Felipe Alou, a trailblazer for baseball players out of the Dominican Republic, knew about Adrian Beltre before anyone else in the game.
"I have a soft spot for Adrian, because I used to hold him," Alou said.
Alou became friends with Beltre's father, known as "El Negrito" because he was an exceedingly handsome and dark-skinned man, through their shared interest in fighting roosters. The activity is legal in the Dominican.
In the winter of 1979, the elder Beltre had good news for Alou. Beltre's wife was pregnant, and the father believed she would deliver a son who would be a ballplayer.