Sunday, July 30, 2017

Let's Have a Big Shiny Cardboard Celebration for Mr. 3000

Aloha, everybody, 

Most of you know I collect Adrian Beltre. Why is simple. He was the great third baseman the Dodgers let get away. 

After Ron Cey, I thought I would never love a third baseman again. Then along came Senor Beltre. 



The man had everything one wants in a player for one's team. He fielded his position very well, he hit mammoth home runs, and he had a fun personality. Best of all, he was just starting out, and I was looking forward to him having a long career in Dodger blue. 



Beltre would only play in LA for seven seasons, but I loved watching him for every one of those seven. 

Know what else I love? Adrian hails from the era of the shiny card and multiple card companies creating a wide variety of product to enjoy. 



Above is the offering from 2003 DonRuss Estrellas. The backside is all in espanol. 

Below are a couple of 2005 DonRuss Production Line inserts. The cool thing here is the cards are limited to the statistical number each athlete produced. 



The batting average card is numbered 102/334 and the OPS card is 454/1017. 

The Dodgers unleashed Adrian on the field, and now he's unleashed 3,000 hits on the major leagues' pitchers. 



The Bowman card below touts Beltre as the Dodgers' top prospect and a possible rookie of the year. He didn't win the ROY, but he won a Silver Slugger award and was the NL leader in home runs in his last year with LA. 



Below from 2005 Playoff Prestige, numbered 36/100



Finally, Beltre is beautifully drenched in mirror blue on a 2005 DonRuss Longball Leaders insert, numbered 1359/1500. 

Congrats and aloha, Adrian! 

3 comments:

  1. I feel your pain. The Red Sox never should have let him go either.

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  2. That Stadium Club card at the top of the post is amazing! Such a great picture. I have never really been a player collector, but if I was, Adrian would definitely be one of the guys I would collect. He was one of the few bright spots for the Mariners during his five seasons with the club.

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    Replies
    1. That Stadium Club card has been a favorite of mine since I first laid eyes on it

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