STL sports chat with Jose de Jesus Ortiz – STLtoday.com

“We have to go to the ballgame tonight. Adrian Beltre’s in town!” — nobody, ever.

I get that 450 HRs and 3,000 hits is quite an accomplishment, but there is no statistical threshold for the Hall of Fame. The guy’s a compiler. Over a 20 year career, he’s averaged 23 homers and 150 hits per season. That sounds a lot less impressive. When you’ve played for that long in the majors, and your most well known for being “The Guy Who Hates Having His Head Touched”, you don’t belong in the Hall. He’s not Jeter, Randy Johnson, or Big Papi — nobody every bought a ticket to see Beltre play.