Carlos Beltran and Andruw Jones got inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday in Cooperstown, and it's the kind of ceremony that makes you realize how absurd it is these guys had to wait as long as they did. Beltran got in with 84.2% of the vote, Jones with 78.4%, and both of them join Jeff Kent -- who came in through the Contemporary Era Committee -- as part of the 2026 class.
If you want a snapshot of just how good these two were for just how long, look no further than the actual MVP ballots. Beltran picked up down-ballot votes across seven different seasons spanning 2003 to 2012. Jones showed up on MVP ballots five times between 2000 and 2006, peaking at 2nd place in 2005. That's not a peak-and-fade career -- that's a decade-plus of guys who mattered every single year.
A rundown of just how many MVP ballots Beltran and Jones showed up on across their careers.
MVP Votes, 2026 Hall Of Famers: Carlos Beltrán 2003 (9th) 2004 (12th) 2006 (4th) 2007 (20th) 2008 (21st) 2011 (20th) 2012 (26th) Andruw Jones 2000 (8th) 2002 (16th) 2003 (13th) 2005 (2nd) 2006 (11th) Jeff Kent 1997 (8th) 1998 (9th) 1999 (26th) 2000 (1st) 2002 (6th) 2004 (13th) 2005 (19th)
Jones is the defensive case, full stop. He won 10 consecutive Gold Gloves patrolling center for the Braves and finished with 434 home runs, putting him in a club with only Ken Griffey Jr., Mike Schmidt and Willie Mays as players with 400-plus homers and 10-plus Gold Gloves. Beltran's case is the complete-player argument -- 435 home runs, over 1,500 RBIs, over 1,500 runs scored, three Gold Gloves of his own, and membership in the tiny 300 homer/300 steal club. Different flavors of great, same ceiling.
Beltran's road here was the longer one. He debuted on the ballot at 46.5% back in 2023, climbed to 57.1% the next year, then 70.3%, before finally clearing the 75% bar this cycle. Reportedly, chants of 'Puerto Rico' broke out in the crowd before he even opened his mouth at the podium, and the flags came out every time he mentioned home. That's the kind of reception you don't script.
Mark Feinsand, who covered both guys during his years on the Yankees beat, reflected on calling them friends heading into the ceremony.
I had an opportunity to cover both @carlosbeltran15 and @andruwjones25 during my years on the Yankees beat. I always enjoyed talking baseball and life with each of them -- and I still do. Proud to call them both friends and excited to see them inducted into the @baseballhall.
Feinsand's post gets at something the stat sheets don't -- both of these guys were fixtures on the New York baseball scene at different points, Beltran with the Mets and later the Yankees, Jones with a stint in the Bronx as well. Beat writers who covered them for years are the ones who end up with the clearest read on who these guys actually were, on and off the field, and that kind of longtime respect doesn't show up in a WAR total.
Neither of these guys was ever the loudest name in the room during their playing days, which is probably part of why the vote took as long as it did for both. But a plaque in Cooperstown doesn't care about name recognition -- it cares about the body of work. Beltran and Jones both put together bodies of work that speak for themselves now, permanently, in bronze.