Adrian Beltre's 3,000th Hit Part VI: The Aftermath

The passage of time is an unrelenting thing. It has been almost 10 years since I sat in Nationals Park on a rainy day in Washington DC to watch Randy Johnson win his 300th game. And of course it has been a year since I sat in the brutally hot Texas sun in Arlington, Texas to watch Adrian Beltre get his 3,000th hit. And like what I did with the Randy Johnson milestone, I will take this opportunity to take a look back at what had happened in the past year, new perspectives of the events of July 30, 2017 now that a year has passed, and the future of the 3,000 hit milestone.



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
Part IV: The Letdown
Part V: The Moment
Part VI: The Aftermath (July 30)

After Adrian Beltre got his milestone hit in the fourth, I sat in my seat and tried to enjoy watching the game, but with Martin Perez and Jeremy Jeffress getting blasted as well as the hot sun, I wasn't doing a good job of it. After the fifth inning, PA announcer Chuck Morgan announced that Adrian Beltre 3,000th Hit memorabilia would be available for sale at the Grand Slam Gift Shop behind center field. I took this opportunity to get out of the hot, hot Sun and to add to the milestone collection that I would inevitably collect. There were T-shirts and hats and a patch available, but by the time I had gotten to the gift shop, all of the T-shirts were sold out and most of the hats seemed like they were gone too. All they had was a patch. I never knew what to do with the patches, but since it was something commemorating the occasion I bought it. As I waited to check out, the fan ahead of me decided he didn't want the cap anymore and asked if I wanted it. I took him up on the offer without hesitation, and thankfully the cap was large enough to fit my enormous head. After that I hung around the center field plaza a little bit longer before making it back down to my seat just in time to watch the Mazara home run in the seventh.

When Adrian Beltre made the last out to top off another Rangers loss, I started to think about what to do after the game. The Rangers game wasn't the only event I had on my itinerary for July 30, 2017. Idina Menzel was performing at the Verizon Theater in Grand Prairie, around 10-15 minutes away from Globe Life Park, to promote her new album "Idina," and I had tickets to watch the performance (although to be perfectly honest, the only reason why I went was to hear her sing "Let It Go.") The game ended close to 6:00, and since the concert didn't start until 8 I figured I had some time before I had to go to Grand Prairie.

Around that time, PA announcer Morgan announced that certificates celebrating Adrian Beltre's accomplishment would be handed out, and that all fans would be able to run the bases after the game. I had run the bases before back in the Josh Hamilton walk-off game on May 30, 2015, but I had forgotten that the Rangers have the "All Fans Run the Bases" event after Sunday day games. Most other stadiums limit it to only kids under 13. Even though I was hot and sweaty after sitting through an excruciating Rangers loss, I thought it would be pretty cool to be able to run the same bases that Adrian Beltre did after his 3,000th hit. I went and lined up on the ramp on the first base side, and grabbing a few of the certificates. (I gave most of them to some other fans that didn't get any.) I ran the bases before going out to my car with the Beltre goodies I had from earlier as well as the container from the Cherry Sublime I had gotten. (I had forgotten to bring the two souvenir sodas I bought. The Rangers souvenir cups of 2017 were made of flimsy plastic and were a lot smaller and a lot less interesting than souvenir cups from other stadiums, but it would still have been nice to keep the ones from Adrian Beltre's 3,000th hit game.)

Afterwards, it was on to Grand Prairie for the concert. Traffic wasn't so bad after the game because I stayed later to run the bases, so I got to the theater with an hour to spare. People were dressed somewhat nicely for the concert, so I felt kind of bad that I went hot and sweaty wearing shorts and Rangers gear (sadly I wasn't brave enough to go to baseball games in skirts back then otherwise I might have fit in better...as long as you ignore the cross-dressing aspect.) There wasn't much to do so I started surfing on my phone. I read articles on the milestone, which sadly weren't that many. I also saw that Fanatics was selling the T-shirt that was sold out, as well as a Highland Mints plaque commemorating the milestone. I wasted no time in buying the items. Ah, the life of a free-spending materialist.

The concert started a short time later. I'll confess I was never a big fan of showtunes, and so I didn't recognize a lot of the songs that Idina Menzel sang. I recognized "Seasons of Love" from Rent because I showed the film version during my projectionist career at the University of Virginia. She also sang "Defying Gravity" from Wicked, which I've never seen but had heard a few times. She also sang "Do You Want to Build a Snowman" from Frozen, which I thought was strange because Anna sang the song instead of Elsa, but she did dedicate the song to her sister. However, as I mentioned the sole reason I went to that concert was to listen to Idina Menzel sing "Let It Go," the Oscar-winning signature song from Frozen. Many people felt that the song is overplayed, but I still love the song as much as I did back when I first heard it in November 2013. I read online that she had been saving "Let It Go" to the very end, so I waited around listening to songs that I didn't know.

At last she came to the climax of the performance: "Let It Go!" I had my phone out and started recording. Any qualms I had about doing that went away when everybody around me was doing the same thing. She sang it differently than how she did in the movie, but it was still the same divine song that I had listened to numerous times before. There were times she let the crowd sing along, and I couldn't help but join in the chorus, even with my ugly singing voice. After singing the third verse ("I'm never going back, the past is in the past"), she went back to singing the first chorus again, mostly letting the crowd sing. Following this, she started inviting a lot of the kids to the stage, something she had done at other shows. To her surprise there was a young boy that came up with all of the other little girls. She asks the boy, named Luke, if he knows what song they'll be singing, to which he incredulously replied "Let It Go, obviously." She explained that in past shows the boys that went up didn't want to be there and one even liked the Justin Timberlake song from Trolls more, to which Luke replied "Heck to the no!" Impressed enough at finding a boy fan, Idina let Luke sing first, to which he belted out an awe-inspiring rendition of the chorus. Apparently a video of the performance went viral enough to be reported by multiple news outlets, and even earned him a visit to the Ellen Show, where he talked about his experience with bullying and got to meet Idina again. While the other kids got to sing, Luke got most of the mic time, although evidently he was so nervous he sang mostly the first chorus instead of the final chorus even as Idina tried to get him to sing "I'll rise like the break of dawn...the perfect girls is gone."

The performance officially concluded after that, but Idina did come out for an encore. By then it was almost 11:00. I still had a two hour drive ahead of me, and I had to work at 8:00 the next day. I left in the middle of the encore and didn't get back until past 1:00 in the morning. It was a tiring but ultimately a happy day.


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As August came around I returned to my everyday life for the most part. However, I knew my life was about to change. When Randy Johnson won his 300th game, I became almost a fanatic in my pursuit of memorabilia related to the milestone. Adrian Beltre's 3,000th hit was a similarly historically significant milestone, and I knew that I would be tracking down as many items related to the milestones as I can. In fact, it had already begun with my purchase of the milestone cap, patch, and T-shirt. The next morning I went on the Topps Now website in search of the new release commemorating the milestone. Topps Now is a new set by Topps releasing cards dedicated important events that happened throughout the season. They go on sale the day after the event but are only available for 24 hours. When the cards went live around noon on July 31, I found that not only did they have the regular issue cards (of which I brought five), they also had a limited edition parallel that would feature his autograph. There were four different versions numbering from 1-199 to 1-1. The only difference was the color of the background, which went from green to blue to gold. I thought the 1-99 card had the best background color as it didn't have any tint, but it cost $100. Since I was already spending $30 on the regular issue cards, I went for the 1-199 card, which cost $70 and had the green-tinted background.

I had tickets for the July 31 - August 2 games against the Seattle Mariners just in case he needed those games to get to the milestone, but since he had already gotten the milestone I opted not to go to the first two Mariners. I didn't want to use up gas for the two hour drive two and from the stadium or spend money on parking. The Rangers lost both of those games anyways, with Adrian Beltre getting only one hit in eight plate appearances. I got out early on August 2 and decided that since I had the ticket I might as go to one of the games against the Mariners. I made the drive which had become increasingly familiar and arrived just as the game was starting. I had become familiar with the Rangers Authentics booth behind home plate that sold game-used memorabilia, and remembering the game-used ball I had gotten from Randy Johnson's 300th win, I decided to stop by the booth to see if any of the game used balls had come in. They had the balls from the previous two games as well as the July 29 game, but the ones from the milestone game itself were missing. It was just as well, because if they cost as much as the Johnson ball did, I'm not sure I would have been able to afford them. I did buy a second milestone shirt with a different design.

