ARLINGTON, Texas -- Adrian Beltre just wanted to work hard, be consistent and earn respect in the game. As a young player, he never even thought about historical numbers like 3,000 hits.
"Never in my mind did I think that I was going to be in the position where I'm at right now," Beltre said. "If I tell you that, that I was, I'm lying. For me, I just wanted to be a good player. ... When you play for a long time, you accumulate stuff."
Now 38 and in his 20th major league season, the Texas Rangers third baseman goes into a weekend series at home against Baltimore just four hits shy of 3,000 in his career. Only 30 other players have done that, with Ichiro Suzuki the only current active player in that club.
Next will be the five-time Gold Glove winner who got his first hit as a 19-year-old rookie with the Los Angeles Dodgers on June 24, 1998, four years after they had signed him out of the Dominican Republic. This is Beltre's seventh season in Texas, where he finally made it to a World Series, and he is signed through next season.
"Everything you see out there, to maintain that level of intensity, you can tell how much he loves being around his team and the game," Orioles Manager Buck Showalter said. "He's got to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, doesn't he? I mean, what else do you have to do?"
Beltre has some quirky habits -- he checks his own swing to umpires, hates being touched on the head and there are the shuffling feet and swiveling legs in the batter's box on inside pitches or those in the dirt.
Behind the imposing stare he sometimes shows is a guy who just really loves playing the game. He is a .286 career hitter who has hit for the cycle three times, and been a league leader in hits, doubles and home runs.
"This guy plays with a relaxed intensity that you want your guys to play with. He's very focused, but he's very confident and he's comfortable in the fact that he's going to prevail in every situation," Los Angeles Angels Manager Mike Scioscia said. "And he has an unmistakable joy when on the field."
Still the same as when Scioscia was still in the Dodgers organization and first saw Beltre as a 15-year-old in the Dominican Republic, and then coming up in the minor leagues.
"You just marvel, I think, at the consistency of his game over a long period of time and you know it takes a lot to be that good that long," said Miami Marlins Manager Don Mattingly, an AL MVP and six-time All-Star during his 14 seasons playing for the New York Yankees.
Hall of Famer players George Brett and Wade Boggs are the only primary third basemen in the 3,000-hit club. Beltre just overtook Dave Winfield for 21st all-time with 1,095 extra-base hits. Beltre also passed Cal Ripken Jr. for 15th with his 604 doubles, and he ranks 38th with his 454 home runs.
Since missing the first 51 games this season because of calf issues, Beltre is hitting a team-best .307 with 9 home runs and 34 RBI in 48 games.
Beltre was 7 for 10 in three games this week against the Marlins before a bizarre scene in the eighth inning Wednesday night when he got ejected while waiting on deck to bat again.
Second-base umpire and crew chief Gerry Davis motioned for Beltre to get closer to the on-deck circle. Beltre, already with a home run and two doubles in what became a 22-10 loss, was tossed when he instead dragged the large plastic mat marking the circle closer to him.
"There was no need for him to call me out there. There was no need to throw me out," a still-baffled Beltre said afterward. "I don't think I showed him up. I just did what he told me to do. ... He took away an at-bat from me. I don't think that was necessary."
The Rangers have six more home games before hitting the road again next week. After Baltimore, there are three games against Seattle, one of Beltre's former teams. Felix Hernandez, the 2010 AL Cy Young winner and one of Beltre's close friends, is scheduled to start the series opener Monday night.
His teammates are counting every hit, even if Beltre tries not to keep track. Manager Jeff Banister said nobody leaves the dugout when he is about to go to the plate, all of them crowding on the rail to be as close as possible.
"What he's been doing for his career and the way he's done it is just remarkable," said shortstop Elvis Andrus, nearly a decade younger than Beltre but the longest-tenured Rangers player in his ninth season. "I can't wait. I think I'm way more excited than he is."
WHITE SOX
Jennings to Rays in swap
The Chicago White Sox made their fourth trade in 15 days Thursday when they sent left-handed reliever Dan Jennings to the Tampa Bay Rays for minor-league first baseman Casey Gillaspie.
Gillaspie, 24, was ranked the 10th-best prospect in the Rays organization by MLB.com and started the year as Baseball America’s No. 74 overall prospect. The brother of former Sox third baseman Conor Gillaspie was a firstround draft pick in 2014.
He was hitting .227 with 15 doubles, 9 home runs, 44 RBI and 45 runs scored in 95 games this season with Class AAA Durham. He will be placed on the disabled list at Class AAA Charlotte with a broken right big toe suffered Tuesday when he fouled a ball off the foot and is expected to miss one or two weeks.
MARLINS
Mas still eyeing purchase
Miami businessman Jorge Mas is continuing efforts to buy the Miami Marlins and met with MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred last week in hopes of accomplishing that, according to a league source.
A day later, Manfred met with one of the other bidders — Wayne Rothbaum and Jeb Bush, sources reported.
Mas, who had been studying the Marlins’ financial records, last week briefly re-evaluated whether he wanted to continue pursuing the team because he was frustrated that the Marlins would not grant him an exclusive negotiating window and because he believes the team is not worth the $1.2 billion that owner Jeffrey Loria is seeking.
But Mas, at least for now, is pursuing a purchase. Though he hasn’t made a formal offer, he has been trying to put together a group of investors in recent days. There was never any expectation that Mas would finance his entire bid.
Manfred has said three groups remain in contention for the Marlins — groups led by Derek Jeter, Rothbaum and Mas.
Sports on 07/28/2017