Back in 2018 I wrote a series of six posts on this blog to commemorate the six-month and the one-year anniversary of one of the greatest baseball moments I have ever seen: Adrián Beltré's 3,000th hit, very much what I did with Randy Johnson's 300th win back in 2009. One of these posts was about the life and career of Adrián Beltré. I put in a lot of effort in researching the piece and wound up with a 13,000-word behemoth of an article, and it only covered him up to the 2017 season. I went back over it years later and was impressed by my work, but since I don't have an editor I noticed a lot of typos and grammatical errors and even worse some factual errors. I was thinking about fixing some of those errors and reposting the piece, but then I got lazy and decided hey, why not do it for a really big day, such as after Adrián Beltré gets voted into the Hall of Fame.
Well, it's finally happened. Adrián Beltré appeared on the Hall of Fame ballot for the 2024 election, and has been voted in by an overwhelming 95.1% margin. (Well, by the time I'm writing this intro it's still a few days before the announcement, but he's been named on 175 out of 177 public ballots. He's going to have to fall to about half of the remaining votes in order to miss out on election.) Which means it's time to pull out and present to you the Life and Career of Adrián Beltré!
Baseball's newest Hall of Famer was born on the small island nation of Republica Dominicana, better known in the United States as the Dominican Republic. The Dominican Republic sits on the eastern half of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, an island about the size of South Carolina to the west of Puerto Rico. The island was initially inhabited by the peaceful Taino people, but it was thrown into turmoil with the arrival of Christopher Columbus and the Spaniards in 1492. They dominated the island for 150 years before the French decided they wanted to get in on the action, and soon the island became a site for the continued rivalry between France and Spain. 200 years of revolution and warfare and independence and more warfare followed, and by the late 19th and the early 20th century the western part of the island was controlled by Haiti which descended from French slaves while the eastern part of the island was controlled by the Dominican Republic which descended from Spanish slaves. Around this time the United States decided to get involved in the economic dealings of the Dominican Republic and other Caribbean nations. It was around this time that Dominican youth were sent to study in the United States and were exposed to the game of baseball. They brought the game back to the native country, and the game very quickly gained popularity.
The most talented baseball players on the island joined together and formed teams. Initially they played the game on an amateur basis, but once the teams found out their games drew thousands of fans they started charging for attendance, and baseball in the Dominican Republic became professional. By this time the turbulent government situation had stabilized and power had coalesced in the hands of the dictator Rafael Trujillo. Trujillo didn't care about baseball, but he knew a money-making opportunity when he saw one. He formed his own baseball team and invited players from the United States, including the great Leroy Robert "Satchel" Paige. It was a hair-raising affair and Paige eventually remembered being shadowed by guards and later pitched the championship game under the threat of execution if he were to lose. Trujillo's Dominican League only lasted for one season, but American players soon came down in great regularity both during the summer as well as in the winter when it was too cold to play in the US. Scouts for Major League teams began to take notice of the baseball talent brewing in the Dominican, as the Dominican National Team began to take part in what was then known as the Amateur World Series in the 1940s and started dominating the American teams. In 1953, the New York Giants signed a promising young player just discharged from the Marines named Osvaldo "Ozzie" Virgil. He grew up in New York, but he had been born in the Dominican Republic. Three years later Virgil became the first Dominican-born player to make his Major League debut. In 1958, Felipe Rojas Alou became the first player scouted and signed out of the Dominican Republic to make his Major League debut.By the 1960s Major League teams were signing dozens of players out of the Dominican Republic, and many of them went on to have tremendous careers. Felipe Alou went on to lead the National League in hits twice, and on August 25, 1972 he became the first Dominican player to break the 2,000 hit plateau. Juan Antonio Marichal became the first great Dominican pitcher to make the majors. He won 25 games in 1963, one of which was a 16-inning complete game shutout against 300-game winner Warren Spahn, then won 20 games five more times as he finished his career with 243 wins. He then became the first Dominican to make the Baseball Hall of Fame when he was elected in 1983. Felipe's brother Mateo "Matty" Alou became the first Domican to win a batting title when he hit .342 in 1966. Manuel Rafael "Manny" Mota set the record for most pinch hits, and was referenced in the 1980 comedy classic Airplane!. Joaquin Andujar helpd the Cardinals win the World series in 1982, and unfortunately for him a year later became the losing pitcher in Steve Carlton's 300th win. Players such as Rico Carty and Cesar Cedeno became All-Star and fan favorites, and more importantly became role models for Dominican youth trying to get out of their country impoverished by the five centuries of economic and political suppression and instability. The players would in turn give back to their former country with time and equipment. Major League teams would also contribute by opening baseball academies in the Dominican starting in the 1980s.
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Santo Domingo is the capital and the largest city in the Dominican Republic. It was the first European settlement to be established after Columbus landed on Hispaniola, and over the years it saw its share of strife and conflict. Whenever Dominican Republic gained its independence, Santo Domingo was erected as the capital city. With its convenient location along the seaside, Santo Domingo became the political, commercial, and cultural center of the Dominican Republic. It is also the home of two of the most successful Dominican professional teams: the Tigres del Licey and Leones del Escogido.
Located in the southwestern part of the city, just across the Haina River that separates Santo Domingo from the neighboring city of Haina is a tiny neighborhood by the name of Café de Herrera. One of the residents in Café de Herrera is a man by the name of Bienvenido Beltré, known to many as "El Negrito" due to his extremely dark skin. El Negrito lived in Café de Herrera with his wife Andrea Perez, and spends his days raising roosters to compete in cockfighting matches, which is a legal pastime in the Dominican. His contributions to cockfighting had endeared him to the Alou brothers, Felipe, Matty and Jesus, who still lived in Santo Domingo in the off-season. Felipe's first wife (and mother of his eldest son Moises, who had a successful Major League career and played in Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine's 300th win) was a woman by the name of Beltré, and she may or may not have been related to El Negrito. Nevertheless, Felipe took a liking to the younger man. El Negrito had been a ballplayer back in the day, but while he wasn't good enough to get noticed by Major League scouts, he had hoped his son would become a ballplayer. When El Negrito found out his wife was pregnant sometime in the summer of 1978, he told Felipe when the Dominican legend came back to Santo Domingo. El Negrito's son would be born on April 7, 1979. The couple named him Adrián, a name meaning "dark, like somebody from the Adratic region."
Young Adrián was an athletic kid. The Beltrés were not overly wealthy, but they were not living in abject poverty like some other Dominican players such as Pedro Martinez or Vladimir Guerrero. With support from friends like Felipe Alou, who held Adrián when he was a baby and took Adrián to Dominican Winter League games when he was older, El Negrito was able to get Adrián started on the baseball path. Adrián played ball with his cousins and other neighboring children using tennis balls and broomsticks. Besides baseball, he also played basketball and tennis. He was also noted for having a somewhat bald pate, and he gained the nickname "El Kojak," after the similarly bald television detective portrayed by Telly Savalas. Adrián didn't mind the nickname, but he didn't like the attention paid to his head, and eventually developed a serious aversion to people trying to touch it.
Santo Domingo is the capital and the largest city in the Dominican Republic. It was the first European settlement to be established after Columbus landed on Hispaniola, and over the years it saw its share of strife and conflict. Whenever Dominican Republic gained its independence, Santo Domingo was erected as the capital city. With its convenient location along the seaside, Santo Domingo became the political, commercial, and cultural center of the Dominican Republic. It is also the home of two of the most successful Dominican professional teams: the Tigres del Licey and Leones del Escogido.
Located in the southwestern part of the city, just across the Haina River that separates Santo Domingo from the neighboring city of Haina is a tiny neighborhood by the name of Café de Herrera. One of the residents in Café de Herrera is a man by the name of Bienvenido Beltré, known to many as "El Negrito" due to his extremely dark skin. El Negrito lived in Café de Herrera with his wife Andrea Perez, and spends his days raising roosters to compete in cockfighting matches, which is a legal pastime in the Dominican. His contributions to cockfighting had endeared him to the Alou brothers, Felipe, Matty and Jesus, who still lived in Santo Domingo in the off-season. Felipe's first wife (and mother of his eldest son Moises, who had a successful Major League career and played in Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine's 300th win) was a woman by the name of Beltré, and she may or may not have been related to El Negrito. Nevertheless, Felipe took a liking to the younger man. El Negrito had been a ballplayer back in the day, but while he wasn't good enough to get noticed by Major League scouts, he had hoped his son would become a ballplayer. When El Negrito found out his wife was pregnant sometime in the summer of 1978, he told Felipe when the Dominican legend came back to Santo Domingo. El Negrito's son would be born on April 7, 1979. The couple named him Adrián, a name meaning "dark, like somebody from the Adratic region."
Young Adrián was an athletic kid. The Beltrés were not overly wealthy, but they were not living in abject poverty like some other Dominican players such as Pedro Martinez or Vladimir Guerrero. With support from friends like Felipe Alou, who held Adrián when he was a baby and took Adrián to Dominican Winter League games when he was older, El Negrito was able to get Adrián started on the baseball path. Adrián played ball with his cousins and other neighboring children using tennis balls and broomsticks. Besides baseball, he also played basketball and tennis. He was also noted for having a somewhat bald pate, and he gained the nickname "El Kojak," after the similarly bald television detective portrayed by Telly Savalas. Adrián didn't mind the nickname, but he didn't like the attention paid to his head, and eventually developed a serious aversion to people trying to touch it.
As Adrián entered the pre-teen years, he became more invested in baseball, especially after his younger brother Elvin 12 years his junior contracted meningitis, leaving him with developmental delays. Adrián realized baseball could be a way to help his family. During the baseball season, the Beltrés would watch a lot of Houston Astros games because the Houston shortstop was Andujar Cedeno, a Dominican native who became a national hero for his charitable contributions to his home country. While Cedeno was the national hero, Adrián couldn't help but notice the Astros' third baseman Ken Caminiti who made play after play at the hot corner. However, Adrián and his father both believed that his future was as a middle infielder. Adrián was only of average height, and he had the athleticism best suited for playing shortstop or second base. When Adrián was 11 he enrolled in the nearby Santo Domingo Savio School Home, whose baseball coach Franklin Rodriguez was a pretty good player back in the day. While working with Rodriguez one day, Adrián swapped positions with a teammate who wanted to play second base, and Adrián took over at third. His destiny was set.
Adrián's skills developed while working with Rodriguez, and it became evident that he was going to be a great player. In spite of his average height and lean physique, he had the arm strength and power to play well both on the field and at the plate. Legends state that Adrián was a student at the Liceo Maximo Gomez, and was good enough to be working out at the Dodgers Dominican Academy at Campos Las Palmas where he caught the eye of a couple of Dodgers scouts, who signed him on the spot. What seemed to have happened instead was that Rodriguez told an old acquaintance Pablo Peguero about his young pupil. Peguero was a catcher who played in the minors in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization. He never made the majors, but the Dodgers were impressed enough by his baseball knowledge that he became a scout with the team. Rodriguez had applied for a job as a scout with the Dodgers, but while he didn't get the job, he still kept in touch with his old friend. Peguero was skeptical about Rodriguez's claims, but after some resistance he went out to the Santo Domingo campus to watch Rodriguez's protégé in early July 1994. Adrián dazzled the old scout with his talent, so much so that a few days later, on July 7, 1994, Peguero returned to Café de Herrera and signed Adrián for a $23,000 bonus. Adrián was excited to have the opportunity to compete against some of the best players in the Dominican and possibly the world, while El Negrito was excited that his dream of having a ballplayer son was about to come true. At some point somebody possibly mentioned the fact that Adrián was still only 15 years old, younger than the minimum age for signing international free agents of 16. Peguero assured the Beltrés that he and his boss, the legendary Dominican scout Ralph Avila would handle it.
