Texas Rangers Adrian Beltre and Bartolo Colon are the last relics of the 1990s

Two of MLB’s most-liked players, Texas Rangers teammates Adrian Beltre and Bartolo Colon, are the last remaining guys who played in the 1990s.

How old are Texas Rangers teammates Adrian Beltre and Bartolo Colon? They’re so old, their careers started before the existence of Facebook or Twitter or Instagram or even YouTube. They were playing in the big leagues before anyone became Tom’s friend on My Space. When they played their first major league games, they couldn’t hop on a computer after and write about it on LiveJournal (of course, they weren’t teenage girls either, so they wouldn’t have used LiveJournal anyway).

Bartolo Colon and Adrian Beltre are the last remaining major league players who played in the 1990s. Colon made his big league debut as a 24-year-old with the 1997 Cleveland Indians. Beltre was just a wee lad of 19 when he reached the show with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1998.

Together, they’ve combined to be worth 143.7 WAR, per Baseball-Reference, which is just slightly more than Hank Aaron had in his career. If you could fuse the hitting and fielding ability of Adrian Beltre with the pitching ability of Bartolo Colon to create a combination player named Adbart Beltolo, he would be the seventh greatest player in baseball history. Theoretically, at least.

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This Adbart Beltolo creation would have a combined eight all-star seasons, five Gold Gloves, four Silver Sluggers, and a Cy Young Award. Unfortunately, despite playing a combined 42 seasons so far, Adbart Beltolo would not have a World Series ring. Beltre came close in 2011 when the Texas Rangers lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games. Colon was part of the 2015 New York Mets when they lost the World Series to the Kansas City Royals in five games.

Both players are beloved by many fans, although with Colon you have to ignore a PED suspension and a secret family. Beltre has not only been a Hall of Fame worthy player, he’s done it while seemingly having more fun than just about anyone else on the field. He’s famous for his antics with teammate Elvis Andrus, his down-on-one-knee home run swings and his battles with longtime opponent Felix Hernandez.

In between all of the fun Beltre has had on the field over the last two decades, he’s banged out over 3000 hits, currently 20^th all-time, and more than 450 home runs, 33^rd on the all-time list. Before this season is over, he could move up as high as 16^th in career hits and into the top 30 in big flies.

Part of Colon’s appeal is his decidedly unathletic-looking body. He doesn’t look like a professional athlete or even a typical 45-year old. He’s listed at 5-foot-11, 285 pounds, but he appears to be pushing past three bills. It’s easy to be fooled by his size, though. He can be remarkably nimble on his feet, as he showed on an impressive play when he made a behind-the-back toss on a weak ground ball up the first base line. Also, he can hit the long ball.

Away from the bright lights and big cities of Major League Baseball, there is another guy who played in the 1990s who is still active in professional baseball. Outfielder Ruben Rivera, who last played in the major leagues in 2003, is playing with the Acereros de Monclova of the Mexican League.

For those who don’t remember Rivera, he was famous for a couple things, neither of them good. While with the New York Yankees in 2002, Rivera reportedly stole teammate Derek Jeter’s glove and sold it to a memorabilia dealer for $2500. He eventually returned the glove but was cut by the team. It still boggles the mind that a guy making $1 million would risk losing that contract for $2500.

Even more famous than that Derek Jeter’s glove incident was the Ruben Rivera run around the bases adventure with the San Francisco Giants during the 2003 season. Rivera was on second base when Marquis Grissom launched one into “triples alley.” That began what may be the worse base running escapade ever seen in the big leagues.

Beltre and Colon are near the end of the line, but one or both could be back on a big league diamond next year. Beltre has been limited by injuries and played just 86 games so far. He’s having his first below-average season offensively since 2009, but has been above replacement-level. Colon, despite an ERA over 5.00, has also been above replacement-level.

If Beltre returns for a 22^nd season, it will be with the Texas Rangers, the team he’s played for since 2011. He isn’t chasing any particular milestones, but would still love to get a World Series ring. Colon recently passed Dennis Martinez for the most wins by a Latin American-born pitcher and now says he would like to pass Juan Marichal in career innings. He still needs 57 innings to get there. Both players will have plenty of fans rooting for a return in 2019.