Former Spokane Indians standout Carlos Beltrán elected to Hall of Fame despite Astros sign-stealing scandal

Switch hitter extraordinaire Carlos Beltrán and center field savant Andruw Jones were elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame by a vote of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, the results of which were announced Tuesday night.

Jones, who for 10 years was as good of a center fielder as anyone since Willie Mays, was elected in his penultimate year on the writers’ ballot despite injuries largely limiting him to mediocrity after he turned 30. His vote totals climbed in recent years until he finally appeared on 78.4% of the ballots, pushing past the requisite 75%.

Longtime Mariners ace Félix Hernández made a considerable leap in his second year on the ballot, closing with 46.1% support.

Beltrán, who appeared in 59 games with the Spokane Indians in 1996, was elected in his fourth try in what amounted to a referendum on the 2017 Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal: His 2,725 hits, 565 doubles, 435 home runs and 1,587 RBI made him a strong statistical candidate. His reputation as one of the ringleaders of the Astros’ sign-stealing operation meant he was no sure thing.

Years after his fellow sign-stealing coordinator Alex Cora and allegedly aloof manager A.J. Hinch returned to MLB dugouts – and a few days after his former Astros teammate Alex Bregman signed a massive contract with the Chicago Cubs – Beltrán’s post-playing career remains derailed by the allegations. He had been hired to manage the New York Mets before the 2020 season but was let go before managing a game when the sign-stealing plot was uncovered that winter.

When Commissioner Rob Manfred released the results of his sign-stealing investigation, it was alleged that Beltrán was prominent among a group of Astros players who “discussed that the team could improve on decoding opposing teams’ signs and communicating the signs to the batter.” Since then, he has not been hired as a manager – or even rumored as a probable candidate. He currently serves as a special adviser with the Mets.

But Tuesday, he received notification of partial redemption, appearing on 84.2 percent of the ballots to reflect the strength of his résumé: Beltrán is one of just four switch hitters in history to accumulate 1,500 runs and 1,500 RBI. The others – Eddie Murray, Chipper Jones and Mickey Mantle – are enshrined in Cooperstown, New York. None of them stole even half as many bases as Beltrán did (312).

Beltrán’s case only grows when considering how he spent his Octobers. He played in 65 postseason games for the Astros, Mets, St. Louis Cardinals, New York Yankees and Texas Rangers, compiling a .307 batting average and a 1.021 OPS with 16 homers and 15 doubles, though his only title was that controversial 2017 win with the Astros. He is considered one of the greatest postseason performers of the expanded playoff era, an elite offensive contributor who also was a respected clubhouse presence - until, of course, the sign-stealing operation that involved banging on trash cans to alert hitters about what pitch was coming marred his legacy.

Still, that Beltrán waited just four years on the ballot suggests that the BBWAA – which eventually will consider the Hall of Fame candidacies of Bregman, Jose Altuve and potentially former Astros coaches such as Cora and Hinch, should they manage long enough – will not consider the scandal prohibitive.

But the whims of voters can be difficult to predict. For example, left-hander Andy Pettitte, who admitted to using human growth hormone, was one of the biggest gainers in this year’s voting, while alleged and proven steroid users such as Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds with much better résumés were never able to crack the 75 percent required before their 10 years on the writers’ ballot ended.

For now, Beltrán joins Jones and Bonds’ longtime teammate Jeff Kent, who was voted in by the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee last month, in the Class of 2026, which will be inducted this summer in Cooperstown.