ARLINGTON, Texas – Legendary third baseman and Hall of Famer Adrian Beltre now has a statue in Arlington, joining his bust in Cooperstown.
The Texas Rangers unveiled a life-size bronze statue of Beltré on Friday, who was elected to the Hall of Fame on his first attempt. The statue shows him in action, connecting a home run with his knee on the ground, an iconic pose from his career.
Beltré joins two other Hall of Famers with statues at the team’s stadium: Nolan Ryan, the strikeout king, and Iván “Pudge” Rodríguez, catcher and 14-time All-Star.Beltré played the last eight seasons of his 21-year career in the Major Leagues with Texas, the team he spent the most time with. He retired after the 2018 season and the following year the Rangers retired his number 29. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame last summer.
The statue is located in a way that it seems Beltré is looking towards the old stadium, which is still across the street. There, the Dominican became the first player from the Dominican Republic to reach 3,000 hits on July 30, 2017, two years after hitting his 400th home run.
It was also in that stadium where he achieved the three cycles of his career, tying the MLB record. One as a visitor with Seattle in 2008, and two more with the Rangers, on August 24, 2012 and August 3, 2015.
The dedication of the statue took place before the start of a three-game series against the Cleveland Guardians. On Saturday, the Rangers will present Beltré with a smaller version of his bronze statue. In addition, he will receive the ceremonial first pitch from Mike Tabor, the Texan artist who sculpted the statue. The first 20,000 fans entering the stadium before the game will receive replicas of the statue.
