/Photo illustration by The Dallas Morning News
Adrian Beltre reached the majors as a teen, became the man with the Rangers and on Sunday, he became a baseball immortal.
Beltre became the 31st player to reach baseball's revered 3,000 hit mark. He ties Puerto Rican legend Roberto Clemente, who had exactly 3,000 when he died in airplane crash after the 1972 season.
If there was ever a passport to the Hall of Fame, Beltre received the final stamp in a remarkable 19-year major league career with the hit. The only members of the 3,000-hit club not in the Hall of Fame are either active (Ichiro Suzuki), not yet eligible (Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez) or tainted by scandal (Pete Rose, Rafael Palmeiro).