All-Star third baseman Adrian Beltre was inducted into the Hall of Fame on Sunday, and David Ortiz made sure to have a little fun with him just before he was about to give his speech to the baseball world.
It’s somewhat well-known over the course of his 21-year major league career that Beltre hates having his head rubbed, and it became a running joke among his teammates when they tried.
He revealed the genesis of the gag back in 2019 during an interview with Fox Sports.
“I made the mistake to tell Félix Hernández that I didn’t like that,” Beltre said at the time, according to Awful Announcing. That was not a good idea to do that. He always wanted to do it because he knew I would get mad. Once I left Seattle and went to Boston, he told the other guys to do that because I don’t like it. Then I came here, and Elvis (Andrus) took charge and started doing it. It became a curse that has never left.”
Naturally, that meant Ortiz had to have a little fun with Beltre just after he walked onto the stage to give his speech.
Ortiz walked out quietly behind Beltre and as he looked down at his notes and laughed, Ortiz quickly rubbed his head and startled the infielder.
Once Beltre realized who was responsible for the surprise, he erupted into laughter as Ortiz made his way into the gallery to sit and watch.
“That never relaxed me,” Beltre told MLB.com after the speech. “But OK, it was a little cute to go back to my days when I was playing. It was like teeing off, a good way to go out there and prepare for the speech. It’s just part of being in this fraternity, you call it, of players.
“Even though I don’t love it, I don’t like it, but I feel like I’m open to people to be able to play around with me. Big Papi and I, we go way back before we even signed a contract.”
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