Having signed a professional contract, Adrián Beltré started his professional career at the Dodgers training academy at Campos Las Palmas. While every team now has a Dominican academy, the Campos Las Palmas operated by the Los Angeles Dodgers was one of the first of its kind. Located in San Antonio de Guerra an hour east of Santo Domingo, the facility has seen numerous players that would become Major League stars, including Raul Mondesi, Pedro Astacio, Ramon Martinez and his younger brother Pedro Jaime. American players in need of more seasoning like Michael Piazza also spent time at the academy. Adrián spent the rest of 1994 getting trained in more of the fundamentals of the game as well as learning English in preparation for a career in the United States. In 1995 he participated in the Dominican Summer League where he performed well for a player most believed was 17 years old. With his sparkling performance, the Dodgers felt that Adrián was ready to face more advanced competition in the United States mainland.
In 1996, Adrián Beltré left his native country for the first time and reported to the Dodgers spring training facilities in Vero Beach, Florida. He was greeted by a strong sense of culture shock. Even with his language training in Campos Las Palmas he still struggled with the language. He would frequently order meals from fast food restaurants pointing at pictures, and years later he would remember going hungry more often than not because of the presence of pickles, which he detested. Despite the language barriers, his talent was sufficiently impressive that he was not sent to the rookie leagues like most young prospects from the Dominican, but instead to the Class A South Atlantic League, where he played for the Savannah Sand Gnats. The Sand Gnats were operating for the first time under the Dodgers having been a Cardinals affiliate for a dozen seasons. Adrián was the youngest player on the team, but he still thrived, hitting .307 with a team leading 16 home runs and 59 RBIs in only 68 games. He received a mid-season call-up to the Class A+ San Bernardino Stampede, but not before he was voted as the Best Batting Prospect, Best Power Hitter, Best Defensive 3B, Best Infield Arm, and Most Exciting Player in the South Atlantic League by Baseball America. Adrián's batting average in San Bernardino fell to .261, but he still hit 10 home runs and drove in 40 runs in 63 games. His 99 RBIs were the most for any Dodgers minor leaguer in 1996, but the team was more excited about his defense at third base.
In 1997, Baseball America named Adrián the #3 prospect in the Dodgers farm system and the #30 prospect in all of baseball. He was sent to the Dodgers' other Class A+ team the Vero Beach Dodgers in the Florida State League. He struggled somewhat in the field, making a career high 37 errors, but he more than made up for it with his bat. He hit .317/.407/.561 with 26 home runs and 104 RBIs, numbers even more impressive considering he was still one of the youngest players in the league. He even got his first taste of the majors that year, when he was one of the Dodgers prospects selected to join the team when they played the Hall of Fame Game against the San Diego Padres. The Dodgers clobbered the Padres 16-8. Adrián saw some action at third, and got up close and personal with Ken Caminiti, the man he watched on TV in the Dominican Republic a few years earlier.
By the start of the 1998 season, Adrián Beltré was one of the game's top prospects. Baseball America ranked him as #3, behind only future Rookie of the Year winner Ben Grieve and future ALCS MVP Paul Konerko. The Dodgers assigned him to AA San Antonio Missions after spring training that year They had a plan for him to spend that season in the minors. then make his major league debut in another year. After all, they thought he was only 20 years old, and they didn't want to rush him to the Majors too quickly. Even though he was was one of the youngest players on the Missions, Adrián had a hot bat from the start. He wait hitting .321/.411/.581 in only 64 games by mid-June. By that time the parent club, who had post-season aspiration, was floundering. They had a sub-.500 record, and had already traded away superstar catcher Mike Piazza for outfielder Gary Sheffield, third baseman Bobby Bonilla, and catcher Charles Johnson on May 14 in an effort to reignite their lineup. It didn't work as the Dodgers fell further behind in the standings after the trade. They fired their manager Bill Russell (replacing him with Glenn "brother of future Hall of Famer Trevor" Hoffman) and GM Fred Claire. Their top prospect Konerko was also not producing in his first taste as a Major League regular. After watching Adrián tear up AA pitching for two months, and with Bonilla on the disabled list, the Dodgers brass finally decided that it was time to bring their other top prospect in the fray.
Ramon "brother of future Hall of Famer Pedro" Martinez was another Dominican star, and he was coming back from a rotator cuff injury in 1998. He had put together a strong season in spite of the Dodgers' struggles, but sadly reinjured his shoulder in early June. He was trying to avoid shoulder surgery, but after consultations with three specialists, he finally agreed to surgery. The Dodgers placed him on the 60-day disabled list on June 23, 1998, and to fill his spot on the 40-man roster they added their young third base prospect Adrián Beltré. At the time the Dodgers were in the midst of a four-game interleague series against the Anaheim Angels, and had lost the first two games. Super-prospect Konerko started both games at third, but he was more comfortable at first base, but the job was already taken by 1992 Rookie of the Year winner Eric Karros. The Dodgers were beginning to try him in left field where a vacuum had developed after regular left fielder Todd Hollandsworth suffered a shoulder injury of his own. When manager Hoffman made his starting lineup for the third game in the series on June 24, 1998, he put Karros at first batting fourth, Konerko at left field batting sixth. And at third base hitting eighth in front of the pitcher was their new prospect Adrián Beltré.
The Dodgers were facing the Angels' veteran left-hander Chuck Finley, who was having a resurgent season. He was 7-4 with a 2.74 ERA going into this start, and was making a third attempt at his milestone 150th career win. Finley had no problem sitting the Dodgers down in order in the first, and Cecil "father of future All-Star Prince" Fielder gave the Angels a 1-0 lead with a home run in the second. In the second, Finley got two quick outs, and it seemed young Adrián wouldn't get his first plate appearance until the third. However, Konerko walked on four pitches, and the number seven hitter Charles Johnson lined a single to left. So up stepped Adrián Beltré, making his first Major League plate appearance, fulfilling the dreams that his father had for him. The Angels didn't have a scouting report for the youngster, so catcher Matt Walbeck called for a fastball outside. Finley threw, but missed the target as the pitch sailed towards the middle of the plate. Adrián knows a hittable pitch when he sees one and lined it down the left field line. Angels left fielder Darin Erstad made a valiant attempt to make a diving catch, but caught it on a hop before letting the ball get away when he hit the ground. Konerko came around to score the tying run while Adrián hustled into second with a double for his first Major League hit and RBI. Legendary announcer Vin Scully lauded the "19 year old" and his aggressive hitting. Adrián came up three more times in the game and flew out each time, but made two assists on the field, first on a sacrifice bunt by Garret Anderson and then a forceout on second baseman Justin Baughman. At the end of nine innings both teams were tied 5-5. In the 11th, Adrián came up for his fifth plate appearance of the game with the winning run on second and reliver Greg Cadaret on the mound. He hit a soft grounder towards Baughman that he was able to beat out to put runners at the corner. The next batter Trent Hubbard lined a walk-off single to left and Adrián Beltré's first major league game was in the books.
While Adrián's Major League debut was successful, pitchers quickly found out they were able to use his aggressiveness against him. By the time Adrián was on his third plate appearance in an interleague game against the Texas Rangers deep in the heart of Texas on June 30, he had gone 1 for 16 (.063 batting average) with six strikeouts against only one walk since his debut. Facing Rangers pitcher Rick Helling, who would go on to win 20 games in 1998, Adrián lined a fastball into deep center field for his first Major League home run, showing off the power that was part of his promise. As he rounded the bases, perhaps Adrián thought that no matter what happens, at least he'd be able to hit in Texas. He brought his batting average back up to .200 by the time he left Arlington. Nevertheless, with the veteran Bobby Bonilla coming back from the disabled list, the Dodgers front office was thinking of sending Adrián back down to the minors, perhaps to AAA Albuquerque which he skipped. However, Adrián made the appeal to former Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda that it would be much more valuable for him to spend the season in the Majors learning by osmosis. The ploy worked, and Adrián spent most of the rest of the season on the Major League roster alternating the starting third baseman role with the Bonilla, who served as somewhat of a mentor to the young rookie. He also trained with Dodgers coach Manny Mota to get a better feel of Major League breaking balls.
Adrián ended the 1998 season hitting .215/.278/.369 with seven home runs and 22 RBIs. He didn't exactly set the baseball world on fire, but he held his own for a 20 year old. At least that's what his agent Scott Boras told him during spring training in 1999. When Adrián heard what Boras said, he did somewhat of a double take and told his agent, whom he hired when he was still in the minors, that he wasn't 20 yet but still only 19. Adrián told Boras that he was born in 1979 and not 1978 that was reported all over the game. He wasn't the third youngest player to play in the Majors in 1998, but the youngest by almost a year. Boras went to the Dodgers and told them what Adrián reported, and asked for this mistake to be fixed along with some additional compensation for being the youngest player to make his Major League debut since A-Rod in 1994. The Dodgers laughed him out of the office, and Boras opted to take the case public to the Los Angeles Times and Major League Baseball. Major League Baseball launched an investigation into the Beltré signing, and what they found was one of the most bizarre international signing scandals, and one that would change the signing procedures for international amateur free agents.
It was fairly common for Caribbean amateur free agents, especially ones from the Dominican Republic, to falsify information when signing. This was their ticket to a better life, and they wanted to do whatever it takes to get ahead. Players have been known to fudge their ages and sometimes even their identities, as the former Indians found out the hard way when their one-time ace Fausto Carmona turned out to be another player named Roberto Hernandez. Normally players would make themselves younger to make themselves more attractive. When the Expos signed Vladimir Guerrero they thought they were getting a 17 year old, but late in his career he revealed that he was a year older than previously thought. Bartolo Colon took two years off his age when he signed with the then-Indians in 1993. They were able to get away with it because the examination process for new signings aren't closely reviewed. And teams are usually duped when this happens, or so they claimed. The Adrián Beltré signing was different. The Dodgers were so impressed by Adrián's potential that they were willing to make him older to sign him. They didn't want to wait nine months for news of the hot young player to spread to other teams. The birth certificate that came with his contract was changed to reflect a year of birth of 1978 instead of 1979. And the investigation also showed that the Dodgers not only knew about the change, but they were the ones orchestrating it. This led Major League Baseball to force the Dodgers to halt their scouting activities in the Dominican, including at Campos Las Palmas, for a year. Both Ralph Avila and Pablo Peguno also received one-year suspensions. In addition, MLB established an office in Santo Domingo to have closer vetting of prospect signings (although players were still able to get around it sometimes.) Boras tried to get Adrián a release from the Dodgers to allow him to become a free agent, but that request was declined.
Nevertheless, Adrián was more focused on preparation for the 1999 season. He was tabbed to become the starting third baseman for a Dodgers team looking to rebound from an off year on 1998, with Konerko having been traded to the Cincinnati Reds in mid-season 1998 and Bonilla having been traded to New York Mets in the off-season. And Adrián performed admirably. He got off to a hot start, kept his batting average over .300 into June, and he finished the season with a .275/.352/.428 slashline, a huge improvement over his rookie year. His defense left more to be desired, as he led the league in errors. However, later analysis showed that his defensive season wasn't that bad. He finished fourth in putouts and fifth in assists, and his total zone rating, which ranked him on runs saved compared to the average third baseman based on plays made, ranked third. His defense could use some work, but it was above average. Adrián finished the year ranked second on the team in Baseball Reference Wins Above Replacement (bWAR), behind only the multimillionaire Kevin Brown, signed to a massive seven-year, $105 million contract that off-season. However, the Dodgers finished third again, with a disappointing 77-85 record. With the controversy about his age in the rearview mirror, Adrián took a step forward with both the bat and the glove in 2000. He improved his batting numbers further, hitting .290/.360/.475 with 20 home runs and 85 RBIs despite missing time to injuries in early June. The Dodgers improved to 86-76, but couldn't keep up with the division winning San Francisco Giants or the Wild Card winning Mets.
