‘Trilingual’ Adrian Beltre set for speech of his life

ARLINGTON – By his count, Adrian Beltre is trilingual. His first language is “love,” he claims while flashing the trademark smile that endeared him to legions of fans over his 21 seasons in the majors. Spanish and English are his other languages.

Without a trace of a Spanish accent, Beltre can claim to be trilingual one second. Then a few seconds later he will claim that he cannot speak English all the while speaking English extremely well.

“Me as a Dominican fellow, my third language is English,” Beltre joked recently. “My first language is love.”

Beltre didn’t know a single word of English when he signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers as a 17-year-old, amateur free agent out of the Dominican Republic in 1996. Almost 26 years later, he’s set to deliver a speech in English for his induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., on Sunday afternoon.

Fluent in ‘Love,’ English and Spanish

Beltre put the final touches on his speech on July 11, two days before he managed the American League squad in the Futures Game at Globe Life Field. While guiding some of baseball’s top prospects, he reminded the Latin American prospects of the importance of learning English.

“A lot of the Latino guys should emphasize on being able to learn the language and communicate because, you know, they expect to be here for a long time,” Beltre said. “So it’s great to see.”

After receiving a $25,000 signing bonus as an amateur from the Dodgers, Beltre began his professional career in the South Atlantic League with the Savannah Sand Gnats in 1996. He was one of the youngest players in that league. Then he was promoted to Class A San Bernadino that season.

Two seasons later, he was promoted to the Dodgers without ever playing at Class AAA. He was only 19 years old when he made his debut on June 24, 1998. As he piled up hits on the way to the 3,000-hit club, he became a respected leader on all of his teams. From the Dodgers to the Mariners and the Red Sox before playing the final eight years with the Rangers, he guided teammates.

He led vocally in Spanish and English and by example with his play on the field. Texas Rangers great Michael Young credited Beltre for never giving an at-bat away or taking a play off on defense.

A ‘really, really special player’

“All those small things, you start looking at that, and you’re like, ‘Wow, this guy’s a really, really special player,’” Young says of Beltre. “Again, it didn’t take long, once we were teammates, for me to see that. When you combine that with the fact he was a Big League starter when he was 11 years old, that’s a lot of numbers that stack up. 

“You look at what he’s able to do. Like, damn, look at his numbers right now. Sure enough, in his 30s, he crushes the league. Next thing you know, he’s a slam dunk first-ballot Hall of Fame guy.”

Adrian Beltre finished his career with 3,166 hits. He was a four-time All-Star. He won four Silver Slugger Awards and five Gold Gloves at third base, including two Platinum Gloves.

Beltre will be the fifth native of the Dominican Republic inducted into the Hall of Fame. He’ll follow Juan Marichal, Pedro Martinez, Vladimir Guerrero Sr. and David Ortiz. 

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Marichal, who became the first Dominican inducted into the Hall in 1983, started his induction speech in English. After about 70 seconds, he switched to Spanish and spent almost three minutes in his native tongue before wrapping up in English.

Martinez and Ortiz gave most of their induction speeches in English while also mixing in Spanish. Guerrero gave his speech in Spanish with the help of an English translator. Beltre will surely follow the examples set by Marichal while likely giving most of his speech in English.

Adrian Beltre is ready

“So it’s done, but just how to deliver it, that’s going to be the big part,” Beltre said of his Hall of Fame speech. “I can’t speak English. And once I get there, I’m going to get — it’s going to be a mess. But I’m going to get up there somehow.”

There’s no doubt that the kid from Santo Domingo can speak English. It’s important to remember how much work he put into learning the language. Despite his ability to speak English well, he has dealt with some teasing from teammates. Ballplayers, after all, show their affection through taunts.

“Really, we tease him all the time when he talks,” Young said. “But, I mean, this is … his third language, apparently, right?

“But I can’t imagine how difficult that is. To your point, talking about young players making a huge effort to speak English. You ask players here born in the States, and they can’t go to Chipotle. Spanish to them is ordering extra guacamole at Chipotle. That’s their Spanish for the day.”

Big leaguers born in America have started to learn Spanish more in recent years to communicate with their teammates. Alex Bregman of the Astros is practically fluent in Spanish. Young, whose mother is Mexican American, was known to speak a little Spanish during his career.

“It’s incredible what these guys do, put in massive efforts to, one, get to know the teammates in the clubhouse, live everyday life in a different society,” Young said. “I give Adrian (credit) just talking about what he did as a player. 

“But to be able to write a Hall of Fame speech and try to cover his whole life, people who have meant something to him, and doing it in English really is an incredible thing. Really is.”