"He stood there like a statue in disbelief" - When Adrian Beltre's former manager revealed Hall of Famer's reaction to bizarre ejection

Adrian Beltre is now officially a Baseball Hall of Famer. He was backed by an overwhelming 95.1% of voters and is the fifth Dominican player to make it to Cooperstown. He is regarded as one of the greatest third basemen of his time and his induction to the HOF is more than well deserved.

This was Beltre’s first year on the ballot, earning 366 of 385 votes in total. His legendary career that spanned two decades has plenty of highlight reel moments, with one of those moments being one of the funniest things you would ever witness during an MLB game.

During the match, Beltre had already registered three extra-base hits, secured a home run and was just four hits away from reaching a career milestone of 3,000 hits. However, second base umpire Gerry Davis had other plans for him.

Beltre had a habit of refusing to stand on the already arranged on-deck circle. In lieu, he would stand in a position that would place him nearly behind the batter at plate. He had been practising this his entire career of 20 years before that but this time he couldn’t get away with it.

When Beltre was instructed to stand in the on-deck circle, he dragged the mat to where he was standing. This infuriated Davis and he immediately ejected him.

Remembering Beltre’s reaction to the ejection on MLB Network Radio, former Rangers manager Jeff Banister said,

"He stood there like a statue in disbelief - 'You just threw me out?,' and I was like, 'We just got put in timeout, let's go have a beer.'"

Adrian Beltre’s illustrious MLB career

The most fruitful years of Adrian Beltre’s legendary career were with the Texas Rangers.

Beltre made his MLB debut in 1998 with the Los Angeles Dodgers, where he would spend seven seasons. He went on to represent the Mariners (2005-09) and Red Sox (2010) before joining the Rangers.

He registered 477 career homers, ranking No. 31 on the list of MLB career home run leaders. Through 2,759 games, he scored 3,166 hits. He is one of only 11 players who have 3,000+ hits and 450+ home runs.

Adrian Beltre bagged three Gold Gloves, two Silver Sluggers and three All-Star selections during his Rangers tenure. Overall, he has four Silver Sluggers and five Gold Gloves to his name.

In 2019, the Rangers retired Beltre’s No. 29 jersey. Beltre is joined by Joe Mauer and Todd Helton in the 2024 Hall of Fame class.