Congrats to Adrián Beltré on an incredible Hall-of-Fame career!

Adrian Beltre, Joe Mauer and Todd Helton were elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on Tuesday night. The three will be inducted into the Hall of Fame on July 21 in Cooperstown, New York.

Beltre was the most popular voter in the group with over 95% of the vote. After his selection was announced, baseball legend Albert Pujols paid tribute to Beltre on social media. He posted four photos, including a photo of his teammate from the Dominican Republic participating in the World Baseball Classic (WBC). Congratulations, Germano! I am so proud of all you have accomplished on and off the court! What a wonderful time for you, your family and our country! God bless!

Beltre spoke to MLB Network after the announcement and said he and Pujols are good friends and that it wouldn’t be surprising if Pujols appeared at the awards ceremony in July, as they recently played golf together in the Dominican Republic.

Pujols is one of the best players in baseball history and will soon be headed to Cooperstown. He retired after the 2022 season with a lifetime average of .296 and a career home run of 703. He had 3,384 career hits and was named MVP three times. Beltre spent 21 years with four major league teams. He joined the Dodgers and played for seven years in Los Angeles, then moved to Seattle and played five more years. He spent a year in Boston and then completed eight years in Texas.

He had a very interesting career and did his best work in the second half of his career. He won five Gold Gloves, but it wasn’t until 10 years into his career that he won his first and third with the Mariners. He led baseball with 48 home runs in 2004, but it wasn’t until he was 31 that he appeared in his first All-Star Game with the Red Sox. Overall, Beltre hit .286 with 477 career home runs. He had 1,707 RBI and was a four-time All-Star. Career hits are 3,166, most by a third baseman.