Former Texas Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre is one of three players who will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, this summer.
Beltre played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Rangers, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Seattle Mariners, and the Boston Red Sox, but his longest stint (eight years) was with Texas. He is the 13th person with Rangers ties to reach the Hall of Fame.
Rangers owner Ray Davis released a statement on Beltre’s achievement.
“For more than two decades, Adrian excelled both offensively and defensively as one of the top third basemen in Major League history,” it read. “His competitiveness and desire to be in the lineup everyday, no matter the circumstances, earned him the utmost respect and admiration from his peers. … He is a true legend of the game.”
Beltre played nearly 1100 games with the Rangers, hitting .304 with 199 home runs and 699 runs batted in (RBIs). He finished his career with the 18th-most hits and 31st-most home runs in MLB history, was a four-time All-Star, and won five Gold Gloves and four Silver Sluggers.
Former Minnesota Twins catcher Joe Mauer and Colorado Rockies first baseman Todd Helton will join him in Cooperstown.
Mauer spent his entire career with Minnesota and was the franchise’s building block in the 2000s. The six-time All-Star was the league’s best catcher for most of his career, and he played 15 seasons in his home state — winning five Silver Sluggers, three Gold Gloves, three batting titles, and an MVP.
He finished his career with a .306 batting average and the ninth-best career fielding percentage of any catcher.
Helton was a mainstay for Colorado, spending 17 years with the club as it burst onto the scene as an expansion team. His NL-leading .372 batting average in 2000 still ranks as the second-best hitting season in team history, and he is the franchise leader in home runs, hits, RBIs, and many other stats categories.
His offensive capabilities will get him the most attention, but he was also an exceptional defensive player. He was also the starting quarterback for the University of Tennessee football team before giving way to Peyton Manning.
Mauer and Beltre were both voted into the Hall of Fame in their first year on the ballot, while Helton makes the cut on his sixth try.
The three players will be inducted into the Hall of Fame on July 21st. Veteran manager Jim Leyland will join them as the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee’s inductee.
Notable players that came up shy of joining the Hall of Fame this year include Billy Wagner, Gary Sheffield, Carlos Beltran, Andruw Jones, Alex Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez, Omar Vizquel, and Torii Hunter.
Players who receive less than 5% of the vote each year are eliminated from future ballots. Eight players from this year’s ballot have been eliminated: catcher/designated hitter Victor Martinez, outfielders Jose Bautista and Matt Holliday, pitchers Bartolo Colon and James Shields, infielders Jose Reyes and Brandon Phillips, and former Rangers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez.