Still, most analysts were predicting a breakout for Adrián Beltré in 2001. He was only 22 and already had two full years of Major League experience. However, while spending time in the Dominican Republic in the off-season, Adrián noticed some pains in his abdomen. He went to the local emergency room under the recommendation of Dodgers trainers. The doctors did a physical exam, but the ER wasn't equipped with a CT scanner, and there were no major signs there was anything serious, so he was sent home and told to return if the pain got worse. The pain eventually did get worse, and Adrián went back two days later. By then it was clear something was wrong, and Adrián was taken for an emergency abdominal surgery. Once inside, surgeons found that Adrián's appendix had ruptured, and the fluid was causing an infection his abdominal cavity, a condition known as peritonitis. Surgeons took out the appendix and washed out his abdomen, then kept him on antibiotics to fight the infection. If Adrián had waited any longer to return, the peritonitis would have killed him. He was in the hospital for three weeks, and while the infection eventually cleared enough for him to leave the hospital the surgical wound hadn't closed. He still couldn't eat solid foods and he had to wear a colostomy bag to catch fluid leaking out of the wound. Nevertheless, he was determined to make it to spring training on time. He flew to Florida and worked out with the colostomy bag and an IV port for fluids and nutrients. Adrián had lost 20 pounds from his already-thin body. When the wound just wouldn't close even after a month, he opted for another surgery to repair the appendectomy wound. With all of his medical problems, Adrián didn't make his 2001 debut until May 12, which was a minor miracle in itself but was a testament to his will and determination. While his batting line suffered (.265/.310/.411), Adrián made up for lost time in other areas. He blasted 13 home runs and hit 22 doubles, with 60 RBIs, numbers that weren't too far off from his 1999 season. It was still a far cry from what could have been. The Dodgers ended the season with an 86-76 record identical to the year before, but they finish 3rd while the expansion Arizona Diamondbacks, behind Curt Schilling and 300-game winner Randy Johnson won the division, the pennant, and eventually the World Series title.
Adrián went back to the Dominican Republic in the off-season and started working out. He regained the weight he had lost and felt stronger than ever. And when the regular season started, he played in all but three of the Dodgers' 162 games. And he set a new career high for him with 21 home runs. However, while Adrián had always been an aggressive hitter, he became more set in his free swinging ways. He was always trying to pull the ball to left field, and ended up getting himself out or striking out. His slash line of .257/.303/.426 was not much of an improvement over his injury-marred year the year before, and the Dodgers ended up on the outside of the playoff picture after a tight NL West race despite a 92-70 record. The 2003 season was more of the same at the plate for Adrián. He established a new career high with 23 home runs, but he also struck out 103 times, and his batting average had sank to .240. That was even after he finished with a strong September where he went .305/.342/.543 with seven of his 23 home runs. People didn't even notice that Adrián was spectacular defensively, leading the league in Total Zone Runs for the first time. The Dodgers finished second again with an 85-77 record. While the Dodgers gave him a raise to $5 million, they were also running out of patience for their young prodigy, the one they broke the established rules to sign.
Adrián didn't need anybody to tell him that he had a lot riding on the 2004 season, and it wasn't just that he was due to become a free agent at the end of the season. He could tell that he wasn't playing up to his abilities. It was not that he wasn't trying. He was working out and taking extra batting practice. He even honed his English to the point where he could give interviews without translators. Still, he was not living up to expectations. Several things happened in the off-season that would change Adrián's life. He had married a woman from Pasadena named Sandra earlier in 2003. By the off-season she was about to give birth to the couple's first child, a daughter named Cassandra. Adrián was no longer playing only for himself and his parents. He was now a father and had to assume the responsibilities that came with it. Additionally, during the off-season the Dodgers hired a new hitting coach, Tim Wallach, to revitalize a straggling offense. Wallach was a veteran third baseman who had a productive 17-year career. He had been with the San Bernardino Stampede in 1996, the same year as Adrián, and he has certainly seen the young third baseman from afar. During spring training 2004, Wallach advised Adrián to stand with a more closed stance, where he'd be at an angle with his back more towards the pitcher, which would allow him to take a longer look at a pitch. He also trained Adrián to hit the ball the other way to right field, instead of pulling the ball to left all the time. This way pitchers won't be able to get him out with outside pitches, which are harder to pull. And he taught Adrián how to watch video and study pitchers.
Adrián was an astute student and a quick learner. He felt good going into the 2004 regular season, and got off to a hot start. He had two hits in the season opener against the San Diego Padres, and the next day he got three. By the end of April he was hitting .353/.367/.647 with seven home runs. People were waiting for him to fall back to earth, and he did cool off a little bit in May, hitting only .283/.315/.481. Yet just as people were preparing to write him off, he showed that he was able to make adjustments and got as hot as ever. He hit .338/.419/.750 with ten home runs in July, and in August he punished National League pitchers to a tune of .362/.422/.750 with 13 home runs. Pitchers found that he wasn't chasing bad balls, and he was hitting with more power and authority. When the season ended, he had a slash line of .334/.388/.629. He reached the 200-hit plateau, and finally showed off his power with a league leading 48 home runs to go along with 121 RBIs. He was also productive on the field, finishing in the top 10 in the NL fielding percentage for the first time. He also led all National League players in Total Zone Runs.
More importantly, the Dodgers went 93-69 and were able to capture a division title for the first time since 1996, when Adrián was still playing in Savannah and San Bernardino. Adrián got his first taste of the post-season when the Dodgers faced off against the St. Louis Cardinals, who went an amazing 105-57. He got a hit in his first post-season plate appearance, but the Cardinals pummeled the Dodgers pitching to an 8-3 victory. In the end the Dodgers won only one game, on a complete game shutout by the late Jose Lima. Adrián had four hits and didn't hit a single homer. Nevertheless, 2004 was still a season to remember for Adrián. His overall bWAR was a career high 9.5, and he finished second to only Barry Bonds who had his crazy year with 232 walks and would have had a .608 OBP even if he went up without a bat. Adrián's May swoon kept him from being an All-Star, but he won his first Silver Slugger award. And when the MVP voting was tabulated, Adrián finished second behind Bonds, picking up six first-place votes to Barry's 24. And Adrián later revealed that he was playing with some bone spurs in his left ankle, which he had surgery to remove shortly after the season ended. It forced him to be more selective, as they were causing swings and misses to become painful. Adrián may very well become the superstar people were predicting.
Adrián went into the 2004 off-season full of optimism as he prepared for his first year of free agency. He was the top free agent that year, and his agent Scott Boras says he was hoping for something similar to the 7-year, $100 million contract that the Dominican-born superstar Albert Pujols of the Cardinals signed before the 2004 season. Adrián was privately hoping for a shorter deal, and he wanted to remain with the Dodgers. Yet the Dodgers were slow to offer a precise contract. He received some good contract offers from some other teams, but he preferred to wait for the Dodgers. The Dodgers finally came out with a backloaded six year contract worth just under $60 million, with an option for the 2011 season. Adrián was somewhat shocked. He just had the best season by a Dodger in years (since Sandy Koufax in 1966 according to bWAR), yet the Dodgers waited for weeks before presenting a contract offer, which was much smaller than what almost other teams were offering. In the end, Adrián turned the Dodgers down, and on December 16, 2004 he announced that he was signing a five year contract with the Seattle Mariners worth $64 million.
The Seattle Mariners were a baseball powerhouse in the late 1990s and early 2000s, with superduperooperstars such as Ken Griffey Jr., Randy Johnson, Edgar Martinez, and Ichiro Suzuki. They climaxed with 116 wins in 2001, yet by 2004 they had fallen into last place in the American League West, even below the lowly Texas Rangers. One of their major problems was the lack of offensive production from their third basemen. Their 2004 third baseman was Scott Spiezio, who had hit a pathetic .215/.288/.346. They were hoping Adrián could be their third baseman of the future and lead them back to glory. The 2005 season was big for Adrián for a couple of reasons. On June 5, he singled in the ninth inning off of Tampa Bay Devil Rays reliever Chad Orvella for the 1,000th hit of his career. Later in August, the Mariners called up their exciting young starter Felix Hernandez, who would eventually become one of Adrián's closest friends. Hernandez would come to find out that Adrián hates having his head touched. And in September he welcomed his second child and first son Adrián Jr. into the world. However, his bat took a giant step backwards. His slash line fell to .255/.303/.413 and his 19 homers were less than half what he hit the year before. People didn't really take note that Adrián was solid defensively. They blamed him for the Mariners' 69-93 record and second straight last place finish. Adrián couldn't tell why he hit so badly. He had dealt with some injuries, but he was the last person to blame things on being hurt. Most felt that he was coasting after getting his big money deal. Adrián set out to prove that wasn't the case
Adrián's bat improved over the next couple of seasons. He improved his slashline to .268/.328/.465 in 2006, and he hit 25 homers to go with 39 doubles. A year later, he hit .276/.319/.482, and he hit 41 doubles to pass 40 for the first time, and clobbered 26 home runs on his way to 99 RBIs. In 2008, he hit .266/.327/.457 and reached the 25 home runs plateau for the third straight year. He led the team in bWAR in 2006 and 2008. He still struck out too often and didn't walk enough, and most people felt his production wasn't worth what the Mariners is paying him, but it was still an improvement over his disappointing 2005 season. Adrián's signature moment with the Mariners came on September 1, 2008. Facing the pitiful Texas Rangers in Arlington, where he hit his first Major League homer a decade earlier, Adrián homered in the second, then singled in the fourth. After another single in the sixth, he came up to bat in the seventh and doubled on a curveball. His left knee hit the ground while reaching for the pitch, which he tended to do against breaking balls. People around the ballpark knew that Adrián was only a triple away from hitting for the cycle, where a player gets each of the different types of hits in the same game. The triple was usually the hardest hit to get, and while Adrián had 25 triples in his career including six in 2006-07, he hadn't hit a triple as of yet in 2008. Still, Adrián got another plate appearance in the eighth. Reliever Josh Rupe got ahead of Adrián 0-2, but then threw a fastball outside that crept out over the plate. Adrián was able to knock it the opposite way to right center over the head of center fielder Josh Hamilton and rolled to the wall. Adrián motored around the bases and slide safely into third. It was his second five-hit game as a member of the Mariners, after his first one on July 6, 2007, and of course his first cycle.
With Adrián contributing more with the bat, people were beginning to pay more attention to Adrián's superb defense, a craft he honed with hours and hours of fielding practice. He has the athleticism and reflexes to allow him to get to balls that seem like they would get through, and his keen baseball knowledge helps him position to right where the ball was going to go most of the time. His strong throwing arm helps him throw out baserunners even from deep in the hole. Earlier in his career he had a lot of throwing errors because he had difficulty aiming the ball, but by the time he got to the Mariners his throw have become deadly accurate, thanks to developing a rather unconventional style of defense. He'd stop before catching the ball, which is the opposite of what most coaches teach young infielders. His specialty is charging bunts and throwing while falling. In 2006, fielding analyst John Dewan of Baseball Info Solutions introduced the Fielding Bible Awards, which serves as an alternative to the Gold Glove awards where journalists and analysts are the voters and which make use of some of the data available. There is also only one winner to the Gold Glove's two (one in each league.) Adrián won the inaugural Fielding Bible Award at third base, and while he lost it in 2007 he'd win it again in 2008. He would win the traditional Gold Glove awards in 2007 and 2008. Despite Adrián's offensive and defensive contributions, the Mariners would finish last in 2006 and 2008, and finished six games out from a Wild Card spot in 2007.
