Hall of Fame Voting Update: All seems forgiven for NY Mets legend Carlos Beltran

The National Baseball Hall of Fame voting results will be announced later today and it’s looking like New York Mets fans will have more to celebrate than Billy Wagner finally getting inducted on his final time on the ballot. Ichiro Suzuki should be an anonymous selection (some writer in Iowa will refuse to vote for him) while CC Sabathia will get voted in comfortably with a few curmudgeons already forgetting to add him to their ballots.

With about half of the votes known, Wagner is over 84% which is a comfortable margin. Beltran, on the other hand, is right at 80%. As the NY Post’s Mike Puma points out, there tends to be a 5% drop off from those final ballots, putting him on a “if not now, probably next year” status.

Hall of Fame voters seem to have already forgiven Carlos Beltran for his transgressions

A sensible voter sees what Beltran accomplished and views him as a first ballot Hall of Famer. Unfortunately, caught up in the 2017 Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal had him receiving only 46.5% of the vote in 2023 and an uptick to 57.1% in 2024. The punishment for his alleged orchestration of the Astros cheating their way to victory appears over. It can’t hurt how the Los Angeles Dodgers are the new villain in Major League Baseball. We’re living in a time of anti-heroes. Almost 8 years removed from trash cans getting smacked, voters are less strict with holding Beltran out of Cooperstown.

Thanks to Ryan Thibodaux who tracks the ballots yearly, we can already confidently start booking our trips to Cooperstown this summer to at least see Wagner inducted. Held out for almost a full decade now, the voters are finally getting this one right.

The next closest to getting into the Hall of Fame is longtime Mets nemesis Andruw Jones who, based on Puma’s note of a 5% dip, will have to wait until next year. Fair enough. Chase Utley is at about half of the vote. Behind him is Alex Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez, and Andy Pettitte. They’ve all been shunned for their PED usage.

Much further down, we find David Wright. At 11%, he might actually be able to stay on the ballot another year. Former Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez is the only player behind Wright with more than 5% of the known vote currently. He could be off the ballot by next year at the rate he’s going.

A lengthy career that wasn’t just filled with numbers compiling in the latter part of his 30s, Beltran’s all-around ability as an athlete is what makes him an unquestioned Hall of Famer. His 2725 hits, 565 doubles, 535 home runs, and 312 stolen bases are all marks of his well-roundedness. Many of his numbers are in the top 50 all-time in MLB or just shy of it. His 1078 extra-base hits is an easily overlooked yet important one ranking 25th all-time in MLB history. It ranks him behind Jim Thome, tied with Cal Ripken Jr., and right in front of Reggie Jackson. It’s incredibly impressive company.