The Mets announced today that the organization will induct three new members into its team Hall of Fame: outfielder Carlos Beltrán, manager Bobby Valentine, and utility man Lee Mazzilli.
Beltrán remains
one of the most significant free agent signings in franchise history, as the then-27-year-old agreed to a seven-year, $119 million contract with the Mets ahead of the 2005 season. From there, he turned into one of the best position players the team ever had, hitting .280/.369/.500 with 149 home runs and a 127 wRC+ while playing outstanding defense in center field for the first few years of the contract. His 29.4 fWAR currently ranks fifth, as Beltrán was just surpassed by Francisco Lindor for fourth place on that list this year. Beltrán did that in just 839 games with the Mets, and among position players in the top thirteen spots on the list, only Lindor has appeared in fewer games as a Met than Beltrán did.
Following the 2019 season, Beltrán was hired as the Mets’ new manager, but he wound up stepping down from the job just a couple of months later when news of the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal broke. While Beltrán has continued to work in baseball, including his developmental role with the Mets in recent seasons, he hasn’t gotten another shot at managing since then.
That scandal has likely been the primary reason for Beltrán’s delayed entry into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, but having received 70.3 percent of the vote in his third appearance on the ballot in 2025, he’s poised to be inducted there next summer, as well.
Valentine remains a beloved figure among Mets fans, and it’s not hard to see why. Over the course of his time as manager of the Mets, he racked up a 536-467 record, as he was a the helm for back-to-back playoff appearances that saw the Mets get to the NLCS in 1999 and advanced to the World Series in 2000.
And while Mazzilli was never quite on the level of someone like Beltrán as a player, the New York City native hit .264/.357/.396 with 68 home runs and a 112 OPS+ in his 979 games across two stints with the Mets. That performance has him in the top thirty position players in franchise history in fWAR, and like Valentine, he’s beloved by Mets fans who got to see him in action.