Adrián turned 30 in 2009, the last year of his contract, and he was hoping for a strong year before re-entering free agency. He was encouraged by his steps forward in his offense in the previous three years, and hoping to build upon those successes. However, Adrián had some shoulder pain near the end of 2008 season, and it was discovered he had bone spurs. He had them surgically removed late in the season and that kept him on the bench to close out the season. He thought his shoulder problems were over, but when the 2009 season came around he continued to have significant pain, and it was found that the bone spurs had returned. Adrián tried playing with the shoulder pain, but that ended up sapping a lot of his power. By the time June 4, 2009 rolled around, Adrián was hitting just .244/.275/.355 with only four home runs. He also had only 1,634 career hits at the time, having gotten number 1,500 on June 24, 2008 with a single off of Claudio Vargas of the Mets.
Adrián finally agreed to have surgery at the end of the month. He returned in August and started to hit better, but on August 12 he suffered the most mortifying injury of his career. Adrián has played without a protective cup his entire career, finding it constricting. The Mariners faced the Chicago White Sox that day, and the game was scoreless in the 9th. Shortstop Alexei Ramirez hit a hard bouncer to third, and as Adrián charged the ball, it took a bad hop and hit him in the groin. He picked up the ball and threw it away for an error. Despite being in tremendous pain, Adrián stayed in the game after Ramirez was stranded to send the game into extra innings, then later singled and scored the game's only run in the 14th. He then had an examination after the game, and was found to have severe testicular bleeding, with the testicle swelling to the size of a grapefruit. Adrián didn't need surgery, and he returned by September when most thought he'd miss the end of the season. Still, he struggled upon his return, and when the painful season ended, Adrián was hitting .265/.304/.379 with only eight home runs. While the batting average was respectable, Adrián's home run totals, RBI totals, walk totals, slugging percentage, and OPS were all the lowest since his rookie season in 1998.
Adrián's contract expired after the 2009 season, and he declined the Mariners' salary arbitration offer, making him a free agent once again. His years in Seattle were seen by many as a disappointment as his slashline of .266/.317/.442 was barely above average. According to some analysis he more than made up for his average bat with his solid defense, but offense resonates more with fans. Still, Safeco Field was one of the top pitcher's parks during 2005-2009, which could have suppressed Adrián's offense. While agent Scott Boras says Adrián wanted another multi-year deal, Adrián thought that he could sign a one year deal if the team would allow him to show what he can really do. Boras later dubbed this a "pillow contract." While Adrián received a couple of multi-year offers, he was most intrigued when the Boston Red Sox came calling. The Red Sox were hoping to sign a third baseman to replace their incumbent Mike Lowell, who had gotten thumb surgery in the off-season. The Red Sox play in Fenway Park, which was a hitter's heaven for right-handed batters like Adrián. It was largely due to the effects of the Green Monster, the left field wall that is 37 feet high but sits only 310 feet from home plate. He ended up signing a one year, $9 million contract that could become $10 million if he gets over 450 plate appearances. It also contains a player option for 2011 if Adrián chose to remain with the Red Sox.
By 2010, the Red Sox were no longer the cursed team that hadn't won a World Series from 1919 through 2003. They had won two World Series titles in 2004 and 2007, and were looking to get their third. The team featured a monstrous lineup that featured the power hitting catcher Victor Martinez, the Greek God of Walks Kevin Youkilis, and their most popular player of all-time, fellow Dominican and Adrián's good friend David "Big Papi" Ortiz. The Red Sox signed Adrián mostly for his defense, but he could contribute to the bat as well. He started the season with somewhat of a power outage, going homerless in April, but he was hitting .338/.372/.400, and he likely figured that with time his power stroke can return. And return it did, as he went on to hit 13 home runs to go with a .330 batting average by the end of the first half, as he made the first All-Star team of his career as a reserve behind starting third baseman Evan Longoria of the Rays. He got into the game in the ninth against closer Jonathan Broxton and struck out. Nevertheless, he continued his hot hitting in the second half. By the time the season ended he had his best numbers since 2004, hitting .321/.365/.553. He slugged 28 home runs with 102 RBIs, and he hit the ball hard on balls that didn't go out of the park, blasting a league-leading 49 doubles. He also contributed with his superb defense. And near the end of the regular season, his wife gave birth to his third child, daughter Camila. Sadly, while the Red Sox finished 89-73, they still finished third, six games behind the New York Yankees for the Wild Card. Nevertheless, it was still a successful season.
If there was one other negative for Adrián besides missing the playoff, it was how his teammates started targeting his head, to the point where it became a point of conversation among baseball fans. Adrián's dislike of his getting his head touched possibly dates back to his childhood, when his family and friends kept talking about his head. When he was with the Mariners, he had let his good friend Felix Hernandez know that he didn't like having his head touched. King Felix would playfully touch his head, much to Adrián's wrath, but this usually happened in private. When Adrián went to the Red Sox, Felix or one of his other former teammates let his new teammates know about Adrián's pet peeve, and the hunt for Adrián's Head was on. Players such as chief tormentor Victor Martinez would remove Adrián's helmet in the dugout after plate appearances and touch him in the head. Adrián would often react violently, sometimes with a hard punch. Nevertheless, the teammates would keep doing it.
Perhaps because of this reason, or perhaps because Adrián had shown the baseball world he was still capable of a solid offensive year, Adrián declined the Red Sox's player option for 2011. He had a lot more suitors, one of whom was the Texas Rangers. The Texas Rangers spent almost 50 years as hapless losers dating back to their years in Washington as the new Senators (a la new Cleveland Browns) before finally breaking through with the American League a pennant and going to the World Series in 2010, which they still lost to the San Francisco Giants. They still had a strong young team that included MVP Josh Hamilton, incumbent third baseman Michael Young, second baseman Ian Kinsler, right fielder Nelson Cruz, and a young shortstop from Venezuela named Elvis Andrus, but the Rangers wanted a player that could put them over the top. Michael Young was a veteran hitter who provided strong at bats, but his defense left more to be desired. Adrián Beltré became one of their top off-season targets, alongside Cliff Lee, the pitcher that had pitched them into the World Series. Despite their best efforts to woo the pitcher, Lee signed with the Philadelphia Phillies instead. The Rangers then turned their focus on Adrián. Adrián was intrigued. He had always liked hitting in Texas. It was where he hit his first home run in 1998, and where he hit for the cycle ten years later. And the Rangers were well within their contention window, coming off of a World Series appearance. The negotiations proceeded quickly, and on January 5, 2011, they came to terms on a six year, $96 million contract.
The baseball world had mixed feelings about the deal. Adrián was coming off of a great year, but as several people noticed he's had only two solid years of offense, and they both came in years before free agency. Of course they conveniently ignored how poorly he hit in 2009 when he was suffering from shoulder pain and a testicular contusion. He was also 32, and long-term deals for players in their 30s were usually risky as players fall apart. Commissioner Bud Selig even allegedly heaped criticism on the Rangers at a private owners meeting, calling it a signing of "undue risk." Adrián either didn't know about or didn't care about Selig's comments, and he was there to play. While he missed parts of July and all of August due to a left hamstring strain, when he did play he continued where he left off in Boston. He hit .296/.331/.561, and increased his home run totals to 32 despite over 100 fewer plate appearances, and he also drove in 105 runs. Adrián also reached a few personal milestones in 2011. On September 4, he singled against his former teammate John Lackey to record his 2,000th career hit, the 10th player from the Dominican Republic to record that many. A week later, he blasted two home runs against the Oakland Athletics, of which the first one was the 300th of his career. Adrián made his second All-Star team, his first as a starter, won his third Silver Slugger award, his third Fielding Bible Award, and his third Gold Glove Award. Rawlings, the company that gives out the Gold Glove, also introduced the new Platinum Award, which uses fan vote to determine the best of the nine Gold Glove winners in each league. Adrián walked away with the inaugural AL Platinum Glove Award.
Adrián also served as a clubhouse leader. Even though he was the new player on the team, he mentored the younger players such as his infield partner Elvis Andrus. He welcomed rookies and gave constructive criticism when necessary in both Spanish and English. The Rangers wound up going 96-66, their best record in franchise history, and handily won a second straight AL West. Adrián was heading to the post-season for the first time since 2004, had another chance to shine. He made the most of it. The Rangers' Division Series opponent were the Tampa Bay Rays. Adrián scuffled in the first three games, getting only one hit. Still, the Rangers overcame a shutout performance by Rays rookie Matt Moore and two relievers to win the next two games and take a 2-1 lead going into Game 4, when Adrián broke out. He homered in his first two plate appearances against Rookie of the Year-to-be Jeremy Hellickson. The Rangers were up 3-2 in the seventh when Adrián came up for his third plate appearance. On the mound was Matt Moore, now in a relief role to keep the game close. Even though Adrián had 22 other two-home run games in the regular season, he never hit three homers in a game before. Still, he blasted the first pitch to deep left field, and it went over the wall for his third home run of the game and increasing the Rangers' lead to two runs. He was only the sixth player to hit three home runs in a post-season game, joining an illustrious group that includes legends such as George Herman "Babe" Ruth, George Howard Brett, and Reginald Martinez "Reggie" Jackson (as well as forgotten players as Bob Robertson and Adam Kennedy.) The home run turned out to provide the margin of victory as the Rays scored another run in the bottom of the 9th. Thanks to Adrián's three home runs (and another from Ian Kinsler), the Rangers hung on to win 4-3 and advance to the American League Championship Series.
The Rangers' opponents in the ALCS were the Detroit Tigers. The Tigers were a fearsome team that featured star players such as future Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera, Adrián's old teammate and tormentor Victor Martinez, and the future MVP and Cy Young Justin Verlander(p). Adrián didn't contribute much in Game 1, but the Rangers managed to topple the Tigers ace after a lengthy rain delay. In Game 2, both teams were tied 3-3 going into the bottom of the 11th. Adrián hit a single sandwiched between singles by Young and catcher/first baseman Mike Napoli loading the bases. Nelson Cruz then drilled the first walk-off postseason grand slam that was not eventually reduced to a single for failure to touch home plate. Adrián didn't contribute much in the next three games played in Detroit as the Rangers dropped two of them, but they still had a 3-2 series lead returning deep in the heart of Texas for Game 6. The Rangers went to town against the Tigers' young future ace Max Scherzer. Adrián joined in on the fun, hitting an RBI single in the nine-run third inning, then hitting a leadoff double in a two-run sixth. The Rangers led 15-5 when the Dominican closer Neftali Feliz induced a popup to Michael Young to seal the win and the pennant. The Rangers were going back to the World Series, and Adrián had his first chance to play for the title.
