Baseball Hall of Fame 2026 inductees confirmed as two MLB legends are finally voted in
Of the 27 players on the ballots of voters for the Baseball Hall of Fame, only two earned enough selections to be enshrined in Cooperstown, New York this summer.
A pair of centerfielders - Andruw Jones and Carlos Beltran - broke the 75 percent threshold and will be a part of the class of 2026.
They join Jeff Kent, who was voted in by the Baseball Hall of Fame's 'Contemporary Era Committee' and will be honored in upstate New York in July.
The two stars become the third and fourth centerfielders elected to the Hall since 1981, according to ESPN's Jeff Passan. They join Ken Griffey Jr and Kirby Puckett for the honor.
Of the notable names not voted in, former Philadelphia Phillies and Los Angeles Dodgers second baseman Chase Utley came third in voting at just over 59 percent, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Behind him are former New York Yankees stars Andy Pettite (48.5 percent) and Alex Rodriguez (40 percent), Seattle Mariners ace Felix Hernandez (46.1 percent) and Boston Red Sox icon Manny Ramirez (38.8 percent).
The Baseball Hall of Fame's Class of 2026 has been revealed after the ballots have gone public
Atlanta Braves slugger Andruw Jones was elected in with 78.4 percent of the vote
Fellow centerfielder Carlos Beltran was also voted in, with 84.2 percent of the vote
After being on the ballot for ten years without being elected in, Ramirez's Hall of Fame fate will no longer be in the hands of the voters. He could be eventually elected in by the Contemporary Era Committee.
In addition, any player who received fewer than five percent of the vote will no longer be up for consideration. This year, those players include the likes of:
- Ryan Braun, outfielder, Milwaukee Brewers
- Edwin Encarnacion, DH, Toronto Blue Jays, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians
- Shin-Soo Choo, outfielder, Seattle, Cleveland, Texas Rangers
- Matt Kemp, outfielder, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres, Atlanta Braves
- Hunter Pence, outfielder, Houston Astros, Philadelphia, San Francisco Giants
Jones, who was voted in on his ninth ballot with 78.4 percent of the vote, now becomes the first player from the nation of Curacao to enter the Hall of Fame.
He spent a majority of his career with the Atlanta Braves, finishing with a career batting average of .254 and slugging 434 home runs.
A five-time All-Star selection, Jones won the centerfielder Gold Glove Award for ten straight seasons from 1998 to 2007. He also won the Silver Slugger Award in 2005.
Known for his elite glove and his quick bat, Jones retired with the New York Yankees in 2012 after a 17-year career that also took him to the Dodgers, the Rangers and the Chicago White Sox.
Jones was known for his elite glove and quick bat, coming just short of the 1996 World Series
Jones won ten straight Gold Gloves in his playing career before retiring in 2012
Beltran, who was on the ballot for his fourth year, received the most votes of everyone with 84.2 percent.
Across 20 MLB seasons, Beltran finished with a career .279 batting average, 435 home runs and 312 stolen bases. He's one of five players with over 400 career homers and over 300 stolen bags - alongside Willie Mays, Andre Dawson, Barry Bonds and the aforementioned Rodriguez.
His postseason career was particularly notable, batting .307 all-time in the playoffs and slugging 16 home runs across 65 games.
Beltran also set the MLB record for most runs scored by a single player in the postseason, when he crossed home plate 21 times in 12 games in 2004.
The Puerto Rican native and switch-hitter was best known for his time with the New York Mets from 2005 to 2011, before he was traded to the San Francisco Giants in exchange for future starter Zach Wheeler.
Prior to the Mets, Beltran spent seven seasons with the Kansas City Royals - winning Rookie of the Year with them in 1999. Later in his career, he'd be named an All-Star nine times, won the Gold Glove Award three times and the Silver Slugger Award twice.
Beltran would finish his career with the likes of the St. Louis Cardinals, New York Yankees and Texas Rangers before retiring with the Houston Astros in 2017.
Beltran was an elite postseason performer who won the World Series with Houston in 2017
But his involvement in Houston's sign-stealing scandal led to Beltran resigning as the manager of the New York Mets just over two months after he accepted the job
After previously being traded to Houston in 2004, Beltran returned and won the World Series in his final year.
But that title has since been marred by a sign-stealing scandal, with Beltran and then-assistant manager Alex Cora (now the manager of the Red Sox) allegedly at the center of the operation.
Beltran was the only player named in the MLB investigation of the scheme. As a result, he resigned from his post as the newly-appointed manager of the Mets - which he only accepted two-months prior.
He has since gone on to take a front-office job with the Mets.
