Former Met Carlos Beltran almost certain to get call to the Hall this time around
Former Met Carlos Beltran looks on before a game against the Reds on July 26, 2011 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Credit: Getty Images/Joe Robbins
Jan. 16, 2020, was one of the toughest days of Carlos Beltran’s professional life.
The former Mets and Yankees outfielder, one of the most respected figures in baseball, resigned less than three months after being named Mets manager (having never managed a game) because of his role as a player in the Houston Astros’ 2017 sign-stealing scandal.
Five years later, Beltran is poised for perhaps the best day of his professional life on Tuesday. He is almost certain to be voted into the Hall of Fame.
In his fourth year on the Baseball Writers’ Association of America ballot, Beltran was polling at 89.2% of the publicly announced ballots as of Sunday.
Beltran and former Yankees outfielder Andruw Jones are the only candidates polling above the 75% needed to become an immortal in Cooperstown. Jones, in his ninth year of eligibility, was at 83.5% on Sunday. The vote totals are compiled, as they have been for many years, by the indefatigable Ryan Thibodaux.
The final vote percentages usually end up lower once all of the ballots are revealed, as they will be on Tuesday night live on MLB Network. As long as Beltran and Jones stay at 75% or better, they will join former Met Jeff Kent in the Hall’s Class of 2026. Kent was elected in December by the Contemporary Baseball Era committee.
One of the enduring questions about Hall of Fame voting is why it might take a player four tries on the ballot to get in. Did Beltran add to his final stats during the past four years? No, he has been stuck at 2,725 hits, 435 home runs, 312 stolen bases in 361 attempts and nine All-Star Game selections.
Some voters clearly penalized Beltran for his role in the Astros’ scandal. Because he was retired as a player when MLB’s report on the situation came out on Jan. 13, 2020, Beltran was not disciplined. However, he was the only player named in the report, and it stated that he was among those who “discussed that the team could improve on decoding opposing teams’ signs and communicating the signs to the batter” using nefarious means.
Three days later, Beltran and the Mets — who were being run by the Wilpons and general manager Brodie Van Wagenen — mutually agreed to a parting of the ways.
Beltran took responsibility and apologized, saying in a statement: “Over my 20 years in the game, I’ve always taken pride in being a leader and doing things the right way, and in this situation, I failed . . . I’m very sorry.”
So that should have been that as far as Beltran’s Hall chances, right? He’s either in or out?
It’s not as if Beltran used PEDs or was involved in a gambling scandal. The writers never let Barry Bonds or Roger Clemens into the Hall. The Hall never gave the BBWAA a chance to vote on Pete Rose. (Contrition was not a strong suit of any of those all-time greats.)
But enough Hall voters left Beltran off their ballots in his early years because of the taint of the trash can-banging Astros scandal. And enough apparently have changed their minds or believe he’s paid enough of a price.
Why? You’d need a degree in human psychology to explain that.
Full disclosure: I have voted for Beltran every year that he has been eligible. His vote totals have increased from 46.5% to 57.1% to last year’s 70.3%.
So this year all (or most) seems to be forgotten or forgiven. Beltran, now a Mets executive and still one of the most respected men in baseball, likely will be feted on Tuesday night as a Hall of Famer. Whether you get in on the first, fourth or 10th ballot (as Billy Wagner did last year), you will always be known as a Hall of Famer.
Proof of how MLB — or at least its network — is leaning into Beltran’s likely election: On Tuesday, he will be the subject of a pre-taped interview from Puerto Rico with former Mets teammate Cliff Floyd, an analyst with MLB Network since 2013.
Topics will include Beltran’s pride in carrying on the legacy of fellow Puerto Ricans such as Roberto Clemente; how Beltran developed into a switch hitter and became one of the best ever; his time with the Mets and overcoming his rough first year in Flushing, and, of course, what Floyd calls the “highway to the Hall of Fame.”
What will not be discussed? Floyd, in a telephone interview earlier this week, told Newsday he did not bring up the Astros scandal.
“Yes, I could have [gone] down that road,” Floyd said. “But I felt like at this point where I’m at and what I was going there to do was to talk about the highway to the Hall of Fame, and that’s what I did. I didn’t detour or anything.”
Fair enough. The voters have the last word on whether Beltran belongs in the Hall, and the way it looks now, the word will be yes.
Then it will be Beltran’s turn to tell us what this honor means to him, live on TV. Floyd got a preview.
“Every time I asked him about it, he goes, it would mean everything to him,” Floyd said. “Knowing what he tried to carry with that legacy of Roberto Clemente and all the other fellow Puerto Rican Hall of Famers. From where he started to where he is today, to have this kind of opportunity, he goes, he’s more grateful than you can even imagine.”
Sometimes the “highway to the Hall of Fame” isn’t a straight line. But the Beltran case certainly proves that the twists and turns can be overcome if the player (and the man) eventually is deemed worthy.
Anthony Rieber covers sports media and business and professional sports (you know, games and trades and things). He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since Jan. 1, 2026.
