Beltré ranks among greatest Rangers

By David Mullen

Since Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan retired in 1993, no Texas Rangers player has been more respected by players and fans than third baseman Adrián Beltré.

On January 23, Beltré was elected by the Baseball Writers Association of America to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum (HOF) in Cooperstown, N.Y. in his first year of eligibility. It is the highest honor bestowed upon a professional baseball player. 

Beltré is joined by Minnesota catcher Joe Mauer and Colorado Rockies first baseman Todd Helton. Beltré played for four teams, including eight seasons with Texas, while Mauer and Helton played for one team their entire career. Jim Leyland, who managed the Pittsburgh Pirates, Florida Marlins, Rockies and Detroit Tigers, was voted in by the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee and rounds out the Class of 2024.

San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Steve Kroner is a Hall of Fame voter. His 2024 ballot consisted of Beltré and Mauer, Carlos Beltran, Mark Buehrle, Alex Rodriguez, Gary Sheffield and relief pitcher Billy Wagner. 

“To me, Adrian Beltré was one of the three locks on the 26-man ballot; Joe Mauer and Billy Wagner were the other two,” Kroner said. “Beltré has about everything you’d want from a Hall of Famer: longevity (21 seasons), production (3,166 hits, 477 HRs, a .286/.339/.480 career slash line, five Gold Gloves) and consistency. In his final season of 2018, he put together a .278/.328/.434 slash line. It would be hard for me to find a reason not to vote for him.” 

Beltré received 95.1 percent of all votes. Helton — not on Kroner’s ballot — received 79.7 percent, and Mauer garnered 76.1 percent. Wagner missed joining the HOF by five votes. 

Prior to Beltré, 10 former Rangers players and managers have been inducted into the HOF. Pitcher Rich “Goose” Gossage and DH Vladimir Guerrero played for one year and pitcher Bert Blyleven and DH Harold Baines for two years in Texas. They don’t really count as Rangers. Gossage played for 10 different MLB teams in 22 seasons. Arlington was just a tour stop.  

Hall of Famer Whitey Herzog managed the team in 1973 but is best known as skipper of the Kansas City Royals and St. Louis Cardinals in the mid-1970s through 1990. Ted Williams was the first Texas Rangers manager in 1972, but he is in the Hall as the Boston Red Sox’ “Splendid Splinter.”  

That leaves five Hall of Famers — including Beltré — that played significant time with the Rangers. Pitchers Ferguson Jenkins and Gaylord Perry each had two stints with the club. While their time in Texas was memorable, the Rangers are not the team most associated with the pair of aces.

Jenkins was a three-time All Star and won his Cy Young Award with the Chicago Cubs. Perry, who played his first 10 seasons with the San Francisco Giants, won his two Cy Young Awards as a member of the Cleveland Indians and San Diego Padres. Jenkins is wearing a Cubs hat on his Hall of Fame plaque, and Perry — a notorious spitball pitcher who played for eight teams — entered the Hall wearing a Giants cap, no doubt with a foreign substance under the bill. 

Excluding Beltré, who will formally be inducted into the HOF on Sunday, July 21, Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez and Nolan Ryan are the only true Texas Rangers in the HOF. Rodriguez played his first 12 years and 13 years overall wearing the “T” on his cap. Fans watched Rodriguez grow from a 19-year-old defensive whiz kid into a consistent .300 hitter with power, an MVP and 10-time Rangers All-Star. Even though he won a World Series with the Marlins and played for the Tigers and Washington Nationals, Pudge will always be the Rangers’ prodigal son.  

Ryan was embraced by Texas Rangers fans like no other player. But he is more Texas than Rangers. Ryan was born in Refugio, Texas and raised and still resides in Alvin. 

He came up with the New York Mets and won a World Series ring at age 22. He pitched eight seasons with the California Angels and nine seasons with the Houston Astros. He joined the Rangers in 1988 as a 42-year-old free agent, which in Texas terms could be described as “rode hard and put away wet.”

In five seasons, he won 51 games with Texas, threw two no-hitters, beat the snot out of a mound-charging Robin Ventura and retired as a Ranger. He became a key part of the front office when the Rangers made their first World Series appearances that seems so 2010 to the newly crowned World Champions.  

Despite Pudge’s pedigree, Ryan is the most revered Ranger. Both are wearing a Rangers cap on their Hall of Fame plaques. But Ryan won more than 100 games each with Houston and California. The Angels retired his No. 30, and the Astros and Rangers have retired his No. 34, and all three teams elected Ryan to their team-specific Hall of Fame. Wife Ruth may object, but it is as if Ryan has three different families.     

Beltré played seven seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers, five seasons in Seattle and one season in Boston. But Beltré became a Hall of Famer with the Texas Rangers. While in his 30’s with Texas, he hit .304 with 199 HRs and 699 RBIs. He was the Rangers team leader on and off the field.

With the Rangers, Beltré did the impossible by keeping his infield neighbor shortstop Elvis Andres focused. The intense Beltré kept Elvis centered with “a little less conversation and a little more action,” which is a microcosm of Beltré’s performance on the field. He played the game with class and professionalism and joins Rodriguez and Ryan as the three true Texas Rangers in Baseball’s Hall of Fame.