Adrián Beltré is up for election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame for the first time this year. He's nearly a lock to get in.
The third baseman had a decorated 21-year career. He put up 3,166 hits, 477 homers, was a four-time All-Star and won five Gold Gloves. He was one of the more entertaining players to watch on the field, not just because of his talents on both sides of the ball, but also because he was, well, entertaining.
One of his more famous moments during his 21 seasons came in 2017 -- when he was practicing his swings way outside of the on-deck circle behind home plate. When told to move back to the designated on-deck circle, Beltré instead decided to hilariously move the circle to where he was standing.
He was promptly ejected. This is the story behind that night.
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Beltré and former umpire Gerry Davis had a cordial relationship before the night of the July 26 game between the Rangers and Marlins. At that point in their careers, they were both veterans in their professions. They respected one another.
"Oh sure," Davis told me in a recent call, acknowledging Beltré should be a shoo-in for Cooperstown. "We'd known each other for quite some time. Always very competitive. He enjoyed playing, he loved it, but was always very competitive."
By the bottom of the eighth inning, Miami was blowing out Texas, 18-6. The Rangers had the bases loaded and the Marlins were making a pitching change. Elvis Andrus was up to the plate and Beltré was on deck.
To get a better look at new pitcher Drew Steckenrider's warmups, Beltré moved away from the on-deck circle. He got up next to the backstop, in line to where Andrus was standing so he could visualize how Steckenrider's pitches might be coming through the zone.
Although the position of the on-deck circle is in the official rulebook, players generally don't stand right inside the circle. Usually, they're right outside of it. It's up to umpires to enforce the rule, but they don't always do it ... unless it becomes a bit egregious. On this night, Davis saw it and decided to do something about it.
"You know, it's not a felony," Davis said. "But it's still not something that should be done as far as fairness is concerned."
"I didn't want to get hit," Beltré said about his positioning at the time. "I've been hit standing [in the on-deck circle]."
Davis, umpiring second base that game, told home-plate ump Pat Hoberg to relay to Beltré that he needed to get back to the on-deck circle.
Beltré didn't move.
Gerry urged Hoberg to tell Beltré again. Only this time, Hoberg told Beltré that Gerry was the one who said he needs to get back in the on-deck circle. Beltré's response?
"Gerry who?"
This, as you might've guessed, did not sit with Gerry very well.
"That got my attention," he told me.
Davis began making his way down from second base, yelling at Beltré to move back to the designated circle. In the clip, you can hear Beltré say, "What?" one time. And then, the man known for his on-field antics, performed one of the more ridiculous of his career.
"Obviously, that's when he moved the on-deck circle," Davis said.
"I wasn't being funny," Beltré said postgame. "He told me to stand on the mat so I pulled the mat where I was and stand on it. I actually did what he told me. I was listening."
This Rangers fan, seated behind Beltré, definitely found the moment funny.
Steckenrider, pitching in just his 10th big league game, also found the scene comical.
"It's one of the funniest things I've ever seen," Steckenrider said. "I didn't, honestly, know how to react out there. I went over and stood next to [Derek] Dietrich and we just laughed with our gloves over our faces."
What about Davis? Did he find it funny?
"Afterwards, people were saying, 'Wow, the second-base umpire must not have much of a sense of humor,'" Davis recalled. "Quite frankly, I thought it was one of the funniest things I've ever seen."
But, as an umpire, he couldn't just stand there and laugh. He had to enforce the rule, even though he was probably just as amused as anybody else watching.
Texas manager Jeff Banister then came out to argue the ejection, which Davis thought was funny all by itself.
"I said, 'You're gonna defend that?'" Davis remembered. "And he said, 'You know I have to.'"
The entire sequence went viral online -- becoming all anybody could talk about that night and still, years later, reminisce upon. Joe Torre, MLB's chief baseball officer at the time, talked to Davis about it, saying, "I knew he was in trouble when he picked up the on-deck circle." The Rangers even had a bobblehead night to celebrate the moment.
Beltré, a true comedian dedicated to his craft, closed out his show with Davis the next time he saw him. The 40-year vet was umping first base during a Rangers game later that summer and Beltré got on with a single.
"When he bent down to take his shin guard off, he kind of looked up behind him and said, 'Hello, Mr. Davis.'"