In their first year of eligibility, Adrián Beltré and Joe Mauer headline a trio of candidates who were elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame’s Class of 2024 by the BBWAA.
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum has announced the results of the 80th election held by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA) and the gates to baseball immortality have been opened for Adrián Beltré, Todd Helton and Joe Mauer. This marks the tenth time in BBWAA Hall of Fame voting history that a trio of candidates received support on at least 75% of the ballots which is required for enshrinement. The last time the BBWAA elected three candidates was the induction class of 2017 headlined by Jeff Bagwell, Tim Raines and Iván Rodríguez. Candidates needed to successfully secure at least 289 votes from the 385 ballots cast for the 2024 election. Including Beltré and Mauer, there are now 60 candidates who were elected in their first year of eligibility and a total of 346 members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
Beltré led all 26 candidates on the ballot as he received 95.1% of the vote. He is the 19th third basemen elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Including Beltré, the BBWAA have elected 10 of the third basemen with seven being in their first year of eligibility. Voters only had to scratch the surface in their research before acknowledging Beltré’s worthiness for enshrinement. Out of Beltré’s 3,166 career hits, 477 were home runs as he posted career wins above replacement (WAR) based on Baseball-Reference’s calculation of 93.5 WAR. Mike Schmidt (106.8 WAR) and Eddie Mathews (96.0 WAR) are the only Hall of Famers classified as third basemen who have a higher career WAR than Beltré.
Over the course of 21 seasons while playing for four major league ball clubs, Beltré became synonymous with defensive excellence as evident in five American League Gold Glove Awards. He was also a two-time winner of the Platinum Glove Award, an honor that celebrates the best defensive ball player for a season among the Gold Glove Award winners from each league. According to Baseball-Reference, only Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson (2,870) has played more ball games at third base than Beltré (2,759).
