ARLINGTON - The ceremony to retire Adrian Beltre’s No. 29 on Saturday ran long.
It wasn’t Beltre’s fault.
As always, when speaking about himself, he was brief. It was that too many people had too many nice things to say about Beltre’s 21-year career, which came to an end last year in Seattle.
From Tommy Lasorda, the man who made the call to bring a then 19-year-old to the majors, to Elvis Andrus, his friend, teammate and tormentor, the words of praise rained down for more than an hour.
“You have always been a tremendous role model for all the most important things in life,” said Beltre’s former Seattle teammate Raul Ibanez.