he was already finished. Bother. The game eventually started, and the seats were so close we could look inside the dugout. I was able to see Adrian sitting in the dugout wishing he could play. The other people around me saw my sign and saw Adrian and called out to him and told him to give me a ball. Adrian gave a little wave of acknowledgement but of course he was not going to give me a ball. I was an ugly little fucker who was reminding of of the fact he couldn't play. The Rangers ended up winning the game.Adrian and Jeff Banister were both so optimistic about how Adrian performed during practice that he inserted him back in the lineup for the June 10 game. And of course during that time I was mingling with people from college two hours south of the stadium. Adrian got a hit in the game to put him at 2,953. After the reunion I met up with a brony friend Brendan and bought him a drink because it was his birthday. And then I set off for the 22-hour road trip back to Texas (it became 24 because of food and gas.) And then I had to start my night float. Adrian struggled a little bit after I had gotten back. He had a few hitless days as the batting average fell below .300. I was back in Texas so Rangers games were blacked out once again. The reason for this blackout was so the local sports channel could have exclusive broadcasting rights. Still, my co-worker Adam (a different Adam this time) was nice enough to let me know his Spectrum login information so I can watch games on the Fox Sports Go app.
Adrian's bat started heating up again in July, and by the time the All-Star Game rolled around, he was at 2,978 hits. I looked at the upcoming Rangers schedule, and while they started out with ten games on the road, they had a homestand that lasted from Monday July 24 through Wednesday August 2. If he averaged just a little over a hit a game, then he could get his milestone during that homestand. I may be able to see it after all. I was working until six from Monday through Saturday, and couldn't get to the game, but I was off Sunday and my schedule the last three days was light enough that I could get to the game. I wanted to wait to see how he'd do coming out of the gate. When he collected two hits in the first game after the All-Star Break, I knew it was time to spring into action. I purchased tickets off StubHub for the Sunday through Wednesday games. I got seats in the lower section of the upper deck, the place where I sat for the 2010 World Series, for the Monday through Wednesday games. I decided to splurge again and get seats close to the field along the home dugout for Sunday. I was all ready!
Adrian got nine more hits over the rest of the road trip, and stood at 2,989 on the way back to the homestand, just 11 hits away. On Monday, July 24, they started a four game series against the Miami Marlins. I was watching Hayao Miyazaki's 1989 masterpiece Majo no Takkyubin (Kiki's Delivery Service) on a theater in Waco, but I was going to the restroom frequently so I can check on the game. Adrian got singles in the first, the fourth, and the sixth. When he came up again in the ninth, the movie had ended and I was eating supper at a local steakhouse. I was following the game on GameDay because my phone was almost dead and I didn't want to use any more of my phone's battery. Adrian ended up hitting a ground ball single to the left side for his fourth hit of the game. It was his first four-hit game since August 19, 2016, and more importantly put him at 2,993 hits. I started getting worried that he could potentially get to the milestone on Saturday. I decided that once I get off at 6 on Saturday, I could drive up to the stadium to watch the game.
Adrian went hitless on Tuesday, July 25. However, he came back in a big way on Wednesday, July 26, a game that also featured one of the most bizarre moments in baseball history. He walked in the first, but then singled in the fourth, and doubled in the sixth and seventh. He came up in the eighth with a chance to get his second four-hit game in three days. The Rangers were down 18-6, but most of the fans were still in their seats to watch Adrian hit. The Rangers also had the bases loaded with two outs. In baseball, players getting ready to hit move onto the on-deck circle, where they can take practice swings and make mental preparations about the upcoming at-bat. Nowadays on-deck circles are a plastic circle that can be moved around. Most players have gradually started to stand away from the on-deck circle and more towards the center. Some say it's to avoid line drives. Others believe that they want to get a better look at the pitcher. It's become a relatively common practice. Adrian is one of those that stands closer to the center than others. Most of the time nobody gives a big deal, but on this date the second base umpire and crew chief called Adrian out and told him to get back on the on-deck circle. Adrian preferred his spot, but he also didn't want to disobey the umpire, so he decided to compromise. He walked over to the on-deck circle and dragged it to where he was standing. Most of the crowd were amused by the sight, but Davis was not, and he ejected Adrian on the spot. The whole stadium was shocked. Here was a future Hall of Fame player coming up in a crucial spot in the game while he's chasing a milestone. How could you eject somebody like that? Manager Jeff Banister came out to argue, but to no avail. The batter Nomar Mazara drove in two runs with a double, but Delino DeShields, the pinch-hitter that replaced the ejected Adrian flied to right to end the threat.
I was safe for at least one day, but the next day was Saturday, and as mentioned I was scheduled to work until 6:00 in the evening. It took about two hours to get to the stadium, and by the time I'd get there it would be past 8:00 and it could be very likely Adrian would have had two plate appearances. Adam suggested that I could switch shifts with somebody. There was another resident that is usually more than willing to help, and I had helped him a few weeks earlier by driving him home after he finished a shift. I figured there was nothing to lose and texted the other resident. The only thing I told him was that there was something happening that was causing a lot of anxiety, and I offered to take one of his 24-hour shifts because it was on such short notice. Thankfully the other resident said yes. I now had a day free to travel to Arlington early and potentially watch Adrian Beltre's 3,000th hit.
Sources: Well, here we go again, another epic. I apologize if it is too dry, but I was mostly going off of my own personal experiences. Because I was going off of my own personal experiences, I didn't use much resources. Baseball Reference and MLB Video are always helpful as usual.
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