When the game started, I decided to film each of his plate appearance even though Beltre had gotten to the milestone, just in case the future Hall of Famer adds to his hit total. I'd be able to upload the video as I'm counting up on each of his hits. Facing Mariners lefthander Ariel Miranda, he grounded out in the first with the game tied 1-1, and then gave the Rangers a lead with a sacrifice fly in the fourth. In the sixth, he pulled the ball in the 5.5 hole between shortstop and third for a single and his 3,002nd hit. Shortly after that a rainstorm came around that delayed the game for 40 minutes. I stayed around to wait for his last plate appearance, but he grounded out. Still, the Rangers held on for a 5-2 win, which was a good reverse of fortune from the previous four games. Along the way the Rangers played a video showing all of the 3,000 hit players, which they showed earlier on July 30. It was updated to show that Beltre had 3,001 hits (since it came before his sixth inning single.) I missed the first two players, but I recorded it from when it showed Hank Aaron.

After the Mariners game the Rangers embarked on a six-day road trip. I was hoping that Adrian Beltre wouldn't have had to reach the milestone during that road trip, but thankfully he got the job done at home. They came back to face the interstate rivals the Houston Astros in a three-game series from August 11-13. The Lone Star rivalry was one that developed with the advent of interleague play, and intensified once the Astros moved from the National League to the American League. The Rangers had long had the Astros' number, winning the season series even when the Astros were a playoff teams and the Rangers were below .500. More recently, the Rangers won back to back division titles in 2015-16 by going a combined 28-10 against the Astros. I certainly hadn't had any luck watching the Rangers play the Astros. I had gone to five Rangers - Astros games up to that point, and the Rangers had lost every single one of them, even when the Astros were losing 100 games and the Rangers were contenders. However, by August 2017 the Rangers were trying to get above .500 to stay in the Wild Card hunt while the Astros were rocking their way to the division title.

The series was special for another reason. On August 12 the Rangers were set to hold a special number retirement ceremony for Ivan "I-Rod" Rodriguez, their longtime catcher who was the second player elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame with a Rangers cap. (Incidentally the induction ceremony was held on July 30 and Rodriguez was hoping to congratulate Adrian Beltre on reaching the 3,000-hit milestone during the speech, but that didn't happen.) I had never gone to a number-retirement ceremony before, but I figured this would be a good one to go to. I also bought a ticket for the game on August 13, as they had a giveaway for a Rangers alarm clock. I got to the ballpark two hours before gates open and there was already a long line of people waiting to get into the ballpark. I waited patiently even as it rained overhead. Eventually the gates opened, and fans were able to mingle around or try to get the autograph of one of several players that had also worn I-Rod's number 7. (I managed to get Lenny Randle of the Frank Lucchesi assault fame, but got through the line too late to also get David Murphy.)

The stadium was packed by the time the ceremony began. (The crowd of 47,306 was the second largest crowd of the season, behind that of only Opening Day.) There was a lot of pomp and circumstance with speeches and tribute videos. They held a parade of all of the other 7s that were able to come. And finally they introduced the man himself Ivan Rodriguez to come give his speech. One of the first things he did was congratulate Adrian Beltre for his 3,000th hit to reach the milestone that he missed by only 156. This drew a large applause from the crowd. Right after that he joked that "the only wrong thing that you did was...you did it ten minutes after I finished. You should have done it 20 minutes before, I could have mentioned you in Cooperstown that you hit 3,000." After the crowd got a quick laugh, I-Rod pointed to his plaque, which had made its way down from Cooperstown, and said "And this, this is waiting for you soon."

The ceremony was very nice, but by the time the speech finished and the field was prepared, I had been at the ballpark for five hours. I was feeling somewhat under the weather when I arrived, and I was definitely not feeling good when the game started. I had never left a game early, but I had laundry to do at the hotel I rented and was going to the game the next day, and if I did all that after the three hour game, I'd have only a few hours of sleep and would really get sick. So I made the fateful decision to leave. Before that, I stopped by and got a picture of I-Rod's plaque. And I also made a stop next to the Rangers Authentics booth. I had gone earlier and was told that they may be getting the balls in later and to check back. I checked back, and lo and behold there was a ball available, with the hologram number JB868728. I looked up the certificate on my phone, and it said the ball was in play in the top of the 9th, and said, "Jonathan Schoop lines out to right fielder Nomar Mazara." I kind of sort of remembered a fly out in the ninth. I inquired about the price. The people that worked there knew me by then, and told me it was $600. They said there a few other balls but they were already sold. There would be one ball available on MLB Auction, but who knows how much that ball would sell for. This was probably the best opportunity for me to get a game-used ball from the milestone game. In the end, I went for it. Even though it had nothing to do with Beltre, I was a proud owner of a game-used ball from Adrian Beltre's 3,000th Hit Game.

By the time I had gotten the picture of the plaque and made the decision to buy the ball, it was already the bottom of the first. Adrian Beltre was up to bat with two on and one out. I decided to stop and tape the at-bat. Alas, he grounded into a double play. By the time I had made my way to the center field gate it was already the bottom of the second and catcher Brett Nicholas was up to the plate with two on. Nicholas had grounded into a double play to end a Rangers rally in the eighth on July 30, but he had a much better end result on this plate appearance. Just a few second after I had left the stadium, I heard the fireworks go off behind me. Brett Nicholas had powered the Rangers to a 3-0 lead. As I rode a Lyft back to the hotel and did my laundry, the Rangers continued to beat up on the Astros. They scored five more runs to win 8-3 and furthermore, Adrian Beltre got three hits to put him at 3,013. I didn't count any of the stats in the spreadsheet where I kept track of all the games I went to because I really didn't stay to watch much of it. I just relaxed in my hotel munching on pizza, and I watched the play that was made on the ball that I brought, and preparing myself for the game the next day.

The August 13 game was fairly good. I arrived early enough to get one of the alarm clocks. The Astros took an early lead with a solo home run by Jose Altuve off of Andrew Cashner, the pitcher from the game in Washington. In the fourth, Adrian singled with Nomar Mazara on first base for hit 3,014, but he was caught straying too far off the bag at first and ended up getting caught in a rundown, with Mazara unable to score. Adrian ended up running off the basepaths to avoid getting tagged, much to the amusement of the crowd. He would atone for that baserunning mistake in his next plate appearance when he blasted a ball over the right field wall for his 3,015th hit and his 457th home run which tied the game. Alas, the Astros took a lead in the next half-inning. Adrian walked in his last plate appearance and was removed by pinch-runner Drew Robinson, but couldn't score as the Astros won 2-1. It was a fine pitcher's duel, but since I left the game before early, I still hadn't seen the Rangers beat the Astros.

After that I went on continuing to add to my memorabilia collection. I bought an Adrian Beltre 3,000th Hit pennant that I hung on the wall in my room. I bought a Highland Mints plaque of the 3,000th Hit milestone that was similar to the one they made for Randy Johnson's 300th win eight years earlier (except there was only one plaque instead of two, thankfully.) I bought a commemorative coin that turned out to be the same coin as the one I got with the plaque. I paid $150 to get a reproduction of the lineup card from the July 30 game where the milestone was reached. (Several months later I saw a giant stack of the same lineup cards selling for only $25.) Meanwhile, Adrian Beltre kept playing and kept getting hits. By August 31 he was up to 3,035 hits going into the game against the Astros. It would be the 2,800th game of his career. 

The game was supposed to have been held in Houston, but Houston was suffering from the ravages of Hurricane Harvey, which had made landfall in Texas the week before. The Rangers rejected a proposal to move the game to their home stadium in Arlington, and the game wound up being held in Tampa Bay. The Rangers' decision was widely criticized, but they do play better in Tampa Bay, and they had won the first two games. They took an early lead in the first, but the Astros tied it up again on an Altuve home run, then pulled ahead in the fourth. The Astros held a 2-1 lead going into the seventh, with Adrian going 0 for 2 with one walk. In the bottom of the seventh, the Astros had a man on first with rookie J.D. Davis at the plate. Davis hit a bouncer down the third base line. Adrian ranged well to his left to grab the ball, but as he got ready to throw he ended up recoiling in pain instead. He had to be helped off the field and later said it was his left hamstring. An MRI showed that it was a Grade 2 hamstring strain, and reports were saying that he would be out for the rest of the season.

