{"id":57754,"date":"2025-05-26T16:41:02","date_gmt":"2025-05-26T16:41:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=57754"},"modified":"2025-05-26T16:41:02","modified_gmt":"2025-05-26T16:41:02","slug":"rangers-legend-earns-selection-to-mlb-insiders-all-quarter-century-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=57754","title":{"rendered":"Rangers Legend Earns Selection to MLB Insider\u2019s All-Quarter Century Team"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\"Oct<\/picture><\/figure>\n
Oct 28, 2023; Arlington, TX, USA; Former Texas Rangers player Adrian Beltre walks to the mound to throw out the ceremonial first pitch before the game between the Texas Rangers and the Arizona Diamondbacks in game two of the 2023 World Series at Globe Life Field. \/ Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Competitive breeds greatness. It also makes it hard to select just one player to be considered the best at one position.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the task The Athletic\u2019s Jayson Stark (subscription required) recently undertook. The long-time baseball writer put together an all-quarter century team. The goal \u2014 the best player at each position from 2000-25.<\/p>\n

Third base was a difficult one for him, he admitted. In fact, his first choice was Atlanta\u2019s Chipper Jones. Other Hall of Famers were involved too, including Scott Rolen. There are even current players like Manny Machado, Nolan Arenado and Jos\u00e9 Ram\u00edrez who aren\u2019t done with their careers. Alex Rodriguez was even in the mix.<\/p>\n

But, in the end, Stark selected the Texas Rangers\u2019 newly-minted Baseball Hall of Fame third baseman Adri\u00e1n Beltr\u00e9.<\/p>\n

Stark admits it was a tough internal debate. He eliminated A-Rod due to PED scandals. The choice was Beltr\u00e9, Jones and Rolen, he wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo in the end, how could this not be Beltr\u00e9, who fell just short of 3,000 hits and 500 homers on this side of the Y2K line, while redefining what elite third-base leatherwork looked like?\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

Rangers fans would find it hard to argue with that assessment. Beltr\u00e9 played for other teams, but he wears a Rangers cap on his hat on his plaque in Cooperstown and one could argue he made his biggest impact in Arlington.<\/p>\n

He played 21 seasons, made his debut at 19 years old with the Los Angeles Dodgers and played his final eight seasons with the Rangers before he retired in 2018. He joined Texas in 2011, with the franchise coming off its first World Series appearance and he helped them push for another in his first season.<\/p>\n

He made three of his four All-Star Game appearances with Texas. He won three of his five Gold Gloves with Texas. He won two of his four Silver Sluggers with Texas. He finished in the Top 25 in MVP voting six times with Texas.<\/p>\n

By the end of his eight seasons, he slashed .304\/.357\/.509 with 199 home runs and 699 RBI.<\/p>\n

And, as Passan noted, he did most of his damage in the 21st century. He only played 239 of his 2,933 career games in the 1990s.<\/p>\n

Beltr\u00e9\u2019s No. 19 is retired by the Rangers, and he was inducted into the team\u2019s Hall of Fame shortly after his retirement. He is a member of the 3,000-hit club, as he finished his career with 3,166 hits. He is No. 18 all-time and one of 33 players with 3,000 hits.<\/p>\n

So, yes, he\u2019s most assuredly all-quarter century team material.<\/p>\n

<\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Competitive breeds greatness. It also makes it hard to select just one player to be considered the best at one position.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57755,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\nRangers Legend Earns Selection to MLB Insider\u2019s All-Quarter Century Team - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=57754\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rangers Legend Earns Selection to MLB Insider\u2019s All-Quarter Century Team - NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Competitive breeds greatness. It also makes it hard to select just one player to be considered the best at one position.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=57754\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-26T16:41:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Them-tieu-de-phu-2025-05-26T234052.204.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"XuanTan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"XuanTan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=57754\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=57754\",\"name\":\"Rangers Legend Earns Selection to MLB Insider\u2019s All-Quarter Century Team - NEWS USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=57754#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=57754#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Them-tieu-de-phu-2025-05-26T234052.204.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-26T16:41:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-05-26T16:41:02+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ac862d5ceb335ec8f1e374ed4bdb0c06\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=57754#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=57754\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=57754#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Them-tieu-de-phu-2025-05-26T234052.204.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Them-tieu-de-phu-2025-05-26T234052.204.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":1000},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=57754#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Rangers Legend Earns Selection to MLB Insider\u2019s All-Quarter Century Team\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/\",\"name\":\"NEWS USA\",\"description\":\"Your Daily Dose of Sports News and Updates\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ac862d5ceb335ec8f1e374ed4bdb0c06\",\"name\":\"XuanTan\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4f0d0d8858cf9c64fc1f3105c62cff269864cf9a26f88149688bdf4dc953df45?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4f0d0d8858cf9c64fc1f3105c62cff269864cf9a26f88149688bdf4dc953df45?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"XuanTan\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?author=2\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Rangers Legend Earns Selection to MLB Insider\u2019s All-Quarter Century Team - NEWS USA","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=57754","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Rangers Legend Earns Selection to MLB Insider\u2019s All-Quarter Century Team - NEWS USA","og_description":"Competitive breeds greatness. It also makes it hard to select just one player to be considered the best at one position.","og_url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=57754","og_site_name":"NEWS USA","article_published_time":"2025-05-26T16:41:02+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":1000,"url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Them-tieu-de-phu-2025-05-26T234052.204.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"XuanTan","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"XuanTan","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=57754","url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=57754","name":"Rangers Legend Earns Selection to MLB Insider\u2019s All-Quarter Century Team - NEWS USA","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=57754#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=57754#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Them-tieu-de-phu-2025-05-26T234052.204.jpg","datePublished":"2025-05-26T16:41:02+00:00","dateModified":"2025-05-26T16:41:02+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ac862d5ceb335ec8f1e374ed4bdb0c06"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=57754#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=57754"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=57754#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Them-tieu-de-phu-2025-05-26T234052.204.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Them-tieu-de-phu-2025-05-26T234052.204.jpg","width":1000,"height":1000},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=57754#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Rangers Legend Earns Selection to MLB Insider\u2019s All-Quarter Century Team"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/","name":"NEWS USA","description":"Your Daily Dose of Sports News and Updates","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ac862d5ceb335ec8f1e374ed4bdb0c06","name":"XuanTan","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4f0d0d8858cf9c64fc1f3105c62cff269864cf9a26f88149688bdf4dc953df45?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4f0d0d8858cf9c64fc1f3105c62cff269864cf9a26f88149688bdf4dc953df45?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"XuanTan"},"url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?author=2"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=57754"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57754\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57756,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57754\/revisions\/57756"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/57755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=57754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=57754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=57754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}