The Rangers' World Series opponent turned out to be the St. Louis Cardinals, the same team Adrián played against in his first playoff appearance seven years earlier. They were not the 105-win juggernaut that they were in 2005, having won a Wild Card spot in the last game of the season with a 90-72 record, but they still topped the 102-win Philadelphia Phillies led by the late great Roy Halladay and the former Rangers ace Lee, as well as the 96-win Brewers. The Series began in St. Louis thanks to the controversial policy that awarded home field advantage to the team that won the All-Star Game. Adrián had two hits in Game 1, but the Cardinals still won behind the pitching of Chris Carpenter. The Rangers were close to dropping Game 2 as well with Adrián contributing only a harmless single, but Texas scored two runs in the ninth to pull off the victory. With the series tied going back to Arlington, Adrián broke out offensively in Game 3. He knocked four hits, including a double, and scored two runs. It was a good performance, but it wasn't quite enough. The Cardinals' Dominican-born superstar first baseman Albert Pujols stole the show by blasting three home runs, matching Adrián's ALDS feat, as the Cardinals cruised to a 16-7 victory. The Rangers shook off the loss and won the next two games to put them one win short of the title. Adrián had a key contribution in Game 5. Facing Carpenter again with the Rangers down 2-1, he drove a curveball to left for a game-tying home run, with the force of his swing driving his right knee to the ground. The series shifted back to St. Louis, and after rain forced the postponement of Game 6, the Rangers looked to clinch the title.
Adrián's bat had been quiet in the first six innings of Game 6, as he struck out, grounded out, and grounded into a double play. He led off the seventh with the game tied 4-4. Lance Lynn had come in as a reliever. Lynn allowed two of Adrián's four hits in Game 3, and in this game he tried to throw a 1-0 fastball past Adrián, but Adrián reached out and hit the ball the opposite way to right center field to give the Rangers a lead. Nelson Cruz followed with another home run, and by the end of the inning the Rangers had a 7-4 lead. The Cardinals got a run back in the eighth, but the Rangers went into the ninth with a two run lead needing just three more outs to secure the victory and the title. Neftali Feliz allowed a double to Pujols and a walk to Lance Berkman, the former Astro who also criticized the Beltré deal earlier in the year, but he also struck out two and had the Cardinals' third base counterpart David Freese down 1-2. Feliz tried to blow a 99-mph fastball past Freese, but Freese connected, lining the pitch it to right field. Right fielder Nelson Cruz was playing somewhat shallow and ran back, but the ball got over his head and the Cardinals tied the game. With the winning run on third, Feliz got catcher Yadier Molina to line out to end the inning.
In the tenth, Andrus singled, and Josh Hamilton blasted a home run to center field to put the Rangers up by two for a second time. Adrián grounded out to end the inning, but the Rangers had a lead and needed to get only three more outs to become champions. The Cardinals had two left-handers leading off the inning, so manager Ron Washington replaced a shaken-up Feliz with left handed reliever Darren Oliver, who held left-handed hitters to a .227/.269/.318 slash line in the regular season. However, this was the post-season and Oliver couldn't get either of the hitters out. Pitcher Kyle Lohse sacrificed the runners to second and third for the first out. Former starter Scott Feldman came into the game and got Ryan Theriot to ground to Adrián for the second out, although one run scored on the play. With Albert Pujols up, Washington opted to walk him intentionally to load the bases and face Berkman. Feldman got to a 2-2 count on Berkman, but Berkman hit the fifth pitch to center to drive in the tying run. Feldman left the bases full, but the Rangers couldn't get anything started in the top of the 11th. David Freese led off the bottom of inning, and blasted a walk-off home run off of reliever Mark Lowe to stun the Rangers and force a Game 7. Adrián and the Rangers were so only one strike away from the title on two occasions. Game 6 would go down as the best World Series games ever, but the Rangers came out on the wrong side of history. The Rangers could still come back to win Game 7, but Chris Carpenter came back on three days rest and shut down the Rangers for the title, with Adrián going hitless. The entire Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex was left with only pain and regret.
The bitter taste of defeat still lingered as Adrián and the Rangers went into the 2012 season, but the Rangers still had most of their nucleus intact, and had gotten the prized free agent commodity in Yu Darvish from the Nippon Ham Fighters in Japan. There was plenty of optimism, and the Rangers proved the point by storming to an early lead out of the gate. Josh Hamilton was the star performer early on, with a four-home run game on May 8 and seemed like a serious threat for the Triple Crown through mid-May. Adrián was having a spectacular season of his own. He contributed a home run in Hamilton's four-homer game, and through the end of June, he was hitting .328/.360/.534 with 14 home runs. The Rangers had a 50-29 record and had a 6.5 game lead by the time June turned into July. Both Adrián and the team went through a bit of a swoon in July, but they picked themselves up in August with the team going 19-10 and Adrián hitting .333/.384/.622 with seven home runs. Adrián had a pair of signature performances in August 2012. On August 22, he duplicated his feat from the previous October by hitting three home runs. In fact, he had three home runs in four innings and he could have joined Hamilton in the four-homer club, but he couldn't muster up a home run in his final two plate appearances. Two days later Adrián had a second cycle. He started out with a triple to get that out of the way, then added a double, a home run, and finished it off with a single. Adrián turned in another strong performance in September, going .345/.390/.700 with 11 home runs. However, the rest of the team began to struggle, and they allowed the Oakland Athletics to climb back into the AL West race. Still, the Rangers had a five-game lead with nine left to play on September 24. It would take an unprecedented collapse to lose a lead like that. The Rangers managed to do just that, going 2-7 in the last nine games, losing five of them against the Oakland.. The two teams were tied going into the final day, but Texas blew a 5-1 lead against the A's. Even worse, the go-ahead run scored on an error by Hamilton when he dropped an easy fly ball. Adrián went 3 for 5 in the game, but it still wasn't enough.
The Rangers finished with a 93-69 record, tied with the Baltimore Orioles for the best record among non-division winners, and with a better record than the AL Central-winning Detroit Tigers. However, this was the first year of the Wild Card Game, a play-in game between the two best non-division-winning teams. The Rangers got to host the game as they won the season series against Baltimore. However, the team's listless play continued in the playoffs. The Rangers hitters couldn't get anything started against the Orioles' southpaw Joe Saunders, while the Orioles nicked Rangers' star rookie Darvish and a series of relievers for a 5-1 win. Adrián went 0 for 4, putting the ball in play each time but right at defensemen. The 2012 season still stands as Adrián's best with the Rangers. He had a solid season with the bat, hitting .321/.359/.561 with 36 home runs and 102 RBIs. He also had a fantastic year defensively, winning a second straight Fielding Bible Award, second straight Gold Glove, and the second straight Platinum Glove. He also finished third in MVP voting, behind the winner Miguel Cabrera who ended up being the one to win the Triple Crown and rookie sensation Mike Trout. It was Adrián's highest placement since finishing second in 2004. And yet the year was also disappointment, with the Rangers' early exit from the postseason.
The Rangers had a slightly different composition going into 2013, having lost Hamilton to free agency and Young to a trade with the Phillies. They still had Elvis Andrus and Ian Kinsler, and welcomed a promising rookie starter named Martin Perez, but their season became a roller-coaster of a ride, trading first place with Oakland.. Adrián's fortunes were up and down just like the team he played for. He got off to somewhat of a cold start in April hitting .222/.280/.424 but with five home runs. He then turned it up in May batting .376/.411/.615 before struggling again in June. He was red-hot in July and August, but slowed down in September. He did manage a walk-off home run in the last day of July to complete a sweep of the Los Angeles Angels where all three wins were walk-off home runs. The Rangers were in first as late as September 4, but went into a swoon after that where they lost nine of ten. By September 22 they looked to be out of the race entirely as they were behind the Rays and the then-Cleveland Indians. However, they went on a seven-game win streak at the end of the season to tie the Rays for the Wild Card Spot. A year after appearing in the Wild Card Game, the Rangers had to play a tie-break Game 163 just to get to that stage. The Rangers got to host the tie-break game as they won the season series against the two teams 4-3. They had to rely on their young rookie Martin Perez, as ace Darvish had pitched the day before just to get to the tie-breaker. The Rays got to put their hopes on their own ace, defending Cy Young winner David Price. Adrián went into the game leading the league with 198 hits. As the tie-break game counted as a regular season game, he could potentially get to 200 hits for the second time in his career. He doubled in the second with the Rangers down 1-0 to give him 199 hits. However, he was stranded at second, and the Rays extended their lead to 3-0 an inning later. The Rangers could never get back into the game, just as Adrián couldn't get that 200th hit. The Rangers season ended with a 5-2 loss, with Adrián stuck on 199 hits. He did have another solid year, as in addition to his 199 hits he hit .315/.371/.509 with 30 home runs and 92 RBIs. His fielding slipped and he lost both the Fielding Bible Award and the Gold Glove to Baltimore Orioles rookie Manny Machado, but Adrián still got some MVP votes. It didn't matter in the end, as the Rangers couldn't even advance to the playoffs.
By 2014 it was clear that the Rangers' investment in Adrián Beltré was a solid one, in spite of all the criticism that came with it. He had contributed with both a strong bat and an airtight glove. Adrián had continued with his free-swinging ways, but he had cut down on his strikeouts, and his on base percentage had increased every year. By some measures 2014 was Adrián's best season of offense while with the Rangers. He missed some time early in the season due to a left quadriceps strain, but came back as strong as ever. He ended the season with a slash line of .324/.388/.492. His power had dropped, possibly from the leg injury and as a result his slugging percentage fell below .500 for the first time since 2009. Nevertheless, he tied his career high with his .388 on-base percentage, while his batting average was the highest since his 2004 season. He walked 57 times, which was the most since he walked 61 times as a 20-year-old in 1999. He also reached an important milestone on June 25, 2014. Facing the Tigers, Adrián bounced a single up the middle off of starter Drew Smyly for the 2,500th hit of his career. However, while Adrián had a solid season, the rest of the team did not. The Rangers made news by trading their slick-fielding second baseman Ian Kinsler for power-hitting first baseman Prince Fielder. Prince turned out to be a bust. The rest of the team succumbed to injuries in unprecedented numbers, including Darvish who had to have Tommy John surgery due to a ruptured ulnar collateral ligament. The team that had been competitive for years fell to a 67-95 record, and fell to last place, even behind the Houston Astros who was coming off a 51-111 season in 2013.
One of Adrián's hallmarks was a remarkable ability to play through pain. His legendary toughness comes from an insatiable desire to play, and this was first evident to many observers when he tried to practice with a colostomy bag following his botched appendectomy in spring training 2001. He had his shares of muscle strains and tears throughout his career, but he always seemed to come back from these injuries earlier than predicted. For example, he came back from his contused testicle in 2009 in only two weeks when some were thinking he'd miss the rest of the season. The 2015 season became a showcase for his ability to play through pain. Both Adrián and the Rangers were falling short of expectations through an afternoon game against the Boston Red Sox on May 31, 2015. Adrián was hitting .251/.289/.404, his worst numbers through the end of May since his dreadful 2009 season, although he did hit his 400th home run on May 15. The Rangers were also sitting at .500 and in third place behind the Angels and the surprising Astros who were leading the division. However, just because his numbers were poor didn't mean Adrián wasn't playing hard. He still had an internal desire to succeed, and he showed it in that game. In the first with the Rangers down 1-0 and a runner on third, Adrián gutted out an eight-pitch at bat and drove in the tying run with a groundout. When he came up again in the third, the Rangers were down again 2-1, Adrián singled to tie the game once more. Adrián led off the fifth with a single. The next batter Mitch Moreland hit a grounder that could have been turned for a double play, but Adrián slid hard into second headfirst to break it up. The double play failed, but in the process Adrián jammed his left thumb against the first base bag and had to leave the game. The Rangers came back to win the game on a walk-off double by prodigal son Josh Hamilton.
