Former Royals great Carlos Beltran announced his retirement on Monday, and he wrote a retrospective on his career for The Players’ Tribune.
Beltran is going out on top — he was with the Astros this season and they won the World Series earlier this month. Beltran wept on the field after Houston won the championship, and there had been speculation that he would retire.
In his 20-year career, Beltran played for seven teams, and made an instant impact with the Royals, winning the Rookie of the Year award in 1999. Beltran was first called up to Kansas City a year earlier, and he recounted that moment in his essay for The Players’ Tribune (which has the title “Muchas Gracias, Béisbol”):
I was drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the second round and came to the United States.