Adrian Beltre Retires After 21-Year Career In MLB
BOSTON (CBS) -- After amassing 3,166 hits over his 21 years in Major League Baseball, Adrian Beltre is calling it a career.
The 39-year-old third baseman announced his retirement in a statement released by the Texas Rangers on Tuesday. Hopefully no one gives him a congratulatory pat on the head to send him off into the sunset (then again, hopefully they do).
Beltre broke into the majors at the age of 19, making his debut with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1998. He went on to play for the Seattle Mariners, Boston Red Sox and Texas Rangers throughout his career, earning four All-Star nods and five Gold Glove awards.
His first trip to the All-Star game came in his first and only season in Boston in 2010. Beltre led the American League with 49 doubles that year and finished the season hitting .321 with 28 homers and 108 RBIs to earn a Silver Slugger award.
Beltre hit .286 with 477 homers and 1,707 RBIs in 2,933 career games, and with his stellar defense at the hot corner, should take his spot in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York sometime in the next decade.