The initial reports were that Adrián strained a ligament in this thumb and would be out for two weeks. However, what was not revealed until the end of the season was that the ligament was torn almost completely off the bone. Nevertheless, Adrián was itching to return and was back in the lineup at the end of June. By then the Rangers had moved into second place, but they were still four games behind the Astros. Adrián struggled to kick-start his offense, but he began to get his groove back as July went into August. This turnaround was highlighted by a game on August 3 against the division-leading Astros where he hit for the cycle for the third time. Once again, he started out with a triple, before adding a double and a single by the third inning. He'd have multiple opportunities to get the home run, but he preferred to get it done quickly, hitting one out in left in the fifth. He was the fourth player to record three cycles, and the first since Babe Herman, who played from 1926 to 1937 with a cameo in the war year of 1945. The cycle sparked a hot streak when the Rangers went 36-21, including eight straight wins against the Astros. By the time the dust had settled, the Rangers had clinched their first division title since 2011 with an 88-74 record, which was impressive considering they were under .500 in August. Adrián's power had gone down due to the thumb injury, as he went .287/.334/.453 with only 18 home runs, but he was still the top player on the team when factoring his defense. He was assisted by several other players with poor 2014 seasons who turned things around in 2015, including Prince Fielder and Korean outfielder Shin-Soo Choo. The Rangers also made a successful trade with the Phillies where they got their ace Cole Hamels and reliever Jake Diekman.
The Rangers' opponents in the Division Series were the Toronto Blue Jays, who were in the playoffs for the first time since winning the World Series in 1993 and were one of the best teams in the American League, with a 93-69 record. The Rangers were eager to have a post-season upset, and they started their quest for a title in Game 1. Adrián walked in the first before Prince Fielder hit a slow bouncer to second. Adrián slid hard to break up the double play, but was unsuccessful, and even worse he strained his back on the play. Despite the pain, Adrián stayed in the game, getting steroid shots between innings. The Rangers took a 1-0 lead in the third, and with rookie outfielder Delino DeShields on second, Adrián lined a single to center. Delino came around to score, extending the lead to two, but Adrián was in clear discomfort when he jogged to first, where he stayed after Fielder grounded out. He tried to take his defensive position in the bottom of the inning, but the training staff had to take him out of the game. The Rangers ended up winning the game and the next game to take a 2-0 lead. However, the Rangers lost Game 3 at home, and Adrián was surely eager to get back into action. He came back in Game 4, but even though he singled twice he couldn't keep the Blue Jays from winning 8-4. It all came down to Game 5. Adrián insisted on playing again, but contributed only a harmless single in the third. The Rangers nevertheless took a 3-2 lead into the bottom of the 7th on a controversial obstruction play that led to a lengthy delay. When play resumed, the bottom fell out for the Rangers. They made three errors on three routine grounders, two of by the normally sure-handed Elvis Andrus. This allowed the tying run to score on a misplayed pop-up, then Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista iced the game with a three-run home run punctuated by an emphatic bat-flip. The Rangers down weakly in the final two innings, with Adrián grounding into a force-out in his last plate appearance, and the season was over. Still, Adrián had to be optimistic about how the 2015 Rangers came back from oblivion to win the division.
Adrián had proven to be one of the best and most popular players in Rangers history after his first five seasons. His six-year contract signed before the 2011 season was set to conclude after 2016. However, Adrián surely enjoyed playing in Texas. Plus, the Rangers had a promising crop of young players including DeShields who came over from the Astros as a Rule 5 draft pick, three-true-outcome savant Joey Gallo, and fellow Dominican Nomar Mazara. He expressed interest in extending his contract, and the Rangers were also more than happy to reciprocate. They had discussions during spring training, but while they couldn't get a deal done by the time the season started, negotiations continued, and by April 15, 2016 the two parties put the finishing touches on a two-year, $36 million extension. By that time Adrián was off to a decent start, hitting .283/.340/.522 with two home runs and nine RBIs, and the Rangers were tied for first with the Angels. With the contract talks behind him, and having his thumb and back healed up, Adrián went out and had another great season. He ended 2016 hitting .300/.358/.521, and more importantly after back-to-back seasons where he hit only 19 and 18 home runs respectively, his home run total shot up to 32 as he drove in 100 runs for the first time since 2012. Adrián also took a major step towards an important milestone on August 24, 2016 against the Reds. With the teams tied 5-5 in the eighth, Adrián doubled with a runner on second to drive in the go-ahead run. It was also the 2,900th hit of his career.
The fans in Texas had a front row seat for Adrián's brilliant play for years, but he never seemed to be quite as well-known on a national level. Part of it was that he spent the majority of his career in teams with a relatively small fanbase such as Seattle and of course Texas. Another was that for most of his career he had the unfair and untrue label of performing well only in contract years. People that had the temerity to suggest that Adrián was a future Hall of Famer was usually greeted with laughter and derision. However, by 2016 fans around the country were beginning to take notice of Adrián Beltré. Adrián has always played with unbridled intensity, yet when he arrived in Texas he learned that he could also slow down and have fun. He began showing off his playful side, and it never shined more than in 2016. Fans were already familiar with his intense reaction to head pats as well as his trademark kneeling swings, but his many other antics would eventually go viral. He would perform a small dance on close inside pitches. He would throw a ball against the chest of the opposing team's third base coach. He would dancing on the basepaths, play a form of pat-a-cake with an opposing infielder, gently push baserunners off the bag, walk to the plate with his batting helmet on backwards. He also formed a special big brother/little brother relationship with his infield neighbor Elvis Andrus. Elvis had taken over the job as chief tormenter on Adrián's sensitive head. Adrián would get him back by mimicking catching pop flies. Elvis would return the favor and back and forth it goes. Fans had no shortage of entertainment when watching Adrián Beltré play..
The 2016 Rangers finished the season with a 95-67 record and they cruised to a second straight division title. Analysts were mostly skeptical about the team as they scored only eight more runs than they allowed, but Adrián was going back to the playoffs. Once again their opponents were the Toronto Blue Jays, who was the Wild Card team an inferior 89-73 record, but had a +93 run differential, and they won the season series four games to three. The two teams had a contentious regular season following the controversial Game 5 the year before. It climaxed in a game on May 15. Rookie Matt Bush, the former 1.1 draft pick making only his second Major League appearance following a conversion to pitcher and signed after serving three years in prison for a hit and run, hit Bautista in the arm. Former Ranger Justin Smoak hit a grounder to Adrián, who threw it to second baseman Rougned Odor for the force-out. Bautista tried to break up the double play with a hard slide, which Odor didn't like it, and the two started jawing at each other. Odor shoved Bautista, then threw a right hook that connected with Bautista's cheek. Adrián was there to hold Bautista up and keep him from getting at the smaller Odor. The image of Odor connecting with his punch with enough strength to jostle Bautista's glasses were all over the sports media for weeks. Now the two teams were post-season opponents once again. The Rangers knew they had the potential to win, but that wasn't the same as winning. They lost Games 1 and 2 at home by scores of 10-1 and 5-3, with Adrián contributing only a single in Game 1 and a double in Game 2. The series shifted to Canada with the Blue Jays having a chance to sweep. Toronto got out in front 5-2, but the Rangers stormed back to take a 6-5 lead. The Blue Jays came back to tie the game, and then in the 10th inning the Blue Jays scored the winning run on a throwing error by Odor while trying to complete an inning-ending double play. Adrián's season came to an end short of a title once again.
2017 would be a big season for Adrián Beltré. He was heading to his seventh season with the Rangers who have been very good for most of his time there, but the title has remained elusive. He was about to be 38 years old, and while he was still capable at playing at a very high level, he was also heading to his 20th season in the Majors, and he likely knew he was closer to the end of his career than the beginning. Still, he was getting himself ready to have another shot at the World Series title. Besides that, there was another baseball tournament that captured his attention. The spring of 2017 featured the fourth edition of the World Baseball Classic. The World Baseball Classic started in 2006 as an international tournament in the same vein as soccer's World Cup. The big selling point for the WBC was that unlike all other international tournaments, it has the participation of Major League players. The first two tournaments happened in 2006 and 2009, both of them were won by Japan. Afterwards it would be held every four years, so the third tournament happened in 2013. That year the Dominican Republic knocked off the reigning champions to capture the title. Adrián Beltré is proud of his Dominican heritage, and in fact still has a home in Santo Domingo where he stays in the off-season. He played in the first classic, but missed the next two with his shoulder injury in 2009 and with a calf injury in 2013. He was surely disappointed to have missed the title, but was determined to play in the latest one to help the Dominican team defend their title. However, while working out over the off-season he strained his left calf muscle again. It was initially thought that he would be out for three weeks and he would have to miss the early parts of the tournament, but he wasn't going to let his calves stop him again. He came back early to be present for the tournament. He struggled, getting only one hit in the and the Dominican never even made it out of the first round. With the Dominicans eliminated, Adrian went back to regular Rangers spring training. He felt like he was close to getting his swing back, but he injured his calves again, this time on the right side. Unable to bear weight on his right legs, the 2017 season started without Adrián Beltré.
With their star third baseman out, the Rangers spent the first month of the season struggling. Part of it was due to a complete collapse by the Texas bullpen, but top prospect Joey Gallo also had a difficult time filling Adrián's shoes with his brand of three-true outcomes baseball. Adrián was doing his best to rehabilitate his leg in time to spend the minimum 10 days on the disabled list, but he re-aggravated it while jogging a week into the season, pushing his return back even further. The team finished April 11-14, and even spent a few days dead last in the division. However, the Rangers began heating up in May, even embarking on a 10-game winning streak that was their longest since 2011. Even then they were looking up at the resurgent Astros, who had become the best team in the game. By this time Adrián was making some progress on his rehabilitation, and there was some hope that he can return soon. Ten days after the winning streak concluded, Adrián was taking some fielding practice in a last test for his calf muscles. He performed to a satisfactory level for manager Jeff Banister, and he made his season debut that night, picking up a single in five at-bats. He was finally making progress towards that 3,000th hit. He was doing his best to make up for lost time, getting hits in his first six games back and hitting .391/.444/.652. However, in the seventh game back he inverted his left foot while stepping on first base following an RBI groundout in the first. He stayed in the game and even got a single for hit number 2,952, but eventually had to leave the game in the sixth due to discomfort, and afterwards was diagnosed with an ankle sprain. Fans were concerned he'd have to go back on the disabled list. However, he joined the team on their road trip to Washington DC, and took some fielding and batting practice. He felt so good after that the practice sessions that he was back in the lineup for the middle game of the series against the Washington Nationals.
