Former St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Carlos Beltran earned election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown on Tuesday night, becoming one of the newest members of the prestigious fraternity.
He’ll be inducted in a ceremony in Cooperstown, N.Y. in July alongside former Atlanta Braves standout Andruw Jones, who was also elected. Jeff Kent, who was elected via the Contemporary Baseball Eras Committee, will join them.
Beltran received 84.2 percent of the vote in his fourth year on the ballot.
About Beltran
A 20-year veteran of the Kansas City Royals, Houston Astros, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Texas Rangers, San Francisco Giants and Cardinals, Beltran has been one of the best players of the late 1990s and 2000s.
He hit 435 career home runs and drove in 1,587 runs. He also stole 312 bases.
A nine-time All-Star and a three-time Gold Glove winner, Beltran also won two Silver Sluggers, a Rookie of the Year and a Clemente Award.
He won the 2017 World Series with the Astros, but that was shrouded in controversy because of the infamous sign-stealing scandal.
He had 12 seasons of 20 home runs or more.
About his time with the Cardinals
Beltran was with the Cardinals in 2012 and 2013, helping St. Louis reach the World Series in the second season.
He hit .282 in those two campaigns with 56 homers and 181 RBIs. He popped 32 homers in 2012. He hit .286 in the 2013 National League Championship Series and hit .294 in that World Series with a .400 on-base percentage.
His career was not built on spectacle alone. He did not rely solely on towering home runs or viral highlights. Instead, he played the game with a steady confidence that rarely demanded attention but always earned respect.
He ran the outfield with purpose, read the ball off the bat as if he had seen it before, and carried himself with the quiet understanding of someone who knew exactly who he was. In St. Louis, that kind of consistency matters.
It becomes trust. And trust, over time, becomes legacy.
There were seasons when his bat carried the lineup and moments when his glove saved games that would otherwise have slipped away. But perhaps what defined him most was his presence.
Night after night, fans could count on him being there, doing his job, anchoring the outfield with calm reliability. In a sport where failure is unavoidable, he offered something rare: steadiness.