This was a crushing blow for the Rangers for a multitude of reasons. For one, they were still in the running for the second Wild Card spot, only four games behind the Twins. Adrian Beltre was still one of their top players, have him gone would lead to a giant hole in their offense and their defense. Adrian was also climbing the career hits list. With 3,035 hits he was just 18 behind Rod Carew for most by a Latin American player. And finally, the Rangers were planning a huge celebration for Adrian Beltre to commemorate his 3,000th hit prior to the game against the Yankees on September 8. They were going all out for this one just like they did for I-Rod two weeks prior. They had speakers lined up. They had tribute videos pre-recorded. They had ordered special Adrian Beltre caps showing him mid-swing to give out to players that bought a special ticket. They even commissioned special balls from Rawlings that had the Adrian Beltre's 3,000 Hit Club logo, which featured a silhouette of Adrian in his trademark one-knee swing, stamped on the baseballs that would be used for the game.

There was no doubt that I would be going to the ceremony. I was originally scheduled to work until 6 but I was able to swap shifts with somebody to be able to get to the ballpark when gates opened. There was a snafu regarding the ticket I bought, but I was able to get it figured out and got my hands on one of those caps. They were also giving out a large placard celebrating Adrian Beltre's 3,000th Hit, and the magazine they were selling had Adrian Beltre reaching out for his kids following the hit on the cover. They really were going all out. Unfortunately there were only a couple of thousand fans in their seats when the ceremony began. There were several special guests, such as Adrian's family, the Mayor of Arlington, an official from the Dominican Republic, former Rangers great Michael Young, and Rangers Hall of Fame announcer Eric Nadel served as the MVP. Adrian was presented with numerous gifts, including an original art piece of Adrian with other members of the 3,000 hit club that had ran in the Dallas Morning News, a giant collage of the hit and the moments surrounding it, and a base signed by Adrian's teammates. Nadel read a letter from 3,000-hit member Willie Mays. Then a tribute video played on the video board with messages from numerous other former teammates, opponents, and 3,000-hit members. George Brett was the last one to speak, and he jokingly told Adrian to retire when he got to 3,153 hits. Following that came another tribute video narrated by Bob Costas titled "Legend in the Shadows." Finally Adrian got his last gift: a Polaris Razor XP 4 1000 High Lifter Edition, something he had said he wanted, and it was driven on the field by Elvis Andrus. A humbled Adrian then came up to the podium to deliver a few words of thanks. He thanked the coaches, the teammates, the organization, and the fans. And that wrapped up the ceremony.

Following the ceremony, Adrian then went to sit in the dugout and watched the game from the sidelines, probably somewhat upset that he couldn't contribute to the game. He watched as Martin Perez allow five runs in the first three innings to put the team in the hole, but then the Rangers offense climbed out of it with a run in the second, two runs in the third, and four runs in the 

fifth. By the time the game was over, the Rangers had rolled to an 11-5 victory. Meanwhile I went out searching for game-used baseballs with the special Adrian Beltre 3,000 Hit Club stamp. I suppose I could have checked the Grand Slam Gift Shop, but I liked having a game-used baseball. The Rangers Authentics booth had a few game-used balls come in already when I came down. Many of them had scuffs on the special logo, but I found one where the logo was pretty well preserved. It was from a Rougned Odor groundout. The authentication website wasn't updated yet to include the new balls, but I knew that Rougned Odor had grounded out only once, in a play where it seemed like he would get a single, but Yankees second baseman Starlin Castro ranged far to his left to make a nice play to throw out Odor. I bought the ball, and was a proud owner of a game-used ball with the Adrian Beltre 3,000 Hit Club logo. It was a nice memento from a nice day where we bid farewell to Adrian Beltre for the 2017 season, or so we thought.

One of Adrian Beltre's defining feature is his ability to play through pain and his stubborn desire to come back early from seemingly severe injuries. When he had his near-fatal appendicitis that required two surgeries in 2001, he was back on the field by May. When he suffered a testicular contusion from his infamous 2009 accident, he was out for only two weeks. With the Rangers hanging on by a thread in the 2017 Wild Card race, Adrian Beltre wanted tao be out there to help the team. So on September 13, less than two weeks after his hamstring strain, there was Adrian pinch-hitting for rookie Willie Calhoun a game against the Mariners. He flew out, but Adrian was back. Adrian played in each of the next 12 games, mostly as a designated hitter, but he had one start on the field at third base. He was clearly diminished, hitting .286 with only one home run and two doubles, and the losses kept piling up. At last manager Jeff Banister shut him down. Adrian did get one token plate appearance in the final game of the season. He singled, putting him at 3,048 hits, five hits short of tying Carew.

Around that time I was in the middle of doing a series of night shifts. A night shift in our program was 14 hours long, running from 6pm to 8am the next day. There are moments where things could be busy, but then there are a lot of downtime as well. I knew that old games were present on MLB.TV, but I never really had the time to watch it, since the game was four hours long. With nothing else to do during down times on night shift, I decided to watch the Adrian Beltre 3,000th Hit Game in its entirety. While watching the Fox Sports Southwest feed, I ended up seeing myself a grand total of four times: one from the night before holding up my sign, one from the time when I was filmed holding my sign before the game, one holding up my sign during Adrian's last plate appearance while I was filming with my phone, and one where I was sitting in the crowd squinting at the bright Sun. It was nothing flattering, but at least I got to say I appeared on TV at both Adrian Beltre's 3,000th Hit Game and Randy Johnson's 300th Win Game. After watching the game on Fox Sports Southwest, I also watched the game with the Rangers Radio audio, then the MASN broadcast from the Orioles side (where Jim Palmer was stuck broadcasting a baseball game instead of mingling with the other Hall of Famers), and then with the Orioles radio audio.

Near the end of my night shift week (or rather two weeks since we do them in two week chunks), I received an e-mail from Gameday Connexion announcing special private signing. Most of the Gameday Connexion private signings were with football stars, and that didn't interest me one bit. However, this one caught my eye. It featured a private signing with none other than Adrian Beltre. And the signing prices were something that weren't outrageous. Even though we wouldn't get to meet with the man himself, this was a wonderful opportunity to get the autograph of a notoriously difficult signer. I immediately knew what I wanted to bring for Adrian to sign: the game-used baseball from his 3,000th Hit Game, and the poster that I had brought to the game. Of course, I didn't trust to mail the items, and the store where they'd take the items was in Grapevine. I had to wait until I got off of my night shifts. I made the trip on the day after my last night shift (for the time being), and dropped off the items. I waited eagerly for two weeks. As I was waiting I saw that Fox Sports Southwest were auctioning off items for Hurricane Harvey relief, and one of the items was an Adrian Beltre 3,000th Hit Package and included a signed commemorative baseball, a signed replica lineup card, and a signed cap that was part of the giveaway. I had all of those items, even if they were not signed. The package eventually went for over $5,000, and I was certain it wouldn't cost that much to get those signed. At last in the first week of October I receive a notice that my items came in. I wasn't able to get up to Grapvine until Saturday, October 8, and I was already planning to meet with a friend to watch My Little Pony the Movie in theaters in Fort Worth. I had to drive up to Grapevine and pick up the items really quick before moving on to Fort Worth. But I had my Adrian Beltre signed items. 

The rest of the off-season was relatively uneventful. There were a few opportunities for more memorabilia. I bought a ball holding case that had a picture commemorating the milestone, and I moved the game-used ball from the regular ball cube to the case. I also got a bobblehead of Adrian Beltre of him swinging the bat over Globe Life Park with 3,000 Hit Milestone inscribed on the base. The biggest investment I made was when I teamed up with my friend Adam (the one that I went with to watch the game where Adrian Beltre got hurt in May 31, 2015, not the one that I watched the game online with on July 28, 2017) to get season tickets for the 2018 season. We would be getting two seats in section 331, the same section where I watched Madison Bumgarner dominate the Rangers in the 2010 World Series. It was in the upper deck but close enough to the infield that we got a good view. We ended up getting a half-season plan, where we got tickets for every other home game. There was no way I was going to get a full-season plan, not with me living two hours south. After getting the season ticket package I went to a couple of the Winter Caravans as well as Fan Fest. Adrian wasn't there, but I figured there would be plenty of opportunities to watch him in person in the 2018 season. Oh yes, I also spent hours working on the first five parts of this series.

