Centerfielders Carlos Beltran and Andruw Jones have been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers Association of America, it was announced today.
This was Beltran’s fourth year on the ballot, and he received 358 votes out of 425 ballots cast, giving him 84.2%, comfortably above the 75% threshold required for election. Jones, in his ninth year on the ballot, got 78.4% of the vote, with 333 total votes.
The only other candidate to receive over 50% of the vote was second baseman Chase
Utley, who received 59.1% of the vote in his third year on the ballot. Andy Pettitte received 48.5% in his eighth year on the ballot. Felix Hernandez, in his second year on the ballot, had the largest year-over-year jump in BBWAA voting history, going from ___ last year to 46.1% this year. Alex Rodriguez received 40% of the vote in this, his fifth year on the ballot. This was Manny Ramirez’s tenth and final year on the ballot, and he received 38.8% of the vote.
Beltran and Jones each had brief stints with the Rangers, and are the 10th and 11th players to have played for the Rangers and be elected to the Hall.
The only newcomer to this year’s ballot to get more than 5% of the vote was Cole Hamels, who received 23.8%.
The other former Rangers on the ballot were Omar Vizquel, who got 18.4% of the vote in his 9th year on the ballot, and one-and-dones Edwin Encarnacion (6 votes), Shin-Soo Choo (3 votes), and Hunter Pence (2 votes).
Congratulations to Beltran and Jones, who are both very worthy selections. Hopefully, Chase Utley, another guy who should have already have been voted in, will join them next year.
