Here is how much of a fixture Adrian Beltre has become at third base: In baseball's history, only two players have started more games at a single position than Beltre, who is approaching start No. 2,700, has at third. Their names are Brooks Robinson and Willie Mays.
This is a story about just one of those games: The very first.
It came 20 years ago Sunday. Beltre, a 19-year-old (though everybody thought he was 20 at the time) had two hits and made two assists at third base for the Los Angeles Dodgers in a 6-5 walk-off win against the "Anaheim" Angels.
It was a nice enough major-league debut, but the story extends beyond the double he ripped off Chuck Finley on the first pitch he saw as a major leaguer and the charging, off-balance underhanded play _ the one that has become his signature _ on the first ball ever hit to him.
"I remember being nervous and excited," Beltre said during the Rangers' recent visit to Dodger Stadium. "I finally got a chance to come to the big leagues and prove that I belong. I was excited for batting practice, but it got really nerve-wracking right before the game when I went to stretch and some sprints. All the people in the stands were right on top of me. I got so nervous and dizzy that I had to come back to the dugout and go into the bathroom and wash my face."
Beyond pre-game nausea, the back story of Adrian Beltre's debut includes, of course, coming back from an injury, having so much fun he tried to jump over a set of dugout steps, getting benched the day before his call-up for his style of catching pop-ups and tumultuous upheaval in the normally staid and stoic Dodgers front office.
The Dodgers replaced their manager and GM in the days leading up to Beltre's call-up and Tommy Lasorda stepped into the role of interim GM. His first player move: The call-up of Adrian Beltre.
"I thought it would set a tone," Lasorda said recently. "Nobody wanted it. A couple of people said: 'You can't do that.' I said: 'What do you mean I can't do it? I'm in charge, aren't I?' So, I brought him up. And he never went back down."
Not that Lasorda didn't try to send him back, but there are people who can be more persuasive than even Tommy Lasorda. Namely, Adrian Beltre.
