It was made official on Tuesday evening that Adrian Beltre will be a part of the 2024 Hall of Fame class. He will be inducted alongside Joe Mauer, Todd Helton, and manager Jim Leyland. With this honor, it is clear that Adrian Beltre will go down as the best Texas Rangers free agent signing in their history. It is not the most important, that honor will fall on the right-arm of Nolan Ryan. Beltre with his production throughout his tenure in Texas and now with this recognition is the best. Beltre quickly became a fan-favorite and the team and its fans showed their love to Beltre after the announcement was made.
Texas Rangers show appreciation to Adrian Beltre
Beltre played for four different organizations, the LA Dodgers, Seattle Mariners, Boston Red Sox, and Texas Rangers. Texas jumped out first after the announcement to recognize Beltre's accomplishment,
A simple tweet that shows him in a Texas Rangers uniform in the plaque room. It does kind of clue in on which hat will be on his plaque, but that has likely not been determined yet. It was fitting that Texas was the first one to get out there on social media with a post. They followed that up with tweets that show highlights from his career and stats that show why he is a Hall-of-Famer. Beltre is not getting that call on Tuesday if not for his time in Texas. Tom Verducci even made note of that on the broadcast. In 2011 Beltre was not on track to get inducted, it was what he did in his 30's that solidified his case to get to Cooperstown.
Beltre's case is more than just on-field production, it is the joy that he played the game with. He played the game with a child-like enthusiasm for the game combined with a competitiveness that drove him and the team to greater heights. That was shown directly through his relationship with shortstop Elvis Andrus. They played eight seasons together on the left-side of the infield. Fans came to love the on-field and off-field pranks they would pull on each other. Andrus was interviewed yesterday by MLB Network about that and what he thinks made Beltre into the Hall-of-Famer he now is,
The dedication to the craft and the game as Andrus says is what drove Beltre even late into his career. It should be no surprise that the organization spent much of Tuesday honoring the best third baseman that has ever played for the Texas Rangers and one of the best third basemen in the history of the game.