Adrián continued his assault on the history books, but he couldn't maintain his hot bat as his season average fell from the .385 it was at upon his return and quickly dropped below .300. Nevertheless, he was still getting his share of hits, and by the time the Rangers embarked on a ten-game homestand on July 24 he had 2,989 career hits, just 11 from 3,000. This would turn out to be a homestand that few would ever forget. He burst out in the opening game against the Miami Marlins, going four for four, although he couldn't prevent a shutout at the hands of a trio of Marlins pitchers. He was held hitless in the middle game which the Rangers won. Then came the series finale on July 26. Adrián walked in the first, but then recorded three more hits. The Rangers were getting crushed 18-5 going into the bottom of the eighth, but the home team put together a small rally, scoring a run and loading the bases with two outs. With Nomar Mazara at the plate, Adrián came out onto the on deck circle with a chance to get his second four-hit game in three nights. In baseball, the on-deck circle is a place near the dugout where the next batter in the lineup can take practice swings and make mental preparations about the upcoming plate appearance. Nowadays on-deck circles are a plastic circle that can be moved around. Most players have gradually started to stand away from the on-deck circle and more towards the center of the field behind home plate. Some say it's to avoid line drives, but others believe that players do this to get a better look at the pitcher. Adrián is one of those players that stands further away from the on-deck circle than others. Most of the time nobody gives a big deal, but on this particular day the second base umpire and crew chief Gerry Davis called Adrián out and told him to get back on the on-deck circle. Adrian surely preferred his spot, but he also didn't want to disobey the umpire, so he decided to compromise. He walked over to the on-deck circle and dragged it to where he was standing. Most of the crowd were amused by the sight, but Davis was not. He ejected Adrián on the spot. The whole stadium was shocked. Here was a future Hall of Fame player coming up in a crucial spot in the game while he's chasing a milestone, and he got ejected. Manager Jeff Banister came out to argue, but to no avail. Adrián's night ended with 2,996 hits.
July 30, 2017 was a big day in Texas Rangers history, as the Hall of Fame induction ceremonies were being held over 1,600 miles away in Cooperstown, New York, and the legendary Rangers catcher Ivan Rodriguez was among the five players and executives being honored. Of course, the 32,437 fans that braved the hot Texas Sun were hoping for a doubly historic day, The Rangers had seen a player of theirs reach 300 wins (Nolan Ryan on July 31, 1990) and 500 home runs (Rafael Palmeiro on May 11, 2003), but they have yet to see one of their own get to 3,000 hits. The man Showalter tasked with preventing history was left-hander Wade Miley, a former Rookie of the Year runner-up who was struggling massively in his first full season with the Orioles. Adrián was the clean-up hitter, a spot he occupied for most of his tenure in Texas. Of course, that also meant he couldn't get his milestone hit in the first as Miley retired the first three hitters in order. When Adrián led off the second, the fans around the ballpark rose in eager anticipation. Miley led off with a called strike, but fell behind in the count as he threw three straight balls. Adrián thought the fifth pitch was also too far inside, but home plate umpire Chris Segal, a minor league call-up umpire at the time, called it a strike. Fans booed, but Adrián had another pitch for which he could get his 3,000th hit. The next pitch was a sinker well below the strike zone. Adrián struggled early in his career to lay off those sinking pitches. Part of his success late in his career was his ability to recognize and avoid swinging at the pitches beneath the strike zone. However, either because of the gravity of the situation or because he was just plain fooled, he swung over the pitch and struck out. The milestone would have to wait.
Rodriguez had said that if Adrián were to get his milestone hit before his Hall of Fame speech, he would have given a shoutout to the fellow Rangers legend for his accomplishment. However, the strikeout meant that "Pudge" would have to be giving his speech with Adrián's 3,000th hit in the future. As he was delivering his speech, the Orioles were battering Rangers starter Martin Perez to the tune of four runs on four hits and a walk in the top of the fourth. Perez finally escaped the inning, and thanks to a Carlos Gomez in the third, Adrián was due to be the third batter up in the bottom of the fourth. His infield partner Elvis Andrus led off the inning by flying out to center. However, his fellow Dominican countryman Mazara followed with a walk. That brought Adrián up with his fourth chance at making history. He was certainly aware of the fact that he has had three hitless at-bats between his last hit. He was possibly also aware that the Rangers were down four, and haven't scored a run since he and Mike Napoli scored in the fifth inning of the series opener two nights ago. He was hoping to ignite the offense and maybe secure the milestone that he had been chasing since his Major League debut on June 24, 1998, almost 20 years prior. Home plate umpire Segal went to get more balls in his ball bag from the bat boy, but soon everybody settled into position.
The first pitch from Miley missed inside. Adrián moved his hands, but held up for the pitch to be ball one. Miley's second pitch was low, and while Adrián swung at a simliar pitch with the count full in the second inning, he made no motion to swing at this pitch. Baltimore catcher Welington Castillo jogged out to hand-deliver the ball to Miley and also say a few words to his pitchers. The Rangers were virtually all perched at the front of the home dugout, although Adrián's good friend and chief tormentor Elvis Andrus stayed behind in the shade. Miley's third pitch was also low and inside, and causing Adrián to do a little hop. By this time the crowd was getting restless. This was the second straight three-ball count that Miley had on Adrián, and this time the count was 3-0. It is customary for batters to take a 3-0 pitch, because if the pitcher has thrown three straight balls then the chances of a fourth ball is fairly high, and nobody wants to make an out on a 3-0 count. Adrián had faced 330 3-0 counts in his career, and has walked 307 times on them. However, he has been aggressive before, rocketing 11 other hits on 3-0 counts, including his first of two hits against Tillman two days earlier, and another against Wade Miley of all people in Baltimore on July 20 for hit #2984. Still, the crowd couldn't help but think that Miley was going to pitch around Adrián to deprive him of another opportunity to get his milestone hit.
Miley got set for his fourth pitch of the plate appearance. Adrián stood at home plate with his slightly closed stance that he had acquired from hitting coach Tim Wallach 13 years earlier, letting his bat sway casually in the air. Miley wound up and delivered a fastball that was 91.3 mph as it left his hand, according to Statcast data. It had some slight horizontal movement and was sailing to the inside of the strike zone. Adrián recognized the hittable pitch and unleashed a powerful swing. He pulled the ball on the ground, like he did with all four of the balls he put in play the night before. However, the ball left of the bat at a speed of well over 98 mph, and it rocketed past Baltimore third baseman Manny Machado. Third base umpire Bruce Dreckman signaled the ball stayed within the foul line, and Adrián Beltré had become the 31st player in Major League history to record 3,000 hits. The ball continued to bounce into foul territory and caromed off the wall past the security guard and the ballgirl. Orioles left fielder Joey Rickard gave chase, but slipped as he change directions to adjust for the carom. He fielded the ball and threw it back into the infield towards second baseman Jonathan Schoop, who caught it as Adrián jogged in with a stand-up double. The Rangers unfurled a large sign in center field saying "Congratulations Adrián Beltré 3,000 Career Hits". As Adrián took off his batting helmet and wiped the sweat off his brow, Schoop came by to give him the ball and a small hug. Rangers first base coach Hector Ortiz came up to Adrián and gave him the first big hug while a bat boy collected the ball, then together they walked with to first base where his teammates had congregated.
The game paused while the team celebrated Adrián 's accomplishment. His family came onto the field, with his kids came rushing out heading to right center field. They removed some tarp with the help of Rangers staffers to reveal that the "Adrián Beltré 3000 Hits" logo had been printed on the wall. Adrián was getting hugs from his teammates, but when his children ran back to the infield he welcomed with open arms. The rest of his family arrived in time to celebrate. Sandra Beltré got to her husband and gave him a kiss followed by a big hug and a second kiss. He then went on to give a great big hug to his mother Andrea Perez who had given birth to him then helped raise him in Santo Domingo all those many years ago. After that he gave a hug to his father Bienvenido, the man the folks in Café del Herrera called "El Negrito," and the man who instilled in Adrián a love for the game and the drive to succeed in the game. But there was still a game to be played, and after almost five minutes of celebrating, Adrián was ready for the game to resume. He would later come around to score the second Rangers run after Rougned Odor hit a two-run single. Alas, the Orioles had the last laugh. They piled on several more runs as they spoiled Adrián's milestone day with a 10-6 victory.
With the 3,000-hit milestone out of the way, Adrián could finally turn back to what was most likely truly important to him: helping the Rangers win. The loss sent the Rangers to a 50-54 record, 5.5 games behind the Kansas City Royals for the second playoff spot. It was a daunting task, but there were two months remaining, and two years prior Texas overcame an eight-game deficit against the Astros to make the playoffs. Now unburdened by the pressure of the milestone, Adrián went on another hitting spree, culminating in a three-hit game against Houston on August 12. Earlier in the day the Rangers held a ceremony for their new Hall of Famer Ivan Rodriguez. "I-Rod" gave Adrián his shoutout, then jokingly rebuked him for getting to the milestone 20 minutes too late for the shoutout to happen in the speech. The team also announced that Adrián would be getting a similar celebrating for his 3,000th hit on September 8.
With Adrián hitting .337/.413//596 in the one month after reaching the 3,000th-hit milestone, the Rangers were clawing their way back into the Wild Card race. By August 31 Texas was at .500 but only three games out from the second Wild Card spot. Adrián and the Rangers were hoping to keep the good times rolling in the second game of a series against the Astros, which was moved to a neutral site in Tampa Bay due to Hurricane Harvey making landfall in Texas the week before. The Rangers rejected a proposal to hold the series in Arlington in exchange for a road series in Houston later. The rejection was widely criticized, but served the Rangers well as they won the first two games against Houston and were going for the sweep. However, the Astros held a 2-1 lead going into the bottom of the seventh. With one out and former Ranger Carlos Beltran on first, rookie J.D. Davis hit a bouncer towards third base. Adrián ranged well to his left and fielded the ball, but as he took a few steps in preparation to throw to first for the out he ended up recoiling in pain instead. He had to leave the game, and had to watch as the Rangers lost the game 5-1. Even worse, MRI showed a grade 2 hamstring strain, an injury that usually required a four-week recovery.
So the Rangers would be without their future Hall of Famer, quite possibly for the rest of the season. The team held their celebration for Adrián as scheduled, with numerous guests and tributes and even a gift of an all-terrain vehicle that Adrián had said he wanted. Yet when the ceremony ended he had to return to the clubhouse and watched as his teammates pull off a comeback victory against the New York Yankees. In fact the Rangers hung tough with Adrián out. By September 12, Texas was still at .500 within striking distance of the second Wild Card spot. With the team in the playoff race, Adrián decided he needed to activate his superpower and make a quick return from injuries that would cripple most other people. He was activated from the disabled list that day, less than two weeks after the initial strain. He showed up as a pinch-hitter a day later, then entered the lineup as the regular designated hitter. He performed admirably, hitting .286/.311/.405 in the ensuing 12 games, but he couldn't keep the team from falling out of the playoff race. Rangers manager Jeff Banister decided to give Adrián the rest of the season off to allow him to rest his hamstring, although Adrián still made an appearance in the final game of the season. He recorded a single in two at-bats before departing to cheers after being lifted for a pinch-runner. Thus ended one of the most eventful seasons of Adrián Beltré's career.
Adrián went into the 2018 season at a bit of a crossroads. He had missed 68 games due to a variety of lower body injuries as his 94 games played were his fewest since the 1998 season when he made the jump from AA to the Majors in late June. Yet he was still a productive player. His .312 batting average and ..383 on-base percentage both led the team, and his .532 slugging percentage were just five points behind three-true-outcome slugger Joey Gallo for the lead. However, the Rangers also went 78-84, the second losing season during Adrián's tenure with the team, and there were no injury excuses like 2014. While Adrián still had one year on his extension, he told reporters late in the 2017 season that he had no interest in hanging around for a "rebuild," where a team would trade off current players in an effort to build up on prospects for future success. He cited the team's trade of their former ace pitcher Yu Darvish just a day after his milestone hit. Adrián had conversations with general manager Jon Daniels in the off-season. Evidently both sides were pleased, as Adrián Beltré went into spring training and the regular season as the Opening Day third baseman.
