COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — Adrián Beltré will have a Texas Rangers logo on his baseball Hall of Fame plaque, while Jim Leyland will not have any team emblem.
The Hall of Fame made the announcement Friday, 10 days after Beltré was elected by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Leyland was elected in December by the contemporary era committee for managers, executives and umpires.
“I am grateful for the time I spent with all of my teams during my career,” Beltré said in a statement issued by the Hall of Fame. “Looking back, I played more years in Texas than anywhere else and I believe my time with the Rangers represents the peak of my career, individually and from a team standpoint. But I could not have made this journey to Cooperstown without the Los Angeles Dodgers, Seattle Mariners, Boston Red Sox, and their fans, and I am proud that each of the teams I played with will be listed on my Hall of Fame plaque.”
The decision on the logo was taken over by the Hall of Fame ahead of the 2002 vote.
This year’s other two inductees spent their entire major league careers with one team: Minnesota Twins catcher Joe Mauer and Colorado Rockies third baseman Todd Helton.
Inductions will take place July 31.
Beltré, 44, hit .286 with 477 home runs, 1,707 RBIs and 3,166 hits for four teams over 21 seasons. The third baseman spent eight seasons with Texas (2011-18), seven with the Dodgers (1998-2004), five with Seattle (2005-09) and one with Boston (2010).
Leyland, 79, led the Florida Marlins to a World Series title in 1997 and won 1,769 regular-season games over 22 seasons. He managed Pittsburgh for 11 seasons (1986-96), Florida for two (1997-98), Colorado for one (1999) and Detroit for eight (2006-13).
“I will always appreciate the teams that gave me the opportunity to be their major league manager,” Leyland said in a statement issued by the Hall of Fame. “We had some great moments with every one of those ballclubs, and I’m proud that they all will be mentioned on my Hall of Fame plaque. I want to make sure I show each of those teams respect, and this does that.”
Source: www.espn.com