Awards and honors
Among the 20 third basemen used for this analysis, five peaked in an era before there was such a thing as an All Star game. Among the remaining 15, this category will not help Beltre. He was named to four All Star teams, a slim total when compared with the remaining 15. Jones, for comparison, made seven All Star teams.
Beltre did better among MVP voters, twice being named among the top five. He ranked second behind Barry Bonds in 2004, when he batted .334 with 48 home runs and 121 RBIs. In 2012 he was third behind Miguel Cabrera and Mike Trout based on his .321 average, 36 homers and 102 RBIs.
A top five placement in the MVP award vote is probably the toughest criteria we’ve looked at. Only two of our 20 players did it as many as five times. They were Brooks Robinson, the 1964 MVP, and Mike Schmidt, the MVP in 1980, 1981 and 1986. Two played prior to the MVP era, but of the remaining 18 four never were voted among the top five and four others only achieved that distinction once in their careers.
There are some good names among those eight more-deprived MVP finalists, including Boggs, whose fourth in 1985 was the best finish of his career.
Here is how Beltre compares with the best third basemen of all time for All Star appearances:
1. Brooks Robinson 15
2. George Brett 13
T3. Mike Schmidt 12
T3. Wade Boggs 12
5. George Kell 10
T-14. Adrian Beltre 4
And here is how he compares when measured by top 5 MVP votes:
T1 Mike Schmidt 5
T1 Brooks Robinson 5
3. George Brett 4
4. George Kell 3
5. 6, including Beltre, tied 2