Yet by 2018 the Rangers were dealing with a very different competitive landscape within the AL West. The Houston Astros had completely shed their labels as punching bags as they won 101 games and took home their first World Series title. The Los Angeles Angels finished 2017 below .500, but they still had the best player in baseball in Mike Trout, and they signed the brilliant two-way player Shohei Ohtani from Japan's Nippon Ham Fighters. The Seattle Mariners and Oakland Athletics both finished tied with or behind the Rangers, but had their own share of quality players. Few analysts were expecting the Rangers to be competitive, and many analysts thought that Texas would finish last. Nevertheless, with 20 years of Major League experience Adrián surely knew that what matters was only what happens on the field. And Adrián Beltré is always ready to play. He shook off an early season slump to put together a .310/.366/..437 slashline after an eighth-inning single against the A's on April 24. However, he had a fairly uncharacteristic power outage, with only one home run in the season. And he couldn't stop the Rangers from falling into last place less than two weeks into the season, a position they still occupied with only eight wins in 24 games. And even worse, Adrián pulled up lame running out the single, and had to go back to the disabled list after an MRI showed a grade 1 strain to the left hamstrings. Yet Adrián is never one to stay on the disabled list for long. He had come back from a grade 2 hamstring strain in only two weeks the previous September. With only a grade 1 strain he was determined to come back in only two weeks, which he did with a triumphant three-hit game on May 8. However, he was back for only five games before re-aggravating his hamstring . This one kept him out a little bit longer, longer being two and a half weeks instead of just two weeks. He performed admirably in his return to the lineup, even blasting a few more home runs to add to his career totals.
With the Rangers firmly out of the race and the trade deadline coming at the end of July, there was some speculation that Adrián Beltré could end up being traded to a contender, such as the Boston Red Sox, one of his former teams who were establishing themselves as one of the best teams in baseball. Adrián had a no-trade clause in his contract and he had the potential to control his destiny. The trade machine picked up as the season went into July, and the Rangers made numerous trades, sending away relievers Keone Kela, Jake Diekman, and their Opening Day starter Cole Hamels. Yet Adrián Beltré remained a Texas Ranger. There were plenty of teams expressing interest including the Red Sox, the Philadelphia Phillies, the Atlanta Braves, and more. Yet none of the teams were willing to guarantee Adrián a starting role, a deal-breaker for both Adrián and Jon Daniels. The July 31 trade deadline wasn't the end of the trade rumors, as it was just the non-waiver trade deadline. Teams can still trade for a player that pass through waivers through the end of August and still have them play in the post-season. However, that deadline came and went and Adrián remained with the Rangers. Daniels later revealed that there was a club strongly interested in a trade, but he had a discussion with his veteran third baseman, who expressed his preference to stay with the Rangers. Adrián Beltré would remain a Texas Ranger through the end of 2018.
Of course, Adrián was gutting through his most difficult season since 2009. While he had a .311/.347/.442 slashline through the end of June, July and August were a different story. He slashed .223/.272/.306, very unsightly numbers for two months that he had traditionally dominated. He did continue to rise up the all-time hits leaderboard, passing some impressive luminaries along the way. On April 5, he recorded his 3,054th hit allowing him to pass Rod Carew for the most hits by a Latin-born player. On June 13, he reached hit number 3,090 allowing him to pass Ichiro Suzuki for the most hits by a foreign-born player. And on September 14, he managed to get his 3,155th hit, which passed George Brett to set a new record for hits among players that spent their careers primarily at third base. September became a brand new month for Adrián. Having shed the stresses of the trade rumors, he began displaying the power that eluded him for much of the season. He hit .279/.323/.651 in the season's final month, with eight homers that more than doubled his season totals. His final home run in the ballpark where he hit his first came in the first game of the final home series of the season, a game where he drove in six in a rain-shortened 8-3 win. Two days later, in the final home game of the season, Adrián started the game at third and came out to his defensive position for the sixth. However, interim manager Don Wakamatsu lifted Adrián for a defensive replacement, allowing him to receive a standing ovation from the home crowd. The Rangers finished their season with a six-game road trip. Adrián blasted a home run against the Angels, the 477th of his career. Then the team went on to Seattle, where Adrián played for five seasons. He started and recorded a hit in each game. He was doubled off first in the final game of the season, then in a rare show of camaraderie he went over and gave a hug to his former teammate and longtime friend Felix Hernandez. Later he came out for the sixth inning before being lifted for a defensive replacement, just as he did a week before.
The 2018 season was a difficult one for Adrián Beltré. He continued to deal with hamstring injuries, and his .273/.328/.434 slashline were his worst since his painful 2009 season before his second free agency period. Moreover, the Rangers fell to last place on April 9 and never climbed out of it. The baseball world soon began pondering whether he would be coming back to chase after 500 home runs, a mark he was just 23 home runs short, or if he would start the Hall of Fame countdown clock by announcing his retirement. Publicly he talked about wanting to consult his family and wanting to see if the desire to play is still present. However, as he revealed later privately he had made his decision to retire at the end of the season while rehabbing from one of his many hamstring injuries that plagued his final season. He held out to see if the desire would return, but when it didn't he decided to make his decision public. He called up his general manager Jon Daniels and said that he would be signing a contract to play one more year in Los Angeles with the Dodgers. Then after hearing Daniels sputter and squirm, he dropped the bombshell that he was indeed retiring. On November 20, 2018 he held a press conference in Arlington where he made it official. The career of Adrián Beltré, one of the game's best third basemen, was coming to a close.
While Adrián Beltré's baseball career has ended, his life continues on. He is finally able to enjoy being a husband to Sandra and a father to Cassandra, Adrián Jr., and Camila in the affluent community of Bradbury, California. His comfort in the domestic life was quickly evident that off-season as he was interviewed by a camera crew while shopping at JC Penney with his wife and two younger kids. When the interview told the family that she can buy something for the family, Adrián quickly asks if they can take the gifts and donate it to somebody, while Sandra wanted a set of pots and pans that Cassandra could use to prepare meals while volunteering at homeless shelters. The exchange was captured in a ad for JC Penney that debuted on YouTube just two weeks after his retirement announcement. He had since mentored his son Adrián Jr as "AJ" embarks on his own baseball career. He has also given back to his home country, raising funds to help build a baseball facility in the Dominican Republic as well as in the reconstruction of an old baseball stadium in Santo Domingo. He still shows up at Major League Baseball games in Southern California from time to time, but he has confirmed in interview that he has no regrets in retiring.
Adrián Beltré leaves behind a solid legacy as one of the game's best players. He had overcome his early struggles as well as some tough injuries, including one that came close to killing him, to put together a remarkable career. He had put together impressive counting stats in his 2,933 Major League games, a total that ranks 15th of all time. His 3,166 hits was the most by a foreign-born player at the time of his retirement, and although he was eventually passed by Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera he still ranks 18th all time. He knocked 477 home runs, which is 31st on the all-time list. More impressively, he is 11th all-time with 636 doubles. All told, his 1,151 extra-base hits is 15th most by any player in Major League history. He was a run-producing machine, as his 1,707 RBIs ranks in the top 25th. He didn't score quite as many runs, but his 1,524 runs scored is still tied for 65th all-time. Of course, while his hitting stats are impressive, it was with the glove that Adrián Beltré truly shined. He played ,2759 defensive games at third base, second most only to Brooks Robinson. He also ranks second to Brooksie with his 523 double plays, and trails Robinson and Graig Nettles with his 5,182 assists. His 2,194 putouts at third only ranks seventh. However, his Total Zone Run, a statistic designed using play by play and batted ball data to assess the number of plays above or below average, ranks second all-time among third basemen and 13th all-time among all fielders. Adrián truly shined in the position he claimed for himself as a teenager in the Dominican Republic.
One honor that had eluded Adrián Beltré was an MVP award. He did receive votes in eight of his 21 seasons, seven straight from 2010 to 2016, and he finished in the top 10 in voting six times including a second place finish in 2004 behind only Barry Bonds. Despite this gap in his baseball resume, he did have no shortage of awards and honors throughout his career. He won five Gold Gloves for his defensive prowess at third base, and took home the first two American League Platinum Glove awards in back to back seasons. He also took home four Silver Slugger awards for his offensive contributions as a third baseman. Even though he did not make his first All-Star team until he was 31 years old, he still managed four All-Star appearances throughout his career. He was honored by the Phi Delta Theta fraternity with the Lou Gehrig Memorial Award in 2014 in honor of his charitable contributions around North Texas. In the years since his retirement, the Texas Rangers have bestowed incredible honors upon Adrián, first by retiring his number 29 in June of 2019, and later by inducting him into the Rangers Hall of Fame in 2021. And finally, in 2024, Adrián Beltré received the ultimate honor: election into the Baseball Hall of Fame!
Sources: I thought my Randy Johnson biography back in 2009 was long, but it was only 6,000 words. Since I am writing this a week before it posts I am able to go all out on frivolous details, and now I have this 13,000-word behemoth. Once again, the majority of the resources came from Baseball Reference, which has everything from minor league stats to monthly splits to play by play. I also reviewed certain plays on MLB Video at times. I used a lot of contemporary accounts about things such as contracts and injuries from sources like ESPN and the Los Angeles Times. The JockBio biography for Adrián Beltré was a good source of information about Adrián's early minor league years. The Baseball America 1997 Almanac that I got 21 years ago when I was 12 also came in handy for some information about Adrián's days as a prospect. Jorge Arangure Jr.'s Sports on Earth report on the Beltré signing was a great article about the controversies and the consequences. Alan Shipnuck's Sports Illustrated article about Beltré's 2004 season was a handy reference for the changes that happened and some glimpses into his private life. Tyler Kepner's New York Times article about Beltré's unorthodox fielding was a good resource about his fielding. Jonah Keri's Grantland article about Adrián Beltré was also a good reference.
Adrián Beltré is an intensely private person and it's hard to get information about his early life and about his family. The JockBio had some information about his early days, and BBWAA Career Excellence Award winner Gerry Fraley's Dallas Morning News article about Felipe Alou's connections to the Beltré family gave some detail about Beltré's birth. The information related to his schooling and eventual signing seem kind of suspect, so I ended up Googling stuff trying to find any viable-looking information. I finally found some Dominican articles, one about his childhood home at Café de Herrera and another about Pablo Peguero that seem to present a more credible story. I did have to rely on Google Translate to understand them, so who knows if the information is accurate. His minor league statistics are readily available online, but an interview he gave to ESPN provided a lot of stories from his minor league career. The information about his early career was listed from an article by Dallas Morning News.
Adrián Beltré is an intensely private person and it's hard to get information about his early life and about his family. The JockBio had some information about his early days, and BBWAA Career Excellence Award winner Gerry Fraley's Dallas Morning News article about Felipe Alou's connections to the Beltré family gave some detail about Beltré's birth. The information related to his schooling and eventual signing seem kind of suspect, so I ended up Googling stuff trying to find any viable-looking information. I finally found some Dominican articles, one about his childhood home at Café de Herrera and another about Pablo Peguero that seem to present a more credible story. I did have to rely on Google Translate to understand them, so who knows if the information is accurate. His minor league statistics are readily available online, but an interview he gave to ESPN provided a lot of stories from his minor league career. The information about his early career was listed from an article by Dallas Morning News.
The information about Santo Domingo and the Dominican history were largely taken from Wikipedia articles, one on Dominican history and the other on Sports in the Dominican Republic. Satchel Paige's time in the Dominican was so dramatic there was a book written about it called "The Pitcher and the Dictator." I didn't have time to get the book and read it but I did find this article by Atavist magazine to be a helpful summary. And with that my work on Part II on this accursed series is done. From now on I will be looking mostly at my own personal experiences, which makes it easier to write for me, but may make it more boring for you.
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