21 seasons and 3166 hits later, Adrian Beltre is officially hanging up the cleats.
The 39-year-old officially retired on Monday following stints with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Seattle Mariners, Boston Red Sox and the Texas Rangers.
While baseball fans will surely recall what the third-baseman did in the batter’s box and at the hot corner (five Gold Gloves, 477 home runs, 1,707 RBI and a slash line of .286/.339.480), the Dominican product might be remembered best for how he absolutely despised anyone touching his head or messing around with his helmet.
If anyone dared to screw around with Beltre, they’d immediately be chased down, whacked, or have a baseball glove thrown in their direction.
Thanks to the folks running the CespedesFamilyBBQ Twitter account, we have a fantastic thread of some of Beltre’s most memorable moments involving the weirdest, wackiest and outright best moments from over his career.
And if you want even a greater recap, we suggest you watch this video below.
So, why does Beltre dislike his head being touched? SB Nation once interviewed Beltre’s Texas teammates back at the 2012 MLB All-Star Game to get to the bottom of it.
You have to respect Beltre on that one. The game of baseball will certainly miss the four-time All-Star's contributions with and without the bat and glove in his hand.
The question now becomes, is Beltre a first-ballot Hall of Famer?
(h/t Twitter/Cespedes Family BBQ)
