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Adrian Beltre, Joe Mauer voted into Baseball Hall of Fame on first ballot as new class announced

Adrian Beltre, Joe Mauer, and Todd Helton were officially elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Tuesday night.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame has three more inductees, two of which received the nod on their first time on the ballot.

Adrian Beltre, Joe Mauer, and Todd Helton make up the Hall of Fame Class of 2024.

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Beltre is just one of 11 players in the history of baseball to have 3,000 hits and 450 home runs – out of those 11, only four (Beltre, Willie Mays, Dave Winfield, and Carl Yastrzemski) have at least five Gold Glove Awards. He is the only third baseman in the 3,000-400 club, and has the most hits and RBI (1,707) by a third baseman ever - only Mike Schmidt and Eddie Matthews had more home runs.

Beltre accumulated 3,166 hits and hit 477 dingers in his 21-year career, spending 15 of those seasons with the Texas Rangers and Los Angeles Dodgers.

He never won an MVP, but was a finalist twice and finished in the top-10 six times. Even in his age-37 season, Beltre won a Gold Glove, his fifth and final, while hitting .300 with an .879 OPS.

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Mauer lived up to his billing as the first overall pick in the 2001 MLB Draft. The Minneapolis native was drafted by his hometown Twins and became one of the best players to grace their jersey.

Mauer won three batting titles (the most ever by a catcher, and all other catchers combined for four), an MVP in 2009, and three Gold Gloves in his now-Hall of Fame career. His .388 on-base percentage is the third-highest for a catcher, and he’s one of seven catchers in MLB history to hit over .300 in their careers. 

He was a .306 hitter in his career, racking up 2,123 hits, the eighth-most by a backstop. In his 2009 MVP campaign, he hit .365 with a .444 on-base percentage, both single-season records for his position.

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Helton’s baseball card (or, nowadays, Baseball-Reference page) screams Hall of Famer. He hit .316 with a .953 OPS and 2,519 hits.

It should be noted, though, that his numbers were inflated by playing in Colorado, as he spent his entire 17-year career with the Rockies, which played a role in him waiting six years to get in. 

But let’s have some fun with numbers.

At home, Helton hit .345 with a 1.048 OPS – on the road, he hit .287 with an .855 OPS. Obviously, those are worse than his Colorado numbers, but they are both higher than the aforementioned, and new Hall of Famer, Beltre’s career stats.

Late-career injuries put a damper in Helton’s quest for 3,000 hits, but he’s one of just 34 players ever with 2,500 hits and 350 home runs – 25 of those players, including Beltre and Helton, are Hall of Famers (this list includes players with PED ties in Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Rafael Palmeiro, Manny Ramirez, and Gary Sheffield, and those not yet eligible for the Hall in Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera).

They will officially be enshrined in July in Cooperstown.

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