There was some rumblings of some discontent between Adrian and the Rangers in the off-season. Adrian Beltre was going to turn 39 in 2018, and he knew that his career is closer to the end than the beginning. And yet he has not done the one thing that every player strives for: win a World Series title. He had been to only one World Series in his career, and that was in 2011 when the Rangers were just one strike away from winning the title. However, the Rangers were relatively quiet in the off-season and didn't make any major signings. Adrian had told reports in September that he did not want to hear the Rangers were in "rebuild mode," where they would trade off current players in an effort to build up on prospects for future success. He had conversations with general manager Jon Daniels in the off-season. Evidently both sides were pleased, as Adrian Beltre went into spring training and the regular season as the Opening Day third baseman.

The Rangers opened the 2018 regular season at home against the Houston Astros. Once the Rangers' punching bags (except for games I've attended), the Astros have become a powerhouse team that won the 2017 World Series title in a thrilling seven game series over the Dodgers. The Rangers surprisingly won one of the first two games of the season, with Adrian providing three hits, but any hopes that the Rangers had of competing with the likes of the Astros disappeared in the third game of the season, on March 31. That was the first game of the season I was able to attend. We got to meet my friend Adam's favorite Rangers player of all-time but that was pretty much the only highlight of the day. The Astros took a quick 3-0 lead in the second, and they never looked back. Adrian did supply some excitement when he hit a ground ball along the third base line that his Astros counterpart Alex Bregman couldn't come up with that went for an RBI double, but by the time the Rangers were down 6-2. I was worried it may have been called an error, but it went for his 3,052nd hit, putting him just one behind Carew. Alas, Adrian went hitless in the rest of that game as well as the next one game, and he didn't tie and pass Carew until the Rangers went on the road in Oakland. I did get another bobble-head celebrating Adrian Beltre and his 3,000th hit, and some game used dirt from the 3,000th Hit Game. The Rangers were going to commercialize that milestone, and they can do that because suckers like me eat it up.

My next game came on Sunday April 8 against the Toronto Blue Jays. I spent Saturday cooped up in the convention center in Dallas to attend the Dallas Comic Con, and I needed to spend time outdoors, and what better way to do it than at a baseball game? The fact the temperature was a beautiful 50 degrees when the game started also helped with my decision. Sometime before the game I made the decision that I should try to get the replica lineup card signed by Adrian and all of the other players that played in the game. Alas, I was a doofus and left the lineup card at home when I went up to DFW for the convention, so all I had was a Rangers magazine. It was okay because Kevin Jepsen was the only autograph I got. When the game started, starter Cole Hamels allowed a home run to leadoff man Steve Pearce on the first pitch, and after that the Blue Jays to cruise to another easy win. Adrian did line a double into right center for his 3,059th hit putting him one behind Astros Hall of Famer Craig Biggio, but he went hitless in his other two plate appearances, and he tied Biggio in the next game.

I was still miffed at the fact I didn't bring the lineup card to the April 8 game, but I was looking at the Rangers schedule and saw they'd be in Houston the next weekend. I quickly bought a ticket for the Saturday April 14 game and drove down. Minute Maid Park was packed even though I got there an hour before gate opened. Part of it was the excitement from a winning team, and part of it was the fact it was George Springer World Series MVP Bobble Head Day. I quickly made my way down to the Rangers dugout when the gates finally opened. I secured a fairly good spot behind the Rangers dugout, but it seemed nobody was signing. I saw Nomar Mazara signing on the other side of the dugout, but by the time I got to him he had left. I saw pitcher Martin Perez talking to somebody off to the side. Even though Martin Perez was my least favorite Ranger, he was still the starter for the July 30 game. When he ran back to the dugout after talking to his friend he completely ignored me, which definitely didn't really help him advance in the favorite Rangers rankings.

Nevertheless I settled down to watch the Rangers continue their futile attempts to beat the Astros in a game I went to. They had to face starter Charlie Morton, who was previously best known for imitating the pitching motion of the late, great Roy Halladay while as a starter for the Pirates, but he became an effective starter when acquired by the Astros. He hadn't given up a single run going into this start. Adrian singled in the first to give him 3,064 hits, but he was stranded there. And then the Astros scored five runs off of Mike Minor, one of the Rangers' free-agent acquisitions and a former Braves starter who was coming off a season as a reliever with the Royals. That didn't give me much hope that the Rangers could win this game, but in the fifth Morton allowed his first run by allowing a home run to Rangers rookie Isiah Kiner-Falefa. The light-hitting Hawaiian utility player was called up when second baseman Rougned Odor went down with injury, and found himself a major league homer when he never homered in his first four seasons in the minors. In the sixth, Adrian Beltre lined a ball that went high in the air towards right center field. Right fielder Josh Reddick and center fielder Springer ran after it, but had to watch it land into the Astros bullpen. It was Adrian's first home run of the season and the 463rd of his career, which moved him past former Ranger Jose Canseco and former National Adam Dunn, who made crucial outs in Randy Johnson's 300th win.

The game was still 5-2 in favor of the Astros as Morton got out of the sixth and Hector Rondon threw a one-two-three seventh inning. Brad Peacock relieved Rondon in the eighth with the score still 5-2. With one out, Jurickson Profar doubled. Profar was once a super-prospect but saw himself go down with injuries after making a successful debut with the club in 2012. He struggled when he got healthy and ending up spending much time in the minors. He was finally getting extended playing time with the injuries to Odor as well as Elvis Andrus, who had a freak arm fracture with a hit-by-pitch. The next batter was Joey Gallo, a three-true-outcomes-type player with prodigious power but also prone to strikeouts. In this instance he blasted a Huge two-run home run off the right field foul pole to bring the game to 5-4. After Adrian hit a fly ball to center, up stepped rookie Ronald Guzman. Guzman was another rookie prospect who was called up following the injury to Elvis and made his Major League debut the night before. His ability to man first base with his trademark splits allowed for Gallo to spend more time in left field which had long been a black hole for the Rangers. However, he was not known for his power, with a slugging percentage of only .414 in his seven minor league seasons. Except this time he lined a ball to the right field stands, and the game was all tied up. 

Both teams remained scoreless in the bottom of the eighth and the ninth, and to the tenth we go. Will Harris went in to pitch for the Astros. Harris had been a key reliever for the Astros since they acquired him from the Diamondbacks before the 2015 season. He was an All-Star, and pitched well in the 2017 playoffs to help the Astros to the title. However, in this game he walked Profar with one out, and then Joey Gallo hit a long double to put runners on second and third. The next move is obvious. Adrian was walked intentionally to load the bases. Waiting in the wings was the rookie Guzman. Guzman hit the game tying home run, but Astros manager AJ Hinch was betting he wouldn't do so again. And he was right. Guzman swung at the first pitch and hit a hard grounder towards the mound. Harris couldn't get his glove on it, and everybody was safe, including Profar with the go-ahead run. Will Harris got out of the inning without further damage, but the Rangers had the lead. They just needed to keep the Astros from scoring in the bottom of the 10th. In came Chris Martin, the 6'8" reliever that was signed out of the Nippon Ham Fighters, where he was teammates with rookie extraordinaire Shohei Ohtani. It seemed dubious when Martin allowed singles to the first two hitters to put runners on first and second. But then he fielded a Carlos Correa grounder to throw out the lead runner. And then first baseman Yulieski Gurriel lined a ball to Adrian. Up stepped Reddick representing the last hope for the Astros. Manager Banister went to the bullpen to call in left-handed relief specialist Alex Claudio, the Rangers pitcher-of-the-year in 2017 (even though Andrew Cashner clearly had a better year.) Claudio got Reddick to ground to first baseman Guzman, and I had finally seen the Rangers win a game against the Astros!

