41-76 - Rangers honor Adrian Beltre, Chuck Morgan, play baseball game

The Texas Rangers scored three runs but the Oakland Athletics scored eight runs.

The outcome of this baseball game doesn’t matter much to me. I won’t really remember the final score. I will remember Adrian Beltre giving a pitch perfect tight five minute speech from the heart where he thanked everyone by name, right down to the clubhouse attendants without a single note in hand.

I’ll remember Chuck Morgan sneaking in a relaxing with Willie Nelson joke minutes after hugging his dot race dots.

I have so many memories that involve Adrian Beltre and Chuck Morgan. They are truly, for me, two of the absolute pillars of my enjoyment of the Texas Rangers throughout the years. Without them, this experience would have been markedly different and profoundly worse.

Chuck is one of us. Literally. He’s chuckranger83 on this website and he’s taken time to wade through this Angry Dome to give us perspective and insight on why the Rangers do some of the things that they do. He’s never had to do that but he cares about fans.

Chuck has gone out of his way numerous times to make LSB’s outings to the park over the years special, including joining us in person for festivities.

Thank you, Chuck, and congratulations. You deserved to be immortalized as a champion of the fan and the voice of our Ballparks.

Meanwhile, Adrian Beltre was here for eight years and it took just about eight minutes for him to become my new favorite and probably no more than eight innings wearing a Rangers uniform before he had cemented his status as my favorite ever.

I’ve probably written more words about Beltre than any single person during the span of my life. He is and was special in all aspects. As a human being, he is lauded. As a leader, he was respected. As a baseball player, he was a legend. As a hitter, he was feared. As a third baseman, he was elite. As a defender, he was a marvel. As the backbone, he was indomitable. As Adrian Beltre, he did it all with charm, and joy, and wonder.

There has never been a player who did it all — who was it all — quite like Adrian Beltre and there likely never will be again. I cherished those times and I miss them terribly.

Thank you, AB, and congratulations. I couldn’t make it to this one, but I hope to be there in Cooperstown as you join the inner circle of baseball’s greats where you belong.

Player of the Game: There’s only one.

Up Next: Chuck Morgan will add to his streak of consecutive publicly addressed Rangers contests in the finale against the A’s. LHP Kolby Allard will make the start for Texas against LHP Sean Manaea for Oakland. Sunday’s first pitch from The Shed is scheduled for 1:35 pm CT.