Who is throwing out the first pitch at the 2024 MLB All-Star game?
The MLB All-Star Game spotlights the best players in the world tonight in Texas, and a former hometown hero will be throwing out the first pitch.
The MLB’s biggest and brightest stars take the stage tonight from Globe Life Field for the Mid Summer Classic, but before the best in the game take the field, a local legend will take the mound to throw out the first pitch.
Beltre headed to Cooperstown
Former Texas Ranger Adrian Beltre will take the mound in the place he called home for eight years to throw out the first pitch and commence the festivities from Arlington. The third baseman spent two decades in the MLB and will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame this weekend.
Beltre spent his final eight seasons with the Rangers, and sealed his Hall of Fame legacy in Texas before hanging it up in 2018. In his 21 year career he played for four teams, made four All-Star Games and won five Gold Gloves.
The Los Angeles Dodgers scouted him in his homeland, Dominican Republic, at the age of 15. It wasn’t long before LA signed him to a contract, and he made his way up the ranks before making his Major League debut in four years later.
Rangers, Beltre a game shy of World Series
He was a star in the field and at the plate, and finished his career as one of the best hitting third baseman of his time. He was the NL home run leader in 2004 when he jacked 48 home runs in his last year in LA. He finished his career with 3,166 hits, 477 homers and 1,707 RBIs while batting a career .286 at the plate.
After leaving LA, he went to Seattle for five years before playing in Boston in 2010, and then spent the final eight years of his career with the Rangers. He would get closest to World Series glory in Texas when he and the Rangers got tot he World Series in 2011, only to lose to the St. Louis Cardinals. He hit five home runs during the run to the World Series, but Texas would lose the Cardinals in Game 7.
The Rangers have since retired his number and inducted him into their Hall of Fame. The first ballot Cooperstown inductee will be the third Hall of Famer to enter the hallowed halls with a Rangers hat on his plaque, joining Noal Ryan and Ivan Rodriguez.