What’s the one thing we all, as kids, were told by our coaches and parents when it came to playing a sport? Have fun. Well, for 21 seasons, that’s all Adrian Beltre has done. Now, approaching age 40, Adrian has decided to hang up his spikes for good. On November 20, the Texas Rangers third baseman announced his retirement from baseball, ending an astonishing 21 season career with the Rangers, Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox and Seattle Mariners. For anyone who got a chance to see Beltre in action, you saw a consistently solid hitter who hit for both power and average, as well as having a strong glove at the hot corner. Although he may not have been seen as the best at his position at all times in his career, he was always near the top of the list. When talking about Beltre, it would be wrong to forget his infectious, fun-loving attitude, constantly showing fans that regardless of all the money he was making, Beltre was out there to simply have some fun playing the sport he loves.
Now, the next question that will immediately enter the minds of the baseball world is this: Is Adrian Beltre a Hall of Famer? The answer: you better believe it! Beltre ended his career with 3,166 hits, 477 home runs and a triple slash line of .286/.339/.480. The 4x All Star also finished in the top 3 of the MVP award, 2004 with LA and 2012 with TEX, and finished with a career WAR of 95.7. The astronomical WAR figure that Beltre posted throughout his career can prove to be the greatest factor of them all as it is becoming the most important statistic writers, analysts, and teams look at when evaluating a player.
To put his career in perspective amongst some of the greatest third basemen in history, here are some interesting facts and figures that may have gone unnoticed. He has the third most home runs among third basemen behind only Mike Schmidt and Eddie Mathews, both of which are Hall of Famers. He’s second in career hits behind only Paul Molitor and just above George Brett, both Hall of Famers. He has the most career RBIs among third basemen with 1,707, 84 more than Chipper Jones, again another Hall of Famer. And finally, his 95.7 career WAR is third among all third basemen in MLB history.
Top all of these numbers off with the fact that he was able to play at a high level of competition pretty much his entire career and that his play never truly declined as many may have anticipated. In fact, besides his finishing second to Barry Bonds for the 2004 NL MVP at age 25, Beltre really didn’t come into his own until after his age 30 season. All four of his All Star game appearances came after the age of 31. One of his more impressive seasons, in my mind, was his 2016 campaign where he batted .300 with a .358 OBP, 32 home runs, 31 doubles and 104 RBIs in 153 games at age 37.
As a fan of the game, all I can do is tip my cap to Adrian and say thank you for an amazing career. We’ll definitely be seeing you in Cooperstown real soon.
