Adrián Beltré
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Adrián Beltré Pérez (born April 7, 1979) is a Dominican former professional baseball third baseman. Beltré played for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Seattle Mariners, Boston Red Sox, and Texas Rangers in Major League Baseball (MLB). He is regarded as one of the greatest third basemen of all time. Beltré made his MLB debut with the Dodgers in 1998 at age 19. He led the majors with 48 home runs with the Dodgers in 2004, was the team MVP of the Red Sox in 2010, played in the 2011 World Series for the Rangers, and tied for the major league lead in hits in 2013. On September 19, 2014, Beltré surpassed Vladimir Guerrero as the all-time MLB leader for hits by a Dominican player, a record since broken by Albert Pujols in 2019. On July 30, 2017, Beltré became the 31st player in MLB history to reach 3,000 hits and the first Dominican player to achieve that milestone. Beltré retired following the 2018 season with 3,166 career hits (most by a third baseman in MLB history), 477 home runs, and 1,707 runs batted in. He hit for the cycle three times in his career, in 2008, 2012, and 2015, one of five players to do so in MLB history, the others being Bob Meusel, Babe Herman, Trea Turner, and Christian Yelich. Having played 21 major league seasons and won the Rawlings Gold Glove Award five times, Beltré is notable for his defensive prowess and career longevity as well as his power hitting. He played in four MLB All-Star Games and won the Silver Slugger Award four times. Upon his retirement, Beltré was the only third baseman in history with both 3,000 career hits and 400 home runs. According to Baseball Reference, Beltré has the third-highest Wins Above Replacement among third basemen. He retired as the all-time leader amongst third basemen in hits and RBIs, and ranked third in home runs amongst third basemen. He is also the fifth major-leaguer to have hit at least 100 home runs for three different teams. In 2024, Beltré was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.