The joy of Adrián Beltré

By Efrain Ruiz Pantin

Editor’s note: On Tuesday morning, Dominican icon Adrián Beltré announced his retirement, bringing an end to his 21-year career. One of the best all-around third basemen to ever play the game and a genuine character, he leaves an incredible legacy on and off the field. With the news this morning, we’re taking a look back at his career.

In the final week of the regular season, as the Rangers were getting ready to catch a flight from Anaheim to Seattle for their last series of the season, the team’s rookies wore chicken costumes. Among them was 39-year-old legend Adrián Beltré, playing the role of the farmer.

“They all told me that after 20 years, you become a rookie all over again,” Beltré told the media. “The guys were kind of asking for it. So, I said, ‘OK, if that’s what you want, then OK. ’”

That’s just one of many stories of Beltré making us laugh and reminding us that baseball is, after all, a game. And that even if your team has not been very good for most of the season, it’s OK to enjoy yourself.

This past season, as he weighed whether to play one more season or start the clock for his spot on the Hall of Fame ballot, it’s fitting that Beltré found time for one more of those episodes. Beyond the superficial silliness, his ability to have fun has been instrumental to his success. It’s an integral part of his makeup, as important as his work ethic, his legendary toughness and the support of his family.

Time for Fun

Beltré is the first to point out that it was not until his last years in Seattle, where he played from 2005 until 2009, that he realized that he needed to “stop taking everything so seriously.”

“It was when I learned how to enjoy the game that my talent took off a little bit more,” he said. “I was not like that at the beginning of my career. I was stressed most of the time. But then I started to enjoy the game and I learned that baseball is not everything and that there is a life outside of those lines. I learned that I shouldn’t be worried that much about what happened in the game.”

No one in baseball has ever accused Beltré of not taking his job seriously or of not caring. Quite the contrary. Barring an injury, giving Beltré a day off has proven almost impossible, even during the latter days of his career.

Former Rangers manager Ron Washington once hid under his desk because Beltré was looking for him after not being in the lineup to allow him to rest a sore hamstring.

“Fans don’t see that, how hard he works,” said his countryman and teammate, Nomar Mazara. “But we do.”

Always One More

Fan saw it on display when Beltré injured his back during Game 1 of the 2015 Division Series in Toronto. The pain was so severe that he told Rangers manager Jeff Banister that he only had one more swing in him. Beltré then went to the batter’s box and brought home a run with a single up the middle to put the Rangers up 2-0 in the top of the third.

Stubborn as always, Beltré took his position at third base before the bottom of the inning. Banister and the trainers basically forced him to leave the game. Beltré was crying as he approached the dugout.

That kind of commitment, as he said in an interview with ESPN in June 2017, may have to do with the fact that he has always believed that as a foreigner in the United States he needed to work harder and be better than the American players.

Family Time

Then there is family, an important institution for many Latinos, Beltré included. When he was chasing his 3,000th hit last year, he was adamant about having his wife Sandra and his three kids by his side, as well as his dad Bienvenido and mother Andrea.

After Beltré reached the milestone on July 30, the six of them were right there on the field at Globe Life Park in Arlington. It was a moment he will never forget. And not just because of the historic hit.

“What happened today after the hit has been the best moment of my life,” Beltré said during his postgame press conference. “I feel proud of them. I saw the joy in their faces, and a lot of things you do in your career you do for your kids and your family. My kids and my wife have been so supportive over the years… this moment was for them. When I saw that, I felt like I was on a cloud, because I really saw the joy in their faces. It was a nice moment to enjoy with them — my family, my wife.”

A Memorable Career

Beltré’s career numbers and everything he accomplished on the field will likely make it an easy choice for Baseball Writers’ Association of America voters when he’s finally on the Hall of Fame ballot.  There is really no need to dig deeper. But not doing so would be selling him short. Because there is way more meaning in the way he did things and what he represented while doing them.

In that joy he has brought to the game, the hard work he always puts in and the importance he places on having the support of family on the journey, Beltré embodies three things that in some ways define what Latinos and Latino immigrants like him are all about. And that’s a wonderful thing.

Featured Image: Richard Rodriguez / Getty Images Sport

Editor’s Note: This article originally published on Oct. 6