Ahem...I was so excited by getting to watch the Rangers beat the Astros that I got carried away a bit there. (Even though I like both teams, almost blasphemous in Texas.) Anyways, my next game came against the Mariners on Sunday, April 22, my sister's birthday. I had tickets to go to the April 20 game, but I had gone to Longview to attend a Weird Al concert instead so I sold the tickets on StubHub. The Rangers were giving away an Adrian Beltre's 3,000th Hit mini-bat. I ended up just buying one on eBay. For the game on the 22nd, I went to my usual position close to the field next to the Rangers dugout. Adam came along with me. He had never been much of an autograph collector, but on this day we got several autographs including Tony Barnette and Isiah Kiner-Falefa. There wasn't anybody big (and nobody that would have signed my lineup card), but it was enough to get Adam hooked on autograph collecting. We weren't expecting much from the game itself as Martin Perez was starting, and his ERA was well above 10.00. He got himself into a bases loaded jam in the second with one of the baserunners coming from an infield hit by Ichiro Suzuki (career hit number 3,088 for Ichiro), but to our surprise he actually got out of it with a groundout to Adrian. Adrian then led off the second with a double for career hit number 3,071. He then went to third on a groundout and scored on another groundout for a 1-0 lead. Ichiro had another infield single for hit number 3,089 in the fourth, but he was stranded there. Sadly I didn't get a video of either of Ichiro's hits because I couldn't get my phone ready in time. 

The Rangers extended their lead to 4-0 in the fourth with Adrian getting a walk between home runs by Mazara and Gallo. The Mariners clawed their way back with two runs in the fifth but Perez kept them from tying the game. After a groundout in his third plate appearance, Adrian came up in the eighth with the score at 5-4. He was in a tie with Royals great George Brett with 1,119 extra base hits, the same George Brett that asked Adrian to retire with 3,153 hits. Adrian lined another double to break the tie and also record his 3,072nd hit. He would later come around to score and the Rangers would walk away with a 7-4 win. Things were looking up. They were still in last with an 8-15 record, but they were playing better even if their record wasn't showing it. And Adrian was off to a good start, hitting .300/.366/.425 after his two doubles. There was some hope that he could put up another typical Adrian season and put himself in good position to get to 100 Baseball Reference WAR. And then just when things were looking good, disaster struck. 

The Oakland Athletics came to town for a three game series. The Rangers lost the first game 9-4 which was closer than it appeared. The score was tied 3-3 going into the ninth before Jepsen and Jesse Chavez allowed six runs. The Tuesday game saw a matchup of the veteran Cole Hamels against the young Andrew Triggs. Adrian led off the second with an infield single, the 3,074th hit of his career. He flashed the antlers sign that were big in Texas during their 2010 post-season run, and then he hustled from first to third when Triggs missed a return throw, although he was made to go back as the ball was not considered in play, and was stranded at first. The A's took an early lead, but Adrian tied things up with a sacrifice fly. The A's pulled ahead again, and were leading 3-1 going into the eighth. Choo hit a single with one out, and after Mazara struck out, Adrian blasted a ball deep into right center field. It was far enough to score Choo all the way from first for the Huge Run, and it should have been an easy double, but Adrian pulled up lame running to first. Not only was he held to a single, he also had to leave the game. It turned out to be another left hamstring strain, the same injury that caused him to miss several games in September 2017. It was only Grade 1 and not as severe as the previous one, but Adrian was still looking at a long DL stint. With Adrian back on the DL. So when I went to watch the Rangers play the Red Sox on May 5, Adrian was not in the lineup.

But as well all know, Adrian is never one to stay on the disabled list for long. It took him two weeks to return from a Grade 2 left hamstring strain in September, and two weeks from this one he declared himself well enough to return to play. A player of Adrian's stature is not subject to go for a minor league rehab assignment, so Adrian was back in the lineup on May 8 against the Tigers. It was only two weeks since his hamstring strain. He flew out in his first plate appearance, but he singled in the fourth, then had another RBI single in the sixth. He came up again in the eighth and singled home another run. It was a successful return for Adrian, but alas the Rangers lost. He added another hit the next day before going hitless in the first two games against the Astros in Houston. I had made the decision to go down to Houston to watch the third game on May 13. The only autograph I was able to get on my lineup card was Jeff Banister, who was amused because he already signed it once. I also approached another player that I didn't recognize. I asked if he was Mike Minor because that was the only person that I thought he resembled, but he said no. It turned out he was Brandon Mann, who had floated around the minor leagues since 2002 and had played in Japan before finally get a Major League callup. Needless to say he didn't give me his autograph.

Anyways, Adrian Beltre was batting third this day, somewhat unusual for him as he is normally the clean-up hitter. He was batting behind Shin-Soo Choo that day. Choo was the Rangers' big free agent acquisition in the 2013-14 off-season. He was a professional hitter who was known to be an on-base machine. However, he had struggled in his first season in Texas as the Rangers finished last. He had played better in each of the next three seasons but never really got on base quite as he did when he played with the Indians or the Reds. He got off to a fast start but had immediately slumped. The night before he had gone hitless in four at-bats with three strikeouts, the ninth time in first 41 games where he didn't reach at all, as his on-base percentage dropped to a pitiful .316, well below his career mark of .376. He singled that day, bringing Adrian up with a man on first. I was well aware that Adrian had had gone hitless in his last eight at-bats (and last 10 plate appearances.) He went up swinging a gaudy hot-pink bat for Mother's Day against Dallas Keuchel. After two balls, he lined the third pitch into the second base hole for his 3,080th hit. Alas, the Rangers weren't able to score, and then the Astros walloped Rangers starter Matt Moore for three runs in three innings.

The Astros were leading 3-0 going into the seventh, and they quickly made it 5-0 with a double and a home run off of Kevin Jepsen. Yulieski Gurriel then proved that home runs don't necessarily mean the end of a rally as he reached on an error by Mazara. Marwin Gonzalez flew out but then Evan Gattis walked, putting runners on first and second. The next batter was Max Stassi. He hit a ground ball towards Adrian, who gloved the ball. I was sitting behind home plate instead of my normal spot along the third base line, so I didn't get a good look on the play other than it looked like Adrian was trying to beat Gurriel to the bag but couldn't because he had to turn around. I didn't think of much of it other than it was a sign Adrian was getting old. Then manager Banister came and lifted Jepsen in favor of the new rookie Mann, and I was somewhat surprised when they announced that Rougned Odor was now playing second and Isiah Kiner-Falefa was moving to third. I looked online and saw that Adrian had re-aggravated his hamstring on the play (as it turned out he had strained a different area of the muscle). I wasn't able to watch the video until later, but I saw that he had stumbled in the midst of turning around and ended up limping. So back to the DL he went. I watched three more Rangers games in May, including Cole Hamels's milestone 150th win and Shin-Soo Choo's walk-off home run against the Royals, but Adrian was MIA in all of those games.

Adrian was out for a little bit longer after this hamstring strain, but anybody that thought he'd be out for an extended period of time should think again. He was back in the lineup before the end of May. Manager Banister said that he would be playing at DH a little bit more, and he would be getting more days off, but he would be back in the lineup. He got two hits in his return, a loss against the Mariners. He then proved to be very streaky. He got only two hits in the six games after that (although one was a go-ahead home run against the Athletics), and then ten hits in four games, including his 3,090th which allowed him to pass Ichiro for the most by a foreign-born player (in a game played at Dodger Stadium, where he made his major league debut.)

