MLB Hall of Fame: 10 current players who are locks
5. Carlos Beltran
I opened up this article by talking about how character and integrity play into selections for the Hall of Fame, and few players exhibit fine character and integrity better than Carlos Beltran.
You might consider those attributes as intangibles that have little importance, but there have been players some might argue should be in the hall, but are not, that had issues with character and integrity. Like it or not, it’s very important.
Sports On Earth’ s Jorge Arangure, Jr. penned an article about Beltran, and pointed out the praise he gets from players who know him:
"“What separates him from other people is that not only is he a superstar caliber player, but he’s a very genuinely humble guy who cares a lot about winning and cares a lot about his teammates,” Cardinals third baseman Matt Carpenter said. “He’s just a good person. He’s the kind of guy who just takes guys under his wing. Nobody is making him do that. He does that on his own… He loves the game of baseball. That’s one thing I really could see that’s very obvious with him. Sometimes you see guys that have played as long as he has and they’re doing it for whatever reasons, but he truly loves to play. It’s just fun to be around.”"
Character and integrity are not all you’ll find in Beltran’s resume though. There is much more to recommend him as a possible lock for the Hall of Fame than that, as his career numbers clearly attest.
As a 17 year veteran, Beltran has a nice career slash of .281/.356/.493/.849, is a seven-time All-Star, multi-year MVP candidate, won the Gold Glove three times, the Silver Slugger twice, and started out his career in 1999 by winning a Rookie of the Year award!
The knock on Beltran for HOF consideration is simply the number of teams he’s played for, having played for six different teams, bouncing around often, which has always been a bit baffling when you consider what a great teammate Beltran is, how respected he is by other players, and frankly for how superb a player he has always been. Many will disagree, but I think Beltran should be a lock.
Jerry Crasnick of ESPN wrote the best piece I’ve ever read making a case for Beltran’s place in the Hall-of-Fame. If you’ve unconvinced on Beltran, read Jerry’s piece, and you’ll perhaps begin to see Carlos in a new light.