Dominican-born Adrian Beltre was inducted on Sunday, 21 July 2024 to the legendary Cooperstown Hall of Fame. He is the fifth Dominican MLB player to enter the Hall of Fame. He followes pitchers Juan Marichal (1983) and Pedro Martinez (2015), and power hitters Vladimir Guerrero (2018) and David Ortiz (2022).
He was inducted for the Texas Rangers. Beltre began his career with the Los Angeles Dodgers (1998-2004). He also played with the Seattle Mariners (2005-2009), Boston Red Sox (2010 and Texas Rangers (2011-2018). His career-high season was with the Dodgers in 2004, with 48 homers and finishing second in National League MVP voting.
Over 21 seasons (1998-2018), he earned more than US$200 million through multiple multi-year contracts.
His Hall of Fame biography states:
“A four-time All Star, Beltré played 21 seasons for the Dodgers, Mariners, Red Sox and Rangers, establishing himself as one of the best all-around third basemen in the game’s history with five Gold Glove Awards and four Silver Slugger Awards. Ranking second all-time with 2,759 games played at the hot corner, Beltré totaled 3,166 hits and 477 home runs to become the only regular third baseman in big league history (among those players who played at least half their games at third base) with at least 3,000 hits and 450 homers. Finishing in the Top 10 of his league’s Most Valuable Player Award voting six times, Beltré hit .300-or-better seven times, reached the 20-homer mark 12 times and totaled five seasons with at least 100 RBI. Among players whose primary position was third base, Beltré’s career Wins Above Replacement figure of 93.5 ranks third all-time behind Mike Schmidt and Eddie Mathews. Beltré became the seventh player in history to hit three home runs in a postseason game when he hit three solo shots for the Rangers in Game 4 of the 2011 ALDS vs. the Rays.”
In Dominican winter ball, Beltre has played for all the main teams. He first played for La Romana’s then Azucareros, then for the Aguilas Cibaeñas, and even for the Estrellas Orientales. He was chosen to reinforce the Licey Tigers and helped the team win a Caribbean Series Championship in 1999.
Beltré is married to the same Dominican wife Sandra with whom he has two daughters and a son. The family has always remained close to his home country. Beltre played for the Dominican Republic in the first World Baseball Classic in 2006 and made the all-tournament team. In 2017, he represented his country in the WBC again.
Read more:
Hall of Fame words by Adrian Beltre
22 July 2024