ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Adrián Beltré took a side trip on the way to his induction in Cooperstown, with the third baseman going back to where he finished his Hall of Fame career.
Beltré is serving as an ambassador for Tuesday night’s MLB All-Star Game deep in the heart of Texas, where he managed the American League team in the Futures Game on Saturday. That also is where baseball’s amateur draft is being held, and his nearly 18-year-old son is a possible late-round pick.
“The last couple weeks has been kind of crazy, busy,” Beltré said. “So I’m trying to enjoy the whole thing. … The only part that I’m not enjoying, thinking about the speech I have to give up there.”
That is the induction speech that Beltré will deliver next Sunday when he officially becomes a first-ballot Hall of Famer. He said the speech is done and indicated that it won’t be long.
“I think once the speech is over … then I’m going to realize where I’m at, the people who are next to me and what I have accomplished and the group that, somehow, I’m going to be associated with,” said Beltré, who will fly from Texas to New York the day after the All-Star Game.
Beltré accomplished a lot in 21 big league seasons, the last eight and his only World Series appearance coming with the Texas Rangers. A four-time All-Star who won five Gold Gloves, he finished with 3,166 hits and 477 home runs. His 2,759 games played at third base are fewer than only Brooks Robinson’s total. He hit for the cycle three times, the last at age 36.
His 3,000th career hit came in a home game on July 30, 2017, only minutes after catcher Ivan Rodriguez had finished his Hall of Fame induction speech in Cooperstown. Pudge, also an All-Star ambassador this week, will be back there when Beltré joins him and strikeout king Nolan Ryan as the only members of the hall wearing Rangers caps on their plaques.
“The best third baseman I’ve ever seen in the history of baseball. Obviously, he’s an unbelievable player, great hitter, great teammate,” Rodriguez said. “Never played with him, but I work for the organization. I spent a lot of time in the clubhouse and spent a lot of time on the field when he was a player, and he was really good with his teammates. And play on the field, that’s how you play to win games. … Deserves to be in the Hall of Fame for sure.”
Beltré, the first player from the Dominican Republic to join the 3,000-hit club, was only 15 years old when he was first signed by the Dodgers. He made his big league debut at age 19 in 1998 — and never went back to the minors. His first seven seasons were in Los Angeles, then he played five in Seattle and one in Boston before his time in Texas began with the 2011 season that ended in the World Series.
Elvis Andrus, about 9 1/2 years younger, was the Rangers shortstop the entire time Beltré was with the Rangers. He is going to Cooperstown for the first time to attend the induction ceremony.
“He came here and we all knew how good he was going to be,” Andrus said. “I just knew if he stayed healthy, and even when he was not healthy, he was still playing … guys like him, when they get to play, the Hall of Fame is going to happen.”
As for Adrián Jr., the shortstop and right-handed pitcher graduated this year from Maranatha High School in California. He has committed to the University of Washington, though the coach there left last week to take over at Texas A&M.
He had his own locker next to his dad’s in the Rangers clubhouse at the team’s previous stadium. He spent many hours in the outfield hitting balls thrown by his father; he was 12 when they were doing that the morning before Beltré played his home finale there in 2018.
Now he could be drafted.
“My son has a possibility,” the proud dad said. “We’ll see what he decides to do. But it’s been fun, so I’m looking forward to it.”
