Adrian Beltre 3K Moments: Joy to the world

With a leadoff single in the bottom of the fourth against the Orioles on Saturday night, Adrian Beltre is now a hit away from 3K, here’s a look back at ten of our favorite Adrian Beltre moments and antics. We’ll post a new one with each hit as we count down to 3,000!

For hit No. 2999:

If Adrian Beltre were just a boring great baseball player who went about his business being boring and great I have no doubt that I would admire him for being great while not publishing ten articles about him in a handful of days because I would be bored.

For example, we’ve learned recently via Michael Young’s twitter account that Michael Young isn’t boring. Michael Young is a very funny guy with a sharp personality.

Unfortunately for us, when Michael Young was playing, perhaps by his own design and that of the media, he was pigeonholed into the role of boring great player who stood stalwart and resolute without being allowed to have charisma.

On the other hand, you have Adrian Beltre and Adrian Beltre can’t help it.

Beltre is anything but boring and he’s certainly great. In addition to being the least boring baseball player I have ever watched, his time in Texas has been spent building a legacy as one of the very best third basemen of all time.

But this particular 3K moment isn’t about Beltre elbowing in on the Boggs or Bretts, or matching the Mathews and Schmidts, or keeping up with the Joneses. This 3K moment is all about this:

And this:

And this:

And of course this:

And this:

And definitely this:

And I could go on and on and on and on and on but I’ll spare your mobile device or PC from video overload. Needless to say, there’s never a dull moment when Adrian Beltre is on the field.

He’s even funny off the field:

In a wonderful tribute to Beltre from Emily Jones the other day, she once told him that she tells non-baseball fans to go to a game and keep their eyes on him and they’ll leave an entertained fan. He replied, “You’re weird. Why would you say that?” The reason, she said, is because it’s true, and it is.

Even now, as a normal human being would be feeling the pressure of getting to 3,000 hits, just a few nights ago, Beltre couldn’t help himself from adding to his legacy of bringing a smile to our faces and a chuckle to the thousands at the ballpark when he dragged the on-deck circle in the face of an attempted ump show.

With his all-time mixture of being elite at the plate, a marvel with the glove, and a genuine, captivating personality, there will never be another like Adrian Beltre.

Unless...