From Beltre to Cora, a memorable year of milestone artifacts headed to Hall

The arc was almost perfect, celebrating one of baseball’s most accomplished veteran hitters early and then a bright young manager toward the end. When looking back at the best moments and biggest stars of the 2018 season, you can almost make your list merely by looking at the artifacts that were donated to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

As we look back to celebrate La Vida Baseball’s favorite moments of the 2018 season, we find a perfect parallel with the list of artifacts that landed in Cooperstown, N.Y., in the year that saw Vladimir Guerrero become just the third Dominican to earn enshrinement among the game’s immortals.

Adrián Beltré, who announced his retirement in late November after 21 seasons, celebrated his place in baseball history by giving the Hall the cap he wore on April 5 when he passed Hall of Famer Rod Carew for the most hits by a player born in Latin America.

Beltré donated the cap he wore when he collected the 3,054th hit of his career to surpass Carew for 25th on baseball’s all-time hits list and first among players born in Latin America. Alex Rodriguez, a New York native with Dominican Republic roots, is the only Latino with more hits than Beltré in baseball history. Beltré finished his career with 3,166 hits for 16th place on baseball’s all-time hits list and first among Latin America natives.

Almost a month after Beltré’s 3,054th hit, fellow Dominican Albert Pujols collected his 3,000th hit on May 4 to become the fourth Latino in the exclusive 3,000-hit club. The Angels first baseman also passed Carew this year, finishing the 2018 season with 3,082 hits (24th place all-time).

On the same day Pujols collected hit 3k, four Dodgers pitchers combined for the first MLB no-hitter outside of Canada and the United States. The Hall received a ball that was used when Walker Buehler, Tony Cingrani, Yimi García and Adam Liberatore combined on the no-hitter against the Padres at Estadio Monterrey.

Mexican-American Sergio Romo, who came to prominence as a closer with the World Series champion Giants earlier this decade, made history as a so-called “opener” with the Tampa Bay Rays. In an industry not accustomed to drastic shifts in philosophy, Romo and the Rays surprised the baseball world by crunching the numbers and finding a benefit to starting a pitcher who is usually a reliever for a short stint.

After 588 relief outings, the lefthanded veteran made his first start as an “opener” on May 19 against the Angels. He started the next day as well, beginning a stint of four starts in nine days by a pitcher who had never started in his previous 10 seasons in the majors.

The dugout lineup card from Romo’s May 19 start was donated to the Hall of Fame.

Venezuelan Francisco Arcia didn’t stick around long enough to use his rookie status with the Angels. Nonetheless, he left quite an impression with 10 RBI over his first two games. He drove in four runs in his debut and then six more in his next game on July 28. He gave the Hall one of the bats he used during his six-RBI performance.

From big debuts to Big Sexy, Rangers righthander Bartolo Colon passed two legends to become the winningest pitcher among Latin Americans. In June he passed Hall of Famer Juan Marichal for the most wins by a native of the Dominican.

Then on Aug. 7, he passed Nicaraguan Dennis Martínez with his 246th victory to become Latin America’s winningest pitcher in MLB history. The portly righthander gave the Hall the cap he wore during the record-breaking performance on Aug. 7.

Blue Jays designated hitter Kendrys Morales finished with only 21 home runs in 2018, accumulating more than a third of them in a seven-game span. He homered in seven consecutive games from Aug. 19-26, collecting eight homers in that span. He then gave the Hall the bat he used on Aug. 20 against the Orioles during his only multi-home run game of that impressive streak.

The Nationals’ Juan Soto and the Braves’ Ronald Acuña, Jr. mounted impressive National League Rookie of the Year campaigns, reminding us of the tight race in 2015 between Carlos Correa and Francisco Lindor for the AL Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year Award.

Those young outfielders appear destined for brilliant careers. Soto commemorated his impressive debut by giving the Hall a jersey he wore this year. Acuña, the NL Rookie of the Year, gave the Hall a bat he used when he became the youngest player to hit a grand slam in the postseason on Oct. 7.

The Cubs’ Javy Báez had a season to remember while leading the NL in runs batted in with 111, joining Hall of Famer Rogers Hornsby, Jay Bell and Bret Boone as the only primary second basemen to have at least 34 homers and at least 111 RBIs in the same season.

To commemorate that milestone, Báez gave the Hall a bat he used on Sept. 27. Slugger Khris Davis, the son of a Mexican mother and African American father, led the majors with 48 home runs while helping the Oakland A’s to a surprising wild-card playoff berth.

Davis carried the A’s often. He donated the jersey he wore in arguably his most magical moment on Sept. 21 when he hit a pair of home runs, including a walk-off shot ,in the 10th inning for his 45th bomb of the year.

The story of the 2018 season cannot be told without the World Series champion Red Sox or the giving nature of the Puerto Ricans who devoted their energy to rebuild their island in the wake of Hurricane Maria.

In fitting symbolism in a year that Puerto Ricans in the majors practically gave their people the shirts off their backs, Álex Cora was still celebrating when he gave the Hall of Fame the Red Sox hoodie he wore in Game 5 at Dodger Stadium while becoming the second Latino manager to win a World Series and the first to do it in his rookie season.

From start to finish, it was a memorable season for Latinos in baseball, and many of their key artifacts from 2018 now are in Cooperstown, N.Y.

Featured Image: Courtesy National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum

Inset Images: Courtesy National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum