Ex-Red Sox great Adrian Beltre among three elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
Three of the greatest players of the 21st century received their call to Cooperstown on Tuesday night, as Adrian Beltre, Joe Mauer and Todd Helton were each elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Beltre and Mauer were each elected on the first ballot, while Helton earned induction on his sixth try. Billy Wagner fell just short of the 75% threshold needed for election, missing the mark by only five votes to finish with 73.8%, and Gary Sheffield finished with 63.9% in his 10th and final attempt.
Beltre was widely expected to earn election and was a near-unanimous pick, appearing on 95.1% of all ballots. The former Red Sox third baseman finished with 3,166 career hits, 477 home runs, a career .819 OPS and five Gold Gloves over 21 seasons, including a particularly dominant eight-season run in his 30s with the Texas Rangers.
Mauer wound up making the cut by only four votes, appearing on 76.1% of ballots cast. The longtime Minnesota Twins catcher became a first-ballot inductee by virtue of his dominant 10-year stretch in which he won three batting titles, a MVP award, six All-Star nods and three Gold Gloves.
Helton, who spent his entire career with the Colorado Rockies, finally overcame the stigma of playing in Coors Field and earned induction with 79.7% of the vote. Helton was a five-time All-Star, a four-time Gold Glove winner and batted .316 with a .953 career OPS. Beyond his monster numbers at high elevation, Helton also had a career .855 OPS on the road, a better mark than Hall of Famers like Jim Rice (.854), Reggie Jackson (.846) and Carl Yastrzemski (.841).
Though Wagner fell just short, the dominant closer looks like a good bet to earn induction in his final attempt next year. Sheffield won’t have any such luck, but he is likely to earn consideration by the Contemporary Era Committee when the group next meets in December of 2025.
Other notable finishers included Andruw Jones (61.6%), Carlos Beltran (57.1%), Alex Rodriguez (34.8%), Manny Ramirez (32.5%) and Chase Utley (28.8%).