The New York Mets may have an uncertain current roster as their offseason continues, but their Hall of Fame roster just grew by one important player, as former Mets outfielder Carlos Beltran was elected to the Hall of Fame today along with outfielder Andrew Jones.
Beltran has been on the ballot for four year now, and he needed to reach 75 percent to hit the necessary threshold for induction, according to Mike Puma of the New York Post. This time around he left no doubt, getting 84.2 percent of the necessary votes. Jones, who has been on the ballot for nine years, receiver 78.4 percent of the necessary votes.
Beltran also left now doubts about the cap he’ll be wearing. He started his career with the Kansas City Royals, and Beltran also played for the New York Yankees, Houston Astros, San Francisco Giants, Texas Rangers and St. Louis Cardinals, but he’ll be inducted wearing a Mets cap. He’ll join pitcher Tom Seaver and catcher Mike Piazza as Hall of Famers who have been inducted as Mets, and he also paid tribute to his Puerto Rican heritage when he spoke about learning the news.
"Today, my life really has changed, just being able to be named a Hall of Famer and what it really means to me, to Puerto Rico, to our family, to our project in Puerto Rico promoting baseball," said Beltran, who now runs a baseball academy in his homeland, in an ESPN story written by Bradford Doolittle.
Beltran’s stats were impressive. He finished his career with 435 home runs, 1587 RBIs, a .279 average, .350 OBP and an OPS of .837. His career WAR was 70.0, and Beltran won three Gold Glove awards as an outfielder.
While the Hall of Fame is certainly the ultimate honor, Beltran has more coming his way. The Mets have discussed retiring Beltran’s number 15, but according to Puma that might be a tight fit given that the team already has a Mets Hall of Fame ceremony planned to go with a 40th anniversary celebration of the 1986 World Series-winning team.
Beltran will go on with an outfielder who hit close to the same number of home runs and was known for his defense. Jones won ten Gold Gloves as the premier defensive center fielder of his era, and he hit 434 homers. They’ll be joined by another former Met, second baseman Jeff Kent, who was elected by the Contemporary Era Baseball Committee.
Beltran continues to work for the Mts in their front office, and he was recently lauded by current outfield superstar Juan Soto, who said Beltran helped him break out an April slump when he came over to the Mets from the Yankees after signing a landmark free agent deal.
The Hall of Fame induction ceremony will take place on July 26, on the grounds of the Clark Sports Center in Cooperstown, New York.