Former Texas Rangers star third baseman Adrian Beltre will throw out the ceremonial first pitch ahead of Tuesday’s All-Star Game at Arlington, Texas.
Beltre will handle the honor just five days before he will be inducted into the Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, N.Y. Beltre, a first-ballot Hall of Famer, is serving as an ambassador for the All-Star festivities.
Beltre played the final eight seasons of his 21-year major league career with the Rangers. He was part of the Texas team that lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2011 World Series. He hit five homers that postseason, including two in the Fall Classic.
Beltre, now 45, was a four-time All-Star and won five Gold Gloves. He had 3,166 hits, 477 homers and 1,707 RBIs in 2,933 career games with the Los Angeles Dodgers (1998-2004), Seattle Mariners (2005-09), Boston Red Sox (2010) and Rangers (2011-18). Beltre had a .286 career batting average.
He will be the third player to be inducted into the Hall of Fame with a Rangers cap on his plaque, joining catcher Ivan Rodriguez and pitcher Nolan Ryan. Rodriguez, Ryan and pitcher Fergie Jenkins will also take part in All-Star Game festivities. Jenkins went into the Hall of Fame with a Chicago Cubs hat.
On Wednesday, Beltre will fly to New York to prepare for the Hall of Fame inductions and the other assorted festivities.
“I think once the speech is over … then I’m going to realize where I’m at, the people who are next to me and what I have accomplished and the group that, somehow, I’m going to be associated with,” Beltre said.
–Field Level Media
