Albert Belle - Major League Career

Major League Career

Belle was an intimidating presence at the plate; and well known for wearing an intense glare. He became the fourth player to have eight straight seasons of 30 home runs and 100 RBI, joining Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx and Lou Gehrig (a feat since matched by Albert Pujols and Alex Rodriguez). As a fielder he had a powerful throwing arm, unsurprising given that he was a gifted pitcher in high school. His range factor by games played was consistently higher than the major league average range factor at that position. He was an accomplished baserunner and base stealer, with a career high of 23 steals in 1993, and a surprising 17 steals in 1999 despite hip problems. He led the league three times in RBIs, three times in total bases, three times in extra-base hits and twice in slugging. He was a five-time All-Star between 1993 and 1997.

Notably, Albert Belle's career highs in home runs, RBI, batting average, runs scored and walks occurred in five separate seasons.

In 2006, the Hardball Times published a statistical comparison of Belle's career statistics with that of 60 of his current and former peers. The article ranked him in career "prime value," behind current Hall of Famer Ralph Kiner and presumed future inductee Frank Thomas.

In 1994, he lost the batting title to New York Yankees outfielder Paul O'Neill, .359 to .357. His postseason record was limited to two heavy-hitting appearances, in which only his batting average suffered: he hit .230/.405/.557 (batting average, on base percentage and slugging percentage, respectively) with six home runs and 14 RBIs in 61 at-bats.

In 1995, he became the first player in major league history to hit 50 home runs and 50 doubles in the same season; the last player before him to reach as many as 40 in both categories had been Willie Stargell in 1973. The achievement was especially impressive because Belle played only 143 games in 1995 due to a season shortened by the previous year's player strike. The 40–40 mark has been surpassed since, most recently by Alfonso Soriano in 2006, but Belle's 50-50 combo remains unique.

His reputation, and more specifically his disdain of the media, cost him votes for the 1995 MVP Award. He finished second in the media voting to the Boston Red Sox' Mo Vaughn even though he led the American League that season in runs scored, home runs, RBIs, slugging percentage and total bases, and outpaced Vaughn head-to-head in every important offensive category except RBI (both men had 126); both players' teams reached the playoffs. This was in the middle of a three-year streak in which Belle finished 3rd, 2nd and 3rd for the American League MVP. Belle had two other top ten MVP finishes, in 1993 (7th) and 1998 (8th).

In the winter of 1996, he signed a 5-year, $55 million ($79,626,866 today) deal with the Chicago White Sox as a free agent. This contract made him the highest paid player in baseball for a brief period. He enjoyed two great seasons in Chicago, including a career-high 27-game hitting streak in May 1997, and came close to another 50/50 season in 1998 with 49 home runs (a White Sox team record that still stands) and 48 doubles. He also drove in 152 runs to break Zeke Bonura's single-season franchise record of 138 in 1936 (to date, the RBI total also remains a White Sox single-season record). Additionally, when Cal Ripken, Jr. ended his record consecutive game streak at 2,632 in September 1998 on the last day of the season, it was Belle who took over as the major leagues' active leader in the category.

His White Sox contract had an unusual clause allowing him to demand that he would remain one of the three highest paid players in baseball. In October 1998 he invoked the clause, and when the White Sox declined to give him a raise he immediately became a free agent. He again became the game's highest paid player, signing a five-year, $65 million ($90,683,180 today) deal with the Baltimore Orioles. But his career ended just two seasons later when he was forced into retirement at age 34 by degenerative hip osteoarthritis. He was, however, kept on Baltimore's active 40-man roster for the next three years as a condition of the insurance policy which largely reimbursed the Orioles for the remainder of his contract.

Like Ted Williams in 1960, Belle homered in the final at-bat of his major-league career, at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on October 1, 2000.