New York Mets legend Carlos Beltran has been elected to the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame after receiving 84.2 percent of the vote from the baseball writers, as he will make his much deserved trip to Cooperstown this summer.
Beltran spent seven years in a Mets uniform after he signed with New York following a huge postseason with the Houston Astros in 2004. From 2005 to 2011 Beltran solidified himself as one of the games all time great five-tool players. He hit .280 for the Mets with 149 career home runs. His highlights include scaling the hill at Houston's Minute Maid Park to rob extra bases in an extra inning victory over the Stros in 2007.
He also hit huge game winning home runs agianst the Phillies and Cardinals during the Mets magical 2006 season.
Many cold-hearted fans have ripped Beltran for years over the fact he struck out against Adam Wainwright in Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS, but let's be fair it was a breaking ball by a fellow Hall of Famer in Wainwright. Let it go. Beltran did so many great and amazing things for the Mets as a player.
It will be interesting to see if he goes in with a Mets or Royals cap. He spent seven years with each franchise. It is with the Kansas City Royals that Beltran cut his teeth as a young player before getting dealt to Houston in 2004.
In an discussion with the New York Post, Beltran hinted that he is leaning toward wearing Mets cap into Cooperstown, but it's no guarantee. If he does, he becomes the third such player to do so joining Mike Piazza and Tom Seaver.
Beltran almost became the Mets manager at one point in 2020, were it not for his affiliation with the Astros coaching staff during the infamous sign stealing scandal in 2017 where Houston was found to have illegally used cameras and garbage cans to steal signs at home games. Beltran was a part of it, and wound up getting fired by the Mets just 77 days into his managerial tenure. He never managed a game.
Still time has healed old wounds. Beltran rejoined the Mets a few seasons ago in the front office where he remains to this day. He's also worked in the Yankees front office under Brian Cashman. He has long been respected as an astute baseball man, and one has to figure Beltran might one day return to the dugout as a manager.
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