From rubbing his head to marveling at his pain tolerance, a teammate, an opponent, a coach and an exec share their stories of an MLB legend.
ESPN baseball reporter. Covered the L.A. Rams for ESPN from 2016 to 2018 and the L.A. Angels for MLB.com from 2012 to 2016.Adrián Beltré became a first-ballot Hall of Famer on Tuesday night, when the Baseball Writers' Association of America revealed its ballots. His credentials -- 3,166 hits, 477 home runs, a .286/.339/.480 career slash line and the third-highest WAR ever among third basemen -- made it a no-brainer.
But they weren't necessarily friends. Not close ones, at least. They competed in the same league -- sometimes, like in 2004, for the same MVP trophy -- then later in the same division. Their ambition created a wedge that only softened when their respective careers began to wind down. Retirement brought them closer.
"He does it from his heart; he doesn't do it just to put his name in the paper," Pujols said."That, to me, is what makes Adrián Beltré really special." "We talked like two friends," said Mota, the Dodgers' pinch-hitting legend who later spent four decades assisting their coaching staff."Not like instructor and player, but like two friends sharing in what we were going to try to do -- with the same idea, with the same purpose."Mota learned about Beltré shortly after the Dodgers signed him as a 15-year-old out of the Dominican Republic in 1994 .
"He handled it admirably," Mota said."He handled it in a great way because he recognized that he was at a level he belonged and just needed to make the necessary adjustments in order to succeed. That's what he ultimately realized. He knew it was a process. It wasn't easy. He was going to have his good days and his bad, but he was going to keep learning."
"He didn't like it very much because he hates it when people touch his head," Andrus said in Spanish."But like I told him, 'The only way I like to get hit by somebody is when you hit a home run, so I'm going to keep doing it and keep being annoying so you keep hitting home runs.'" The Rangers made the deal expecting the typical regression of a power hitter in his 30s. What they got instead was a renaissance. Over a six-year stretch from 2011 to 2016, Beltré slashed .308/.358/.516 while accumulating 167 home runs, 563 RBIs and 32.4 fWAR, seventh most in the majors.
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