ARLINGTON, Texas — Adrian Beltre just wanted to work hard, be consistent and earn respect in the game. As a young player, he never even thought about historical numbers like 3,000 hits.

“Never in my mind did I think that I was going to be in the position where I’m at right now,” Beltre said. “If I tell you that, that I was, I’m lying. For me, I just wanted to be a good player. ... When you play for a long time, you accumulate stuff.”

Now 38 and in his 20th major league season, the Texas Rangers third baseman goes into a weekend series at home against Baltimore just four hits shy of 3,000 in his career. Only 30 other players have done that, with Ichiro Suzuki the only current active player in that club.

Next will be the five-time Gold Glove winner who got his first hit as a 19-year-old rookie with the Los Angeles Dodgers on June 24, 1998, four years after they had signed the kid from the Dominican Republic. This is Beltre’s seventh season in Texas, where he finally made it to a World Series, and he is signed through next season.

“Everything you see out there, to maintain that level of intensity, you can tell how much he loves being around his team and the game,” Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. “He’s got to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, doesn’t he? I mean, what else do you have to do?”

On the same weekend that former Rangers catcher Ivan Rodriguez is in Cooperstown for his induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame, Beltre could get his 3,000th hit.

Beltre has some quirky habits — he checks his own swing to umpires, hates being touched on the head and there are the shuffling feet and swiveling legs in the batter’s box on inside pitches or those in the dirt .

But behind that imposing stare he sometimes shows is a guy who just really loves playing the game. He is a .286 career hitter who has hit for the cycle three times, and been a league leader in hits, doubles and home runs.

“This guy plays with a relaxed intensity that you want your guys to play with. He’s very focused, but he’s very confident and he’s comfortable in the fact that he’s going to prevail in every situation,” Los Angeles Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. “And he has an unmistakable joy when on the field.”