Adrian Beltre spent over two decades in Major League Baseball until Tuesday’s retirement announcement brought a Hall of Fame-worthy career to an end. Only one of those seasons was spent with the Boston Red Sox yet that was enough to endear the veteran third baseman to this fan base.
The year was 2010. Beltre was coming off a few down seasons in Seattle where the dimensions of the Mariners’ pitcher-friendly park sapped him of the power he displayed earlier in his career. That led to the then-30-year-old signing a one-year “prove it” deal with the Red Sox.