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Watch Adrián Beltré share gratitude, humor in Hall of Fame speech: ‘I had so much fun’

The Texas Rangers legend delivered a speech at his induction Sunday that reflected the joyfulness of his career.

It’s officially official. With his plaque eternally hung up in Cooperstown, Adrián Beltré is a National Baseball Hall of Famer.

The Texas Rangers legend delivered a speech at his induction Sunday that reflected the joyfulness of his career, as he thanked his family, teammates, fans and others for letting him play the game he loved.

Didn’t catch Beltré's speech? Read and watch his full remarks below:

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Beltré — “Good afternoon everybody. Thank you to the Chairman Jane Clark, the President of the Hall of Fame ——Josh Rawitch, Jon Shesta, Whitney Horn and to all the Hall of Fame staff for all their help and support for me and my family. To my fellow, inductees Joe, Todd, and Jim, congratulations to you and your families. Thank you to the Baseball Writers of America for voting for me, to all of you.

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“Before I start I want to thank God, without him none of this would be possible. And please bear with me, my English is getting worse every day.

“I want to express how grateful and honored I am to be here today. I still can’t believe this moment, being here on this podium with so much greatness behind me and now being part of this elite group, It is truly an honor and I am humbled.”

How he started playing baseball

“Everyone has their own experience, in baseball and in life. My path to Cooperstown has been shaped by the people who spent time teaching me at every step of the way. With their help, I continue to learn and improve to make my way here.

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“I want to share with you all, how my baseball journey began when I was almost 13 years old.

“When I was at school, one of my classmates named Garibaldi, saw my baseball abilities during P.E. and asked me if I wanted to join his baseball team on the weekends. I immediately said yes, and that weekend I headed over to the field. I introduced myself to the coach and told him that I wanted to join the baseball team. He said yes.

“I paid for the subscription with some birthday money I had. I went home and told my parents I signed myself up in a baseball league and that all they needed to do was pay the monthly dues, they supported my decision and agreed. My dad asked me, what position are you going to play? I said I didn’t know, and he said to me, you should play second base because I don’t think you are going to be very tall, so I did.

“I practiced at second base and earned the starting job within two weeks.

“About 3 months later, the third baseman wanted to play second base. He said to me, I think you would look better at third base, I think we should swap positions, and I simply said ok, and moved to third.

I immediately fell in love with the position. I loved every challenge of playing third base, I was hooked. Those hot shots, slow ground balls, the bunt plays, I couldn’t have enough of them. Thank you Radamez López.”

The call from Tommy Lasorda and his journey to the MLB

“Around two years later MLB teams started looking at me. Out of those teams, the Dodgers were the team that took a risk in signing this 15-year-old at the time, and for that, I will always be grateful to the Dodgers. My dream to become a professional baseball player was now a reality, but at that age, I still had so much more to learn and great people to teach me.

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“After the school year, I was sent to Dodger camp in the Dominican Republic, where I got to learn the fundamentals of the game, especially from Teddy Martinez, Luis Angel Montalvo, and all the other coaches in Campo Las Palmas. Thank you all of you.

“After one year of Summer League, I was able to come to the United States and pursue my dream of becoming an MLB player. Thank you to this great nation for allowing me to live out my dream.

“I came to the minor leagues and got better with the help of a lot of coaches like Chico Fernandez, Tom Beyers, Lance Parrish, Edwin Correa, and John Shoemaker. And players Jose Pimentel, (La Fraga) and Brad Dandrige, thank you.

“On June 23, 1998, When I was in AA, I received one of the most important calls of my life. I want to thank this legend so much, for giving me the opportunity and having the guts to call this 19-year-old kid from the Dominican Republic to the big leagues. When nobody was expecting it, especially me, thank you to the late Tommy Lasorda, I will always be grateful for you.

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“I made it to the big leagues and started learning from guys like Jose Vizcaino, Marquis Grissom, Ramon Martinez, Bobby Bonilla, Raul Mondesi, and then Cesar Izturis, Dave Roberts, Alex Cora, and one of my favorite teammates, “El Flaco” Shawn Green.”

On playing for the L.A. Dodgers

“I spent 7 seasons in L.A., some of those years were difficult but shaped me and made me tough and strong mentally. Thank you to all managers and coaches in L.A., especially Jim Tracy, Manny Mota, Jimmy Lett, John Shelby, and one of my favorite hitting coaches Tim Wallach. Thank you to the trainer Stan Johnston for being so cool. Thank you to the Clubhouse guys Alex Torrez and Mitch Poole.

“And to the L.A. Dodgers fans. I really appreciated you! You were hard on me when I sucked, but when I was doing good you really let me know. I’ll never forget the MVP chants in the 2004. Love you L.A. fans, thank you for the support.”

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The Seattle Mariners and his ‘battle’ with Felix Hernandez

“Then we ended up signing with the Seattle Mariners for 5 years, thank you to Bill Bavasi and Mr. Howard Lincoln. I had the chance to play and share the clubhouse with great teammates, thank you to you all, especially the ones that are here. To some of my favorites teammates, Raul Ibañez, Richie Sexson, Ken Griffey, and some guy that calls himself King Felix.

“And to that guy that calls himself “the King,” I loved playing with you but I enjoyed hitting against you even more, that battle was one of my favorites on the baseball field.

“People are still saying that you won that battle, because you made me look real bad on that half-swing strike out. You know what I’m talking about, the one you keep posting on social media. It’s okay I’ll take the loss. They were right, you won, congratulations King.

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“Thank you to the coaching staff, our trainer Rick Griffin and clubhouse manager Ted Walsh.