I didn't attend any of the home games against the Astros because my partner in crime Adam was off on a cruise, and we felt it would have been better to sell the tickets on StubHub or transfer it to games where we (although mostly he) would be able to go to. My first game after Adrian's return from the DL came on June 16 against the Rockies. It was the day the Rangers were giving out the Adrian Beltre Best Friends Bobble-head. The game wasn't part of our ticket plan, but I bought a ticket in the All-You-Can-Eat section using my 10% discount. I arrived early enough to get the bobble-head (of course I would) and waited in vain for autographs. I was disappointed to find out that the food offered in that All-You-Can-Eat section was just hot dogs, chickens, and nachos. I was even more disappointed to find out my seat would be in the Sun for almost the entire time. I was filming Adrian's plate appearances as usual, but he made outs in his first three. I also filmed the player introduction because it looked like came from a video game. (I would later find out that it was Fornite, the popular Battle Royale game.) The game was tied 2-2 going into the eighth, with rookie Harrison Musgrave pitching for Colorado. Delino Deshields led off with a walk, and then Profar singled him to third. Adrian was up next, and on a 3-1 count he lifted a high fly ball deep towards right field. I was sitting in the outfield and couldn't see what happened. Judging by the roar of the crowd I knew the ball wasn't caught, but I couldn't tell if it went over the fence or not until I saw Adrian motoring around the bases. By the time right fielder Carlos Gonzlalez got the ball back in the infield, Adrian had made his way to third for his first triple since July 23, 2017, 108 hits earlier (2,987 vs 3,095). And of course the Rangers had a 4-2 lead. Adrian was removed for a pinch-runner after that and I was worried that he'd strained his hamstring again, but it turned out it was more of a precautionary method. The Rangers held on to a 5-2 victory, and I was able to drive all the way back to Northern Virginia after the game on a high note.

My trip to Virginia consisted of a lot of sitting around doing nothing. I continued to keep track of Adrian Beltre's plate appearances, but there were times where I missed a hit or two and would have to play catch-up. On June 22 I was checking my e-mail when I saw one about a "Season Ticket Holder Picnic" for June 30 that promised a BBQ Lunch and Player Autographs. June 30 was the night of the psych resident party for the incoming students, but the picnic was at 11am and the party was at 5 so I'd have enough time to do both. I asked Adam if he had to work. He said he did but he had July 4 off, so I resigned myself to going alone. I made a trip to New York the next day and watched what was supposed to have been a pitcher's duel between two of the best pitchers in baseball in Jacob deGrom and Clayton Kershaw, but what turned out to be a lopsided victory by the Dodgers when Matt Kemp hit a grand slam, the third that I've seen in major league competition and the fourth overall. I drove back to Texas on June 25-26. I contemplated going to the Rangers game on the 26th, but Adam already found a friend to go with him. I was also much too tired to be going to a Rangers game. As a result I missed Adrian getting his 3,103rd hit. But it was okay, because the Season Ticket Holders Picnic was in a couple more days, and I had gotten an e-mail saying my RSVP was accepted. We needed a ticket for that game, which wasn't part of our ticket plan, but I just went on StubHub and bought the cheapest ticket I could find, which was cheaper than any ticket still available on the regular Rangers website.

I left on the morning of June 30 with the game ticket as well as the lineup card, because you never know who would show up. I got to the ballpark and waited in line with some of the other season ticket holders for the gates to open at noon. When they did we went in and had our tickets scanned, then checked in and got our schedule for the day. We also got a Rougned Odor and Smokey the Horse bobble-head, because apparently Odor included a pair of horses including Smokey as part of a below-market-value contract extension. Anyways, the schedule showed that there were a couple of Q&A sessions, but we also got a couple of wristbands for certain autograph sessions. Both of my wristbands were for session 2 at 2:45 at the Hyundai and Capital One Club. It was still almost three hours before the autograph signings, so I had some BBQ chicken and ribs which were quite good if not a little greasy. Along the way I chatted with some other season ticket holders who revealed that they only had one wristband, although they came in together. Anyways, I walked around the ballpark but there really wasn't much to see other than a massive pile of the replica lineup cards from the 3,000 Hit Game that was selling for $25 instead of the $150 I paid for mine. After chatting up with the employees at the Rangers Authentics booth (who were quite familiar with me by now) I went to the Jack Daniels Club for some of the Q&A session. I positioned myself next to the staircase for the Jeff Banister Q&A session just so I could make a hasty retreat for an autograph session, because I wanted to try to make both.

The Banister Q & A session ended around 2:15, so I quickly left and sped-walked to the Capital One Club, since I figured some of the bigger-named people would be there. There was already a massive line of people that went out to the door. Nobody had any idea who would be at the autograph signing, although we heard rumors that I-Rod and Beltre would be there. It would be so amazingly awesome if they were, because not only I could have Beltre sign the lineup card next to his name, I could get I-Rod to sign next to the date, since that was the date of his Hall of Fame induction. Eventually the line advanced and we could see the players coming in. We saw I-Rod come in, so that part was true, and he was eventually joined by Joey Gallo and Mike Minor, who had pitched a great game a few nights before. And then...I saw him. The Man, the Myth, the Legend himself: Adrian Beltre. I kept my composure in the Capital One Club, but my mind was singing "Hallelujah." The line started moving as players started signing, and I saw that there was a quartet of pitchers as well: Jesse Chavez, Doug Fister, Chris Martin, and Jose Leclerc. I had Chavez signing a card I had of him, but the other players signed the General Information form.

And then we turned the corner to get to the really big name players, and we started with the future Hall of Famer Adrian Beltre himself. I took some pictures of him as we rounded the corner, but I was so in awe when I stood in front of him that I just handed him the lineup card without saying anything. I made sure to took a video of him signing the lineup card, then managed to stammer out a thank you. The line kept moving and I got Gallo to sign the lineup card, Minor to sign a Topps card, and I-Rod to sign the lineup card as well. But I was still starstruck that I was able to come up close and personal with Adrian Beltre himself. I quickly took a picture of the signature and posted it on Facebook.

After that I put on the other wristband and rushed over to the Hyundai Club before they shut the line down to see if I could add anybody else to the lineup card. They did have two other players that played in the game, including Elvis Andrus and Nomar Mazara. I had Elvis sign next to his name and asked him to leave space for Mazara. He said that wouldn't be a problem. Yovani Gallardo, Cole Hamels, Matt Moore, and Keone Kela were also there. I had Gallardo, Hamels, and Moore sign the information form, and I had a Topps card for Kela. I also belatedly congratulated Cole Hamels for his 150th career win. After that successful haul, I drove back to central Texas. Sadly I missed the game, as Adrian got two hits and Bartolo Colon overcame some early struggles to post his 245th career win, which tied the record for most wins by a Latin American player held by Dennis Martinez since Adrian's rookie season of 1998.

I was back in Arlington bright and early the next day for the game that was part of our ticket plan. I attended the game with Adam, and gave him the Odor bobble-head as well as the General Information form that held the autograph of Hamels and the other players. He asked me why I didn't tell him about the picnic. I initially said I thought I told him, then I realized I only asked him if he was off on the Fourth of July and neglected to tell him about the picnic, after which I apologized profusely. It was a brutally hot day as usual and Adrian had the day off, so we watched as Cole Hamels got knocked around by the Chicago White Sox partially from the Jack Daniels Club and partially from our seats. The Rangers were down 8-2 in the eighth and had mounted a rally to make it 8-5. There were runners on first and second with two outs with Carlos Tocci on deck and former Royals and Rangers closer Joakim Soria on the mound. Tocci never made it to the plate as Adrian Beltre came up with the game on the line. He worked the count full, then Soria threw a curveball inside. Adrian turned to get out of the way, but it caught enough of the plate for Mark Ripperger. GameDay showed that the call was dubious at best, but there was no contesting Ripperger's call, and the rally was over, and the Rangers ended up losing the game 10-5.

We were hoping to watch more of Adrian Beltre on the July 4 game against the Astros. He was announced as the clean-up hitter with Profar at second and Odor getting the day off. However, when PA announcer Morgan introduced the lineup it was Jurickson Profar playing third and hitting fourth and Rougned Odor playing second and hitting fifth. Adam and I were befuddled. As it turned out, Adrian Beltre had a tooth infection and he had to get an emergency root canal. In a season full of injuries for Adrian that was one of the weirdest one to happen. The Rangers took an early lead without Adrian in the lineup, but the Astros quickly clawed back. The game ended up going to extra innings, but the Astros scored the go-ahead run in the 10th, and the Rangers couldn't answer. It was back to business as usual for the Rangers.

