The Texas Rangers are retiring Adrian Beltre’s number, who’s next?

The Texas Rangers announced they will be retiring Adrian Beltre’s number this summer so who can we expect to be retired next?

This season, the Texas Rangers will play without Adrian Beltre for the first time this decade. The future Hall of Famer is walking away from the game at the ripe age of 39 and leaves behind him lasting memories for teammates and fans alike.

In June, Beltre will join Nolan Ryan, Johnny Oats, and Pudge Rodriguez as eternal Texas Rangers legends when his number 29 joins them on the retired list. This begs the question, who will be the next Texas Rangers legend who has his number retired?

The Texas Rangers aren’t exactly known as a hotbed for generational super stars. Even their biggest legends, Nolan Ryan, Ivan Rodriguez, and Adrian Beltre are shared commodities who carved out their reputations with other MLB clubs at some point.

While I’ll argue Pudge is a Ranger first and foremost, I can’t say the same for anyone else. If we’re being honest, Nolan is more Houston Astro than Texas Ranger at this point. Oates is retired for being a manager not a Rangers player. And Beltre may not even wear a Rangers cap for the Hall of Fame, indicating he sees himself as equal parts Dodger and Ranger.

It’s not like playing for one club is the end-all-be-all for this kind of thing (obviously) and one only needs to look around the league to see every player switches teams these days. But it would be nice to retire a number of someone who loves us just as much as we love them.

Note: This is no dig on Adrian Beltre either. I think he may opt for no logo on his hat so he doesn’t upset his friends and fans he’s made elsewhere over the years.

But a couple players, who identify primarily as Texas Rangers, are out there and deserving of some extra recognition: Juan Gonzalez and Michael Young

Retire their numbers? I’m not so sure, but they should at least be in the conversation given how well they played and impactful they were with the club.

Juan Gonzalez may not ever be HoF material but the dude was a damn good player once upon time. His numbers fell off a cliff when he turned 30 but before then, he was a bone fide superstar. In case you forgot, Juan collected two MVP awards and 362 homeruns before he went over-the-hill.

Gonzalez was a disciplined hitter and an RBI machine. His fielding was forgettable but at the plate he was unforgettable. Juan is guy who deserves some love from Texas Rangers fans because we got him when he was at his best and his best was among the very best in the game.

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Evan Grant at the Dallas Morning News recently elaborated on why he voted for Michael Young to the Hall of Fame.

He spoke of Young captaining the only two Ranger’s teams that ever went to the World Series.

He mentioned his franchise records of playing 1,823 games played and 2,230 hits.

Even though he was a respected veteran and team leader, Young selflessly moved to play significant innings at each infield spot. He finished his career scandal free and with a batting average a sliver over .300.

While Michael Young will never make it to the HoF, he’s a perfect candidate to be canonized in Texas Rangers history. It’s worth noting even with his playing career over, Young still works for the organization, adding to his total body of work. Perhaps worthy of being celebrated when the new stadium opens?

• Published on 01/26/2019 at 14:01 PM
• Last updated at 01/26/2019 at 13:02 PM