Beltré's decision not to wear a cup despite playing third base has been well-documented. This came back to hurt him on August 13, 2009, when he took a hard ground ball to the groin. Although he stayed in for the remainder of the 14-inning victory, he was put on the DL after suffering bleeding in one of his testicles. In his first game after returning from the DL, teammate Ken Griffey Jr. conspired with those responsible for the Safeco Field public address system to have Beltré's at-bat intro music be the opening march from "The Nutcracker Suite".