On Sunday, four-time All-Star third baseman Adrián Beltré took his rightful place in the Baseball Hall of Fame. But not before he was on the receiving end of one of his pet peeves for one last time thanks to MLB on Fox analyst David Ortiz.
Those who are familiar with Beltré’s illustrious 21-year MLB career are probably well aware of the running joke of his teammates attempting to rub the top of his head, which dates back to his tenure with the Seattle Mariners from 2005-2009.
In a conversation with Fox Sports back in 2019, Beltré revealed how he once told his teammate, Félix Hernández, about how much he disliked having his head touched. Hernández then made it a point to try and touch his head from that point on. And as they say, the rest is history.
“I made the mistake to tell Félix Hernández that I didn’t like that,” said Beltré. That was not a good idea to do that. He always wanted to do it because he knew I would get mad. Once I left Seattle and went to Boston, he told the other guys to do that because I don’t like it. Then I came here, and Elvis (Andrus) took charge and started doing it. It became a curse that has never left.”
At the Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Sunday, Beltré was introduced to begin his induction speech. But Ortiz quickly followed behind him, rubbing his head before taking his seat to listen to his former teammate’s speech.
If anyone can get away with doing this to Beltré, it is Ortiz, who played alongside him both at the MLB and international levels for the Dominican Republic. Still, you could tell that unsurprisingly, Beltré was not very amused that this tradition hadn’t stopped with his retirement from the MLB in 2018.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.