“Thank you to the fans in Seattle, even though I didn’t perform my best, you guys always showed me love.”

The Boston Red Sox

“In 2010, we headed for Boston. Boston was short but memorable. I had the chance to play for one of the best managers of my generation, Terry Francona, and great players and teammates, like Pedroia, Varitek, Lester, Lowell, Cameron, Youkilis, Martinez and Big Papi and Scutaro who are here today. Thank you to all my Boston teammates. Thank you to the Red Sox Organization, and thank you Boston fans. You guys were great to me.”

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The Texas Rangers, his ‘compadre’ Elvis Andrus and the fans

“After Boston, we moved to Texas.

“Thank you to the entire Texas Rangers organization for being so good to me and my family, to the front office, I appreciate you. Mr. Ray Davis, Bob Simpson, Neil Leibman, Nolan Ryan, the late Don Welke, John Blake, Rich Rice, Taunee Taylor, Josh Shelton and I can’t forget to thank all the media, even you Emily Jones and Evan Grant.

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“John Daniels, one of my favorite GMs, thank you for everything you did for me.

“Thank you to all my teammates in Texas. You guys have made me feel welcome since day one. Especially Mister Ranger, Michael Young, Ian Kinsler, Nelson Cruz, Colby Lewis, Mitch Moreland, Shin-Soo Choo, Chirinos, Prince, Napoli, and one of my all-time favorite teammates, my compadre Elvis Andrus. You were a pain in my behind, but I really enjoyed playing beside you for so many years, that was so much fun. I always felt like I was playing next to my little brother. Even though you wanted to catch every freaking fly ball just to help your fielding percentage. Unbelievable.

“To my Rangers coaches…Ron Washington, I really loved playing for you. Jeff Banister, Steve Beuchelle and Tony Beasley. To my hitting coaches Iapoce, Coolbaugh, Dave Magadan. Thank you for everything.

“To the ones that kept me on the field, Doctor Keith Meister, Dr David Hunter. Trainers, Jaime Reed, Kevin Harmon, Matt Lucero, Jose Vasquez, Raul Cardenas. Thank you.

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“The Clubhouse guys thank you all. Brandon Boyd, you are the best in the business, you are a good friend, and thank you for making things so easy for me and my teammates around the clubhouse. I appreciate you.

“To the Rangers fans, you have embraced me since day one, the support that you offered me and my family is incredible. Thank you so much, you guys are the best. And like they say, everything is Bigger in Texas and you showed me big love. I love y’all.”

Friends and family who have supported him in his career

To my agent, Scott Boras, thank you for everything you have done for me and my family, more than my agent you are a good friend. I appreciate all the late night conversations we had in the Dodgers stadium parking lot when I was struggling badly. All good advice.

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“My brother from another mother, Mike Fiore. You are like family. I value our relationship. Thank you for always being there for us. To the rest of Boras Corp., thank you.

“To my off season crew, Sal, George and Dave, thank you for the many years of workouts and batting practices.

“Now please allow me to say a couple of things to my Spanish speaking people…

“Para mi gente latina,

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“Gracias a todos mis fanáticos Latinos. Gracias a la liga Valdez Pérez donde yo empecé. Gracias a toda mi familia en el Café de Herrera donde yo nací y me crie. Gracias a mis suegros, por la ayuda y Apoyo. Gracias Juan Carlos Carvajal por tu amistad.

“Gracias a mi República Dominicana, por ese apoyo que siempre he tenido.

“Siempre orgulloso de ser Dominicano, y de haber nacido en mi tierra hermosa Quisqueya la Bella.

“Gracias a mis Padres y mi hermanito Elvin, por el amor y el apoyo que siempre me han brindado. Gracias por demostrarme que el esfuerzo y sacrificio vale la pena porque esos sacrificios de ustedes me ayudaron a lograr mi sueño.

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“Gracias Teodoro Martínez, Luis Ángel Montalvo y a los difuntos Pablo Peguero y Rafael Ávila, me hubiera gustado poder celebrar este momento con ustedes y que puedan ver lo que ustedes proyectaron desde mi temprana edad.

“Quiero también expresar lo orgulloso que estoy de ser un latino más electo a el Salón De La Fama, y de ser el quinto Dominicano junto a Don Marichal, Pedro, Vladimir y David, Para mi es un honor.

“El apoyo y cariño de toda mi gente latina la llevo siempre en mi corazón, muchas gracias.

“Thank you.

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“To my lovely kids, Cassie, AJ, and Camila, thank you for understanding that dad was not going to be home every night. You are the best baseball kids a father could ask for. Thank you for being such excellent kids. I’m so proud of you, and thank you for making fun of my English, I love it. I’m blessed and grateful for you

“To my beautiful Wife, Sandra, of 21 years, thank you for who you are. I couldn’t have asked for a better partner, you are such a great wife. Thank you for being a constant support and the backbone of the family on both sides. It’s not easy to juggle so many things to allow me to just concentrate on baseball for so many years. I appreciate you more every day. Your dedication to our family is unbelievable, the way you put our needs before yours. I’m grateful for your presence in my life and blessed to call you my wife. You are my support system, you are such a strong and resilient woman. I’m lucky to have you. This wouldn’t be possible without you, thank you. You are the real Hall of Famer. I love you

“To my friends and family that came to support me, thank you from the bottom of my heart. Baseball was my passion and it blessed me with countless opportunities and the best part was, I loved it and had so much fun playing the game.

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“Thank you to all the baseball fans, for allowing me to be part of your life for 21 seasons, I’m truly grateful. God bless you all. Thank you.”

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