Former Texas Rangers star Adrian Beltre voted into MLB Hall of Fame on first ballot

It came as no surprise, that Adrian Beltre has officially been elected to the MLB Hall of Fame. The announcement came this evening along with the announcement of his fellow classmates. Joining Beltre in Cooperstown this summer will be Joe Mauer, Todd Helton, and Jim Leyland who was elected late last year at the Winter Meetings.

Adrian Beltre career numbers

Beltre's career spanned 21 seasons and four organizations. He started his career with the Los Angeles Dodgers where he played his first seven MLB seasons. From there he went to Seattle and was a part of the Mariners for the next five seasons. A brief one-year stint with the Boston Red Sox came next before finally coming home to Texas and becoming the face of the Rangers for eight seasons to finish out his esteemed career. With all the bouncing around throughout his careers it will be interesting to see which hat that Beltre will end up wearing when he is inducted in July.

During those 21 seasons, Beltre played in 2,933 games, had 12,130 plate appearances, slashed .286/.339/.480, amassed 3,166 totals hits of which 636 were doubles, 38 triples, and 477 were home runs. Beltre scored 1,524 runs while driving in 1,707 runs and ended his career with a 116 OPS+. He was a four time All-Star, won the Silver Slugger four times, was a Gold Glove winner five times, and added two Platinum Gloves to his trophy case. He never won an MVP, but he did finish as high as 2nd (2004) and was in the top 10 in voting an astonishing six times.

First ballot Hall of Famer Adrian Beltre

No matter if a person is elected on their first ballot or their 10th, or perhaps if they were selected by the veterans committee, at the end of the day, they are Hall of Famers. With that being said, there is a bit of extra prestige that goes along with being a first ballot Hall of Famer. That is the group that Beltre finds himself, as he was elected in his first year of being on the ballot.

Beltre led the Hall of Fame class with the highest percentage of voters casting their ballots with his name on them. With 95.1% of the voters giving a nod to Beltre, there was little doubt that he was going to get in. But despite it being a forgone conclusion that he was going to get the call today, Beltre was still his humble self.

He was also his normal funny self. When the call came in, he acted like he wasn't going to answer the phone. Known for his on the field humor, Beltre didn't disappoint with yet another act that is sure to make fans smile and laugh.

This summer is going to be full of fun for Rangers fans as the reigning champs look to repeat, the team hosts the All-Star game, and now Adrian Beltre gets inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. There have been some rough patches to be a lover of the Rangers, but this is not one of them.

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