It's the sound that any professional athlete wants to hear. You are a Hall of Famer. Getting enshrined in Cooperstown is the biggest complement a player can get. On Tuesday, the Baseball Writers Association of America made there selections for who should get in. This year, it was just two players: Andruw Jones and Carlos Beltran!
To get into the Hall, you need 75% votes on the ballot to get in. Jones got 78.4% votes (his 9th year on the ballot) and Beltran got 84.2% (his 4th year on the ballot). There are also two others who are joining Jones and Beltran in the Hall this year. Jeff Kent was selected by the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee, and Joe Buck was selected as the winner of the Ford C Frick award (Hall of Fame selection for Broadcasters).
Everybody that was elected to the hall deserves their induction. Let’s start with Jeff Kent. Sure, there have been those moments he’s had off the field. He’s had his problems in the locker room and with the media, that have been well documented. But his inclusion in the Hall is for what he did on the field. His career totaled 16 years, playing for the Blue Jays (1992), Mets (1992-1996), Indians (1996), Giants (1997-2002), Astros (2003-2004) and Dodgers (2005-2008). He’s a career .2909 hitter, 2ith 2,461 hits, 377 home ruins and 1,518 RBI’s. Kent won NL MVP in 2000, was a five time all star and a four time silver slugger winner. He is baseball’s all time home run leader for second baseman and is the only second baseman to have 100 or more RBI’s in six straight seasons, which he did from 1997 to 2002. Kent had a decent glove, but it was his bat that got him into Cooperstown.
As for the two center fielders that got selected, both are well deserving of their induction. First there’s Andruw Jones. Jones spent 17 season in the Majors, playing for the Braves (1996-2007), Dodgers (2008), Rangers (2009), White Sox (2010) and Yankees (2011-2012). Jones was a lifetime .254 lifetime hitter, picking up 1,933 hits, 434 home runs and 1,289 RBI’s. He won ten gold gloves, and was a five time all star. His 10 gold gloves were won in ten straight years from 1998 to 2007. That ranks tied for third for most gold gloves won by an outfielder. He could do a little bit of everything. He had good power and great speed, both running bases and in the outfield. The only knock on him during his career was he was a weak hitter for average. The rest of his career more than made up for it.
Carlos Beltran made a name for himself during one great playoff run and kept that going the rest of his career. His career spanned 20 season playing for the Royals (1998-2004), Astros (2004), Mets (2005-2011), Giants (2011), Cardinals (2012-2013), Yankees (2014-2016), Rangers (2016) and Astros (2017). Beltran was a lifetime .279 hitter, collecting 2,725 hits, 435 home runs and 1,587 RBI’s. He won AL Rookie of the year in 1999, was a nine time all star, a three time gold glove winner, two time silver slugger and won a world series in 2017. Carlos could do it all. He could hit for average, had plenty of power, was a great runner and an outstanding fielder. There really wasn’t anything in this game that Beltran couldn’t do.
Congratulations to everybody on their enshrinement in the Baseball Hall of Fame class of 2026!
