Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones will join Jeff Kent in the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s Class of 2026.
The two outfielders were tapped for induction on Tuesday through the Baseball Writers’ Association of America’s annual vote. Needing 75% support of the 425-voter electorate to reach Cooperstown, Beltrán got 84.2% and Jones got 78.4%.
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Kent was already in through the Hall’s Contemporary Era Committee’s vote in December.
Beltrán was in his fourth year on the ballot, while Jones was on his ninth, meaning he was two unsuccessful votes away from falling off the BBWAA ballot.
Both men needed a steady increase in support over the years to make it. Beltrán received 46.5% of the vote and saw double-digit increases every cycle up to now. Jones sat at only 7.3% then 7.5% in his first two years, but began to quickly rise as the field thinned out.
The past couple of years have featured an overwhelming favorite to get in on the first ballot with Ichiro Suzuki (2025) and Adrian Beltré (2024), but there was no such player this year. The only first-year player to get enough votes to stay on the ballot was Cole Hamels, who landed 23.8%. Given the rise of Beltrán and Jones, that sets up the Philadelphia Phillies great for election down the line.
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Among the first-year players to fail to reach a second ballot was Ryan Braun, whose performance-enhancing drug use made him a non-starter with voters.
Manny Ramirez, another player who was suspended for PEDs, received only 38.8% of the vote in his 10th year on the ballot. The only way the MLB’s all-time postseason homer leader can reach the Hall now is the Contemporary Era Committee, which has so far been even more hostile to steroid users than BBWAA voters.
On a related note, Alex Rodriguez’s numbers held steady with 40%, a small increase from his 37.1% last year. Barring a stunning reversal, it appears he will see the same fate as Ramirez, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens.
Beltrán and Jones never faced serious PED allegations in their career, but they both had issues with their candidacy that likely came up for voters considering the Hall’s character clause.
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Beltrán was a nine-time All-Star who was excellent on both sides of the ball and had impressive postseason stats. However, he was also one of the central organizers of the 2017 Houston Astros’ cheating scheme, which helped him win the only World Series ring of his career. He was the only player named in the commissioner’s report on the scandal and would have likely made the Hall far earlier had he reached the ballot before those allegations came to light.
Jones is one of the best defensive center fielders in the history of baseball, with 10 Gold Gloves to his name, and had enough power for 51 homers in 2005, but he also pleaded guilty to domestic battery charges after being accused of pulling his wife down a stairway, putting his hands around her neck and threatening to kill her.
The Hall of Fame induction ceremony is scheduled for July 26 in Cooperstown.
