By STEPHEN HAWKINS AP Baseball Writer
ARLINGTON, Texas — When the Texas Rangers retired Adrián Beltré’s No. 29 jersey the season after the third baseman played his final game, the celebration included messages from George Brett, Mike Schmidt and Chipper Jones.
All those Hall of Fame third basemen told Beltré that night in 2019 they would see him in Cooperstown as soon as he became eligible for election.
“You will be first ballot. … Can’t wait to sit behind you when you’re making your speech,” Schmidt said in his video message.
Beltré, who spent the first seven seasons of his 21-year major-league career with the Dodgers, was among 12 first-timers and 26 players overall on the ballot for the Class of 2024 that will be revealed Tuesday (3 p.m. PT, MLB Network). A four-time All-Star and five-time Gold Glove winner, he had 3,166 hits, 477 home runs and 1,707 RBIs in a career spent with the Dodgers (1998-2004), Seattle Mariners (2005-09), Boston Red Sox (2010) and Rangers (2011-18). His 2,759 games at third base are second only to Brooks Robinson’s 2,870 and his 636 doubles are 11th on the career list.
“I don’t know how I’m going to feel,” Beltré said when asked about that possibility of being a first-ballot pick. “If it happens, when it happens, I’ll see how I’ll react and see how I’m going to enjoy it.”
While he often displayed an intimidating scowl – including when teammates touched his head – Beltré was beloved in the clubhouse and truly enjoyed playing the game over 21 big league seasons. The five-tool standout debuted in 1998 at only 19 years old and excelled throughout a career filled with big hits, including several home runs hit off one knee. His slick fielding provided defensive highlights at the hot corner.
Players who get 75% of the votes submitted by Dec. 31 will make the Hall, and Beltré has consistently been well above that threshold according to Ryan Thibodaux’s Hall of Fame ballot tracker. As of Monday afternoon PT, Beltré was listed on 99% of 194 known ballots, an estimated 50.5% of the total.
Former Minnesota Twins catcher Joe Mauer, also on his initial ballot, was second at 83%, and longtime Colorado Rockies first baseman Todd Helton was next at 82.5% in his sixth appearance.
Relief pitcher Billy Wagner, on for the ninth time, was at 78.4% and outfielder Gary Sheffield, making his 10th and final appearance, was at 74.7%, followed by Andruw Jones at 70.6%. A player’s percentage usually declines among the final total of the approximately 400 ballots; the tracker’s figures include voters who have revealed their choices, about half of those eligible to mail in ballots.
Helton was at 79.8% on the tracker ahead of last year’s announcement and fell 11 votes short at 72.2%. Scott Rolen was the only player elected, in his sixth time on the ballot, and became only the 18th third baseman elected to the Hall, the fewest of any position. Beltré is likely next.
Beltré reached his only World Series in 2011 during his first year with Texas, where he spent the last eight seasons of his career. He joined the 3,000-hit club in a Rangers home game on July 30, 2017, and his milestone double came only minutes after longtime Texas catcher Ivan Rodríguez had finished his Hall of Fame induction speech in Cooperstown that day.
It was also only four days after Beltré, already with three extra-base hits in a game to get to 2,996 hits, was ejected for moving an on-deck circle. After umpire Gerry Davis motioned for Beltré to get closer to the on-deck circle, the player instead dragged the large plastic mat marking that spot closer to him.
Beltré was a .286 career hitter. His 3,166 hits rank 18th and are the most for a foreign-born player. He also had 1,707 RBIs (25th) in his 2,933 career games with four teams, and three times hit for the cycle – the last when he was 36 years old.
“You had more fun than anybody I saw play the game of baseball,” Brett said in his message the night Beltré had his jersey retired.
Known for some quirky baseball habits, Beltré often pointed to umpires himself when he checked his swing. He shuffled his feet and swiveled his legs in the batter’s box on inside pitches or those in the dirt. There were so many times on the left side of the infield that Beltré and shortstop Elvis Andrus would be only a few feet apart, both with their gloves in the air, one mimicking the other catching a popup.
And Beltré hated being touched on the head, which was mercilessly exploited by teammates when celebrating big moments. Especially Andrus, a little brother-like nine years younger who was with him all eight seasons in Texas. During a pitching change at Seattle in 2013, Beltré threw his glove at a fleeing Andrus after being popped on the head with a glove.