Adrian was back in the lineup as the Rangers went on a road trip, but he would end up going in a prolonged slump. He would play in all ten games against the Tigers, Red Sox, and Orioles, and had 37 plate appearances. He had six hits, all singles, with no walks and 11 strikeouts for a .162 / .162 / .162 slash line. He did crush a ball to deep left-center field on July 8 that looked like it would go for his 467th career home run, but centerfielder JaCoby Jones had it all the way, then made as casual of a home run robbery as one can get. That was the sort of slump Adrian was in, as his seasonal slash line went from .309 / .375 / .438 to .286 / .345 / .394. Any sort of trade value that Adrian had built up in his return from the two hamstring strains seemed to have disappeared. The All-Star break couldn't have come at a better time for Adrian Beltre.

The Rangers opened up the "second half" (even though they had played 97 out of 162 games before the All-Star break) against the Cleveland Indians. He had two hits in the first game back, which allowed him to tie and then pass former Mariners / Rangers / Yankees great Alex "A-Rod" Rodriguez, but had six plate appearances in the extra-innings game and so his overall stats barely moved. I had tickets to the second game back, and went with my friend Adam (the one that I watched the game online with on July 28, 2017, not the one that I had split the season tickets with). The storyline of the game was whether or not Bartolo Colon could break the Martinez record against his former team, and if Shin-Soo Choo could extend his on-base streak to 53 games, also against his former team. Colon had tied "El Presidente"'s record on the day of the picnic, but since then had a start where he threw eight innings with only three runs but the Rangers scored only one to leave him with a loss, and another where he tossed six innings with four runs but the Rangers scored only two to leave him with a loss. Meanwhile Choo had gotten on base every game since the May 13 game against the Astros where he had singled, a total of 52 games. It was the most by any Rangers player within a single season, and he was taking aim towards the Rangers record across multiple seasons and perhaps even Ted Williams's all-time record of 84 games. I was hoping to see those milestones, but was also hoping to see Adrian Beltre move up the hits list.

Alas, it was not to be. Colon held the Indians scoreless through the first four innings, but then the Indians caught on to him in the fifth and score five runs before he was removed after only 4 and 2/3 innings. Meanwhile Choo grounded to third in the first and then struck out in the third. He worked the count full in the sixth, but then got fooled by a slider below the zone and swung at a ball four. And in the eighth, he grounded a ball to second to force rookie Willie Calhoun on first. While Choo did technically reach base, it was considered a fielder's choice and a hitless plate appearances and don't count in on-base streak. He was replaced by a pinch-runner, and that was the end of the streak. Adrian Beltre provided the lone bright spot with his 3,117th hit and 467th home run (which should have been 468 to tie him with Chipper Jones if not for JaCoby Jones). But it was an otherwise forgettable 16-3 loss.

The loss to the Indians dropped the Rangers to a 41-58 record, good for a .414 winning percentage and a 24 game deficit for the division title and an 18 game deficit for the second Wild Card spot. With the team so far out it was clear that they would be sellers at the Trade Deadline, trading veteran players to contending teams for young prospects. It was thought that Adrian Beltre would be a prime trade target if the Rangers weren't contending, given his being against a rebuild, and his desire to play for a World Series title. But with his multiple hamstring injuries and his vicious slump, as well as his continued satisfaction with being in the Texas where he is beloved, the trade prospects for Adrian seemed to be less intense than it had been in the past. General Manager Jon Daniels have even said that Adrian would likely not be traded. There have been some rumors, but with the non-waiver Trade Deadline just a day away it does seem like Adrian will remain a Ranger, but you'd never know. Meanwhile he will take his 3,127 hits and continue to forge new grounds before he ultimately decides to hang it up.

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Wow, I had a lot to say in the preceding section. Then again, a lot did happen in the past year. Adrian has played in over 100 games, and I was present for a good number of them. And I have a hard time keeping myself from going into lengthy storytelling about those games. Nevertheless, even though a year and over 20 games have passed since that bright July day, the impact of the milestone still hasn't lessened. I still view Adrian Beltre's 3,000th Hit as one of the coolest events that I have witnessed on a baseball field. It was something that I had dreamed of watching, and taken steps to maximize the chances I had of watching it even with my busy schedule, and it was something where all of my planning had worked out in the end. 

No, the 3,000-Hit Club would never topple the 300-Win Club as being my favorite milestone club, what with so many more players having reached 3,000 hits than 30 wins (eight as of this writing). And that is why Randy Johnson's 300th Win will probably still reign as the greatest moment I have gotten the chance to see in person. Still, there is something about the fact that it is Adrian Beltre's 3,000th Hit that makes it extra special. There have been plenty of other players to get to have reached 3,000 hits in my lifetime as a baseball fan, and as I mentioned in Part III a good number of them would have gotten a collective "meh" from me. I had a legitimate opportunity to be at Colorado to watch Ichiro get his 3,000th hit in 2016, but I passed because while Ichiro was a great player I didn't exactly have a special connection to him. I mean, it would certainly have been nice and it would probably have made me a fan of Ichiro that I wasn't before (just like I became a big Randy Johnson fan after watching his 300th win.) But it wasn't a big motivating factor.

But Adrian Beltre, that was something different. It is true that I'd be lying if I was a fan of his before 2011, but the fact is he had chosen to sign with the team that I had adopted as my favorite team (aka gotten on the bandwagon), and he had elevated both the team and his career through his consistent play. He had ingratiated himself to Rangers fans like me, and it is safe to say that he had become my favorite player on my favorite team. That fact alone made it extra great for me to be at the brutally sunny ballpark suffering through sweat and sunburn just so I could get the chance to watch the special moment in his career. And that part won't be diminished just because a year has passed. In fact it would be something that would grow in stature as the time passed. I did not attend Randy Johnson's Hall of Fame induction, but whenever Adrian Beltre does eventually retire and get voted into the Hall of Fame, you can bet I will be doing everything that I can to ensure that I would be at Cooperstown, and I would be sure to be carrying the sign that I had with me on that bright summer day on July 30, 2017. 

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As far as the future of the 3,000 hit milestone goes, we really don't have to wonder who would be the next to reach 3,000, as somebody has already gotten to 3,000 hits. On May 4, 2018, Adrian's fellow Dominican countryman Albert Pujols of the Angels singled against the Mariners' Mike Leake to become the 32nd player to reach 3,000 hits. Albert had not been the same player since signing his massive contract with the Angels after the 2011 season (you know, where he helped lead the Cardinals to a World Series title over the Rangers), but he was such a dominant hitter with the Cardinals and had already passed the 2,000 hit plateau that it seemed fairly certain if he would play out his contract then he could get the 927 hits he needed to get to 3,000. It was a harder road than most people would have predicted, with his batting average falling over 60 points and his on-base percentage falling by over 100 as he missed time with plantar fasciitis. However, he managed to stay in the lineup long enough to get those last few hits and join the club. He now has 3,063 hits, and is in a good position to pass Adrian to take over as the leader among foreign-born players depending on how much longer Adrian plans on playing.

Besides that things get a little bit more fuzzy. Maybe not 300-win fuzzy, but there are no obvious candidates to be reaching the milestone anytime soon. There were two players that seemed like they had a great shot going into the 2018 season, but their chances took a huge hit due to some unfortunate circumstances. Miguel Cabrera has been one of the top hitters in baseball since he burst onto the scene in 2003 and helped the Marlins win the World Series. He became the first player since 3,000-hit superstar Carl Yastrzemski to win the Triple Crown when he did so in 2012, and he won three other batting titles. He had an off-year in 2017 when he hit only .249 / .329 / .399, a far cry from his career numbers up to that point (.321 / .399 / .562). Still he was over 2,600 hits and seemed like he can still cruise to 3,000 hits, but he dealt with a hamstring strain that cost him almost all of May (clearly he doesn't have the superhuman injury recovery skills of Adrian Beltre), and on June 12 he ruptured his left biceps tendon swinging at a pitch. That alone will cost him the rest of the 2018 season, stuck at 2,676 hits. There have been successful returns from ruptured biceps tendons in the past, but Miggy is already 35 and was coming off his horrendous 2017 season. Who knows if he still has 324 hits left in him. 