Beltré was 15 when he signed with the Dodgers in July 1994, and never went back down to the minors after being called up in 1998. He played for the Dodgers until 2004, then spent five seasons in Seattle before one year with the Boston Red Sox that preceded going to Texas in free agency.
Michael Young, the Rangers’ career leader for games and hits and now a special assistant with the team, was Texas’ third baseman before becoming a utility player and designated hitter after Beltré was signed.
“All of the things I knew about him, he was just better pretty much in every possible way I could have imagined,” Young said after Beltré retired.
IS HALL TOO BIG OR TOO SMALL?
Just 270 players are in the Hall, 1.3% of the approximately 20,500 who have appeared in the major leagues, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. There are another 40 executives/pioneers, 23 managers and 10 umpires enshrined, raising the membership total to 343.
“These votes are literally life-changing,” said The Athletic’s Jayson Stark, who has cast ballots for three decades. “I try never to forget that. That’s why it’s a huge responsibility.”
Big Hall or small? Baseball’s most divisive debate is whether a player warrants inclusion in Cooperstown.
Stark used all 10 of his available slots on this year’s Baseball Writers’ Association of America ballot. Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy checked just two, for Beltré and Mauer.
“I’m looking for someone who’s dominant at the position they played in the era in which they played,” said Shaughnessy, like Stark a winner of the Hall’s BBWAA Career Excellence Award.
Four players could be elected for the fourth time in 10 years – the only year with five was the first election in 1936.
Anyone elected will be inducted into the Hall on July 21 along with longtime manager Jim Leyland, voted in last month by the contemporary era committee for managers, executives and umpires.
An average of 5.86 names were on ballots last year, down from 7.11 in 2022. The BBWAA said 13.9% of voters used all 10 slots, down from 33.8% in 2022.
“I don’t think there’s any clear dividing line anymore,” said Bob Costas, winner of the Hall’s Frick Award for broadcasters but not a voter. “I think the modern analytics have been informative, and they’ve revealed a valid case for some people who previously had been overlooked. But you’ve got so many overlapping circumstances.
“It’s a mishmash. There’s so many different ways to come at it,” added Costas, saying debate often comes down to: “Well, if this guy is in it, why isn’t that guy in?”
Steroids-tainted Alex Rodríguez (35.7%) and Manny Ramírez (33.2%) fell far short last year. Shaughnessy left them off, citing the criteria on the ballot specifying “voting shall be based upon the player’s record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played.”
“The hard part’s been the disqualifiers for those who take the character clause into consideration, and that’s been the bane of existence for this Hall voter for quite some time,” Shaughnessy said. “It feels like we’re finally clearing through a little bit, but it’s still strict, unforgiving on that one.
“I know it’s not popular, and I know it’s going away. I think the younger voters don’t care about it, and I understand that.”
Mauer was a six-time All-Star, three-time Gold Glove winner and the 2009 AL MVP during 15 seasons with Minnesota. He is the only catcher to win three batting titles. He batted .306 with 143 homers and 906 RBIs with Minnesota from 2004-18.
Helton received 16.5% support in 2019, his first year on the ballot. A five-time All-Star and the 2000 MLB batting champion, he hit .316 in 17 seasons for Colorado with 369 homers, 1,406 RBIs and 1,401 runs. He had widely divergent home/road statistics, batting .345 with 200 homers and 791 RBIs in the mile-high air of Coors Field and .287 with 142 homers and 547 RBIs on the road.
Wagner was on 10.5% of ballots when he was first eligible in 2016. The seven-time All-Star is sixth in career saves with 422, going 47-40 with a 2.31 ERA in 16 seasons. A left-handed reliever, he struck out 1,196 in 903 innings with Houston (1995-2003), Philadelphia (2004-05), the New York Mets (2006-09), Boston (2009) and Atlanta (2010).
Sheffield received 11.7% when first on the ballot in 2015. A nine-time All-Star and the 1992 NL batting champion, Sheffield started as an infielder before shifting to the outfield for most of his career. He hit .292 with 509 homers and 1,676 RBIs in 22 seasons for Milwaukee (1988-91), San Diego (1992-93), Florida (1993-98), the Dodgers (1998-2001), Atlanta (2002-03), the New York Yankees (2004-06), Detroit (2007-08) and the Mets (2009).