Meanwhile Robinson Cano is another Dominican player. He was one of three rookies from the 2005 Yankees that went on to have a substantial career (along with Melky Cabrera and the "Light of Taiwan" 王建民). Cano turned out to be the best of them all, hitting over .300 with 20-home run power and Gold Glove defense. He continued to hit even after leaving New York for the offense-suppressing environment of Seattle. He had 2,417 hits when he was hit by a pitch, breaking his hand, a serious although not crippling injury. However, only two days later it was announced that he would be suspended 80 games for testing positive for furosemide, a diuretic that had often been used by players to mask performance enhancing agents. The 80-game suspension would be far more costly than the hand fracture, as it would essentially force him to miss half the season. Cano is almost six months older than Miguel Cabrera and 583 hits from the milestone. That is far enough that it's certainly no guarantee that he'd reach the mark.

The other players with over 2,000 hits are mostly players that don't have a shot. Jose Reyes has 2,122 hits, but he is 35 years old and is worth well over one win below replacement level according to bWAR (a far cry as being the fiery speedster that he was when he played in Tom Glavine's 300th win in 2007). Victor Martinez has 2,115 hits but he is also worth over one win below replacement level according to bWAR, and he turns 40 this off-season. Joe Mauer is still hitting at an average level, but he only has 2,066 hits at the age of 35, and he hasn't reached 175 hits since his MVP season in 2009. Matt Holliday has 2,081 hits at age 37, and he was only recently signed by the Rockies yesterday. Adrian Gonzalez has 2,050 hits, but he has been so bad that he was released by the last-place Mets. Brandon Phillips has 2,026 hits, but he has been floating around in the Red Sox minor league system. The one 2,000-hit player worth discussing is Nick Markakis. The longtime Orioles outfielder now playing for the Braves has been putting up roughly league average numbers since his debut in the 2006 season. He broke the 2,000-hit barrier late in 2017 and now has 2,180 in his career. More importantly, he is having the best season with his bat in his career. He is leading the National League with a .321 batting average and 123 hits. Nobody knows if it this is a fluke or if he really has turned a corner with his bat. If indeed he has done what Adrian Beltre did and found his elite batting strike past the age of 30, then 3,000 hits may not be out of the question.

And then there are those with less than 2,000 hits. There are so many question marks as to what would happen that there are no guarantees. Bill James has developed a tool called "Favorite Toy" that looks for a player's chance of reaching a certain milestone. It uses a complicated formula that takes a look at the player's past three seasons then extrapolates it to view the likelihood of the player reaching the mark by age 42. Naturally Cabrera, Cano and Markakis has among the highest Favorite Toy scores for 3,000 hits. Then there are others that had a chance over 15%. A few of them have torpedo'd their chances with down years, but they may still be worth mentioning. Melky Cabrera came up with Robinson Cano with the 2005 Yankees. He had not been at the same superstar level, but he has been a solid hitter. He struggled to find a job this off-season but he was averaging over 170 hits the past several years. He has 1,811 hits at age 33. If he can get back to becoming a regular starter he could restart his chase. Adrian's Best Friend Elvis Andrus could certainly be a fascinating case. It took him a couple of years to get his footing offensively, but he has been hitting very well in the two seasons prior to this one, and was hitting well before his arm fracture. He hasn't been hitting well after coming back, but he started out young enough to reach 1,500 hits before his 30th birthday and now has 1,510. He should be a player to keep an eye on especially if he figures things out. Eric Hosmer was a key player in the turnaround of the Royals' franchise. He signed with the Padres this off-season and hasn't hit well in the run-suppressing environment in San Diego, but he has averaged over 170 hits per 162 games as a Royal and now has 1,235 hits at age 28. He can certainly make things interesting.

There are others that the Favorite Toy doesn't like but certainly shouldn't be counted out. Adam Jones has the most hits among anybody younger than me, with 1,767 two days before his 33rd birthday. He has had a solid if unspectacular bat, but he could make a run for 3,000 if he maintains his level of production for another eight seasons. Joey Votto has been one of the elite hitters in the National League, frequently batting over .300 with a good amount of power. However, a lot of his value has come from drawing walks, making him a modern equivalent of Ted Williams. And as we know, Ted Williams never reached 3,000 hits. Votto has 1,693 hits at the age of 34. He has been fairly durable, and his style of hitting could translate into success into his mid-40s. Andrew McCutchen had been a superstar since he made his debut on June 4, 2009. (I'm sure you all know the significance of this date by now.) His bat has slowed down in the past couple of seasons, but he's still averaging over 150 hits a year. He has 1,563 hits at age 31. If he can rediscover his old stroke he could make things interesting. Starlin Castro burst onto the scene as the first player born in the 1990s to debut in 2010, and led the league in hits at age 21. His bat never did stay at that same level, but he is only 28 and has 1,401 hits. He might still has enough in him to make a run.

And there are the two most fascinating cases. Jose Altuve was signed by the Astros out of Venezuela, reportedly after he kept going to a training camp even after he was dismissed largely due to his height. At 5'6" he is looking increasingly out of place in a game full of rugged sluggers standing well over 6 feet. Still, he demonstrated tremendous bat control and a burning desire to improve, and he was in the majors by the age of 21 in 2011. Of course, the 2011 Astros were the first of three Astros teams with at least 106 losses, and he had to suffer through three years of losing. By 2014, his bat matured as he rapped 225 hits with a league-leading .341 batting average. He continued his torrid hitting the next four seasons as the Astros became playoff contenders and then World Champions. He has knocked four 200-hit seasons in a row, and is well on his way towards a fifth. He has also won two more batting titles. He may be on the DL now, but he has 1,384 hits at age 28, and thanks to his 200-hit streak he has the highest Favorite Toy score among players with under 2,000 hits, a remarkable achievement considering a big component of Favorite Toy is how distance from the target number.

And then there's Mike Trout. He came into the scene as the most complete player since the likes of Willie Mays. He was an excellent defender and a great baserunner. But what really sets him apart is his hitting. He could hit for average, but also has tremendous power and control of the strike zone. He had led the league in OPS compared to league average (OPS+) as a rookie in 2012, but famously lost the MVP vote to Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera. He has only continued to get better as he ages, as his OPS+ has crept up in the past three seasons. His Favorite Toy score suffered after a thumb injury in 2017 left him with only 123 hits in 117 games, and his penchant for taking walks means he would never reach the hit-totals that Jose Altuve does. However, Trout is already an all-time great. He also has 1,153 hits at the age of 26, and barring any additional injuries he should make a run for 3,000 hits.

There are several young superstars with under 1,000 hits, but those are even harder to project. They can continue to evolve and make real threats for 3,000 hits, or they can fall off either due to a premature decline or injuries. So with apologies to Mookie Betts (727 hits at 25), Jose Ramirez (611 hits at 25), Francisco Lindor (606 hits at 24), and Carlos Correa (471 hits at 23), we will hold off on declaring them 3,000-hit candidates for now. And then there are those who make late-career surges. Adrian Beltre had 1,634 hits at age 30 as of June 4, 2009 and there were probably many that doubted his chances of getting to 3,000 hits (even if he had a 10-20% chance according to the Favorite Toy). Like 300 wins, this is something that very few people could predict. However, unlike 300 wins, it's a lot easier to get a hit than a win. So between Miguel Cabrera, Cano, Markakis, Melky Cabrera, Jones, Votto, McCutchen, Elvis, Castro, Altuve, Hosmer, and Trout, there a good chance that at least one of them (but more likely more) can get to 3,000. It's not going to happen anytime soon, but it is another reason to continue watching.

Meanwhile let us continue to celebrate those players that have already ascended Mt. 3,000 and is setting their sights on even higher achievements. Men like Adrian Beltre. And in fact today will be a celebrating of him reaching his ultimate milestone: 3,000 Hits! Congratulations Adrian Beltre!

Sources: A lot of these are based off of my own memories, but Baseball Reference is an indispensable resource to fill in the blanks as always, and allow me to keep track of the career hits list. And MLB Video is a great way to view all those plays. The Favorite Toy formula can be found in multiple places, but I largely went by ESPN's Career Assessment site which is Favorite Toy by another name. There's been multiple websites that I consulted for information about Luke Chacko from the Idina Menzel concert. The Today Show, Billboard, and Southern Living were just some of them. You can also check his Facebook page for the video of him singing at the Rangers game, although sadly Adrian Beltre went hitless in a pinch-hitting appearance that game. And heck, while we're passing out Facebook links, check out my Adrian Beltre's Hits photo album! It will provide you...five minutes of entertainment.