Adrián Beltré, Joe Mauer and Todd Helton are now members of the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. With their addition, there are 346 members elected into baseball immortality.

Beltré and Mauer each earned Hall of Fame status in their first year of eligibility.

Beltré makes the Hall of Fame following a 21-season career with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Seattle Mariners, Boston Red Sox and Texas Rangers. He is a surefire Hall of Famer, but an odd case nonetheless. He made his debut with Los Angeles as a 19-year-old and didn’t earn his breakout campaign until 2004 — when he was 24 years old. Beltré earned his top finish in the MVP vote — second behind Barry Bonds — yet he didn’t make the All-Star team.

The turn of the century saw consistent success, alongside mainstream notoriety. From 2010-2014, Beltré compiled four All-Star appearances, three Silver Slugger and two Gold Glove Awards. Beltré starred next to two-time All-Star shortstop Elvis Andrus with the Rangers, who contributed many entertaining nights on the diamond together.

So much of his success came from his dominant longevity, which stacks him up against some of the best third basemen of all time. His 3,166 hits, 477 home runs and 93.5 WAR are all top-three marks for third basemen.

95% of voters included Beltré in their Hall of Fame ballot.

Joe Mauer, a highly-touted athlete in multiple sports during his Cretin-Derham Hall High School years, chose to pursue baseball. That was the right choice.

Mauer was selected first overall by his hometown Minnesota Twins, and the rest is history.

His 15-season Hall of Fame career began in 2004, when he dominated for 35 games. In 2006, he cemented himself as one of the game’s best catchers. He slashed .347/.429/.936 as a 23-year-old, and earned his first career All-Star appearance and Silver Slugger Award.

His numbers became ordinary in the middle of the Twin Cities’ lineup.

In 2009, Mauer became only the 17th catcher to win the Most Valuable Player Award. He crushed opposing pitchers to a season-high batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS. In addition, Mauer earned his third career All-Star appearance and Silver Slugger Award, while taking home his second Gold Glove Award.

His career ended in 2018, but not before becoming one of the greatest Minnesota Twins, ever. He became only the eighth Twin elected into the baseball Hall of Fame. A hometown hero who helped define the catcher position for his era.

Finally, Todd Helton made it to Cooperstown in his sixth ballot. 

A 17-year career with the Colorado Rockies, Helton certainly put up Hall of Fame statistics. The five-time National League All-Star posted 2,519 hits, 369 home runs and left the league with a batting average over .300.

Much of his criticism comes from playing his entire career at Coors Field, where the ball flies out of the stadium. He certainly played better at home, but he dominated opposing pitchers no matter where baseball took him. 

His best season came in 2000, when he nearly led the league in every offensive category. His 147 RBI and .372 batting average took the league by storm, and he continued that momentum into his next few seasons.

He earned an All-Star appearance and was top-20 in MVP voting every season from 2000-2004.

Helton was a pivotal piece to the 2007 Rockies’ trip to the World Series — their first and only appearance in the Fall Classic. The Rockies earned a Wild Card berth in 2007, swept their way through the National League Divisional Series and National League Championship Series, before getting swept by the Boston Red Sox in the World Series.

Relief pitcher Billy Wagner came just short of the Hall of Fame in his ninth ballot appearance. Wagner earned 73.8% of the vote, and needed only five more votes to get in.

The seven-time All-Star and Rolaids Relief Man of the Year recipient has one more year of eligibility remaining.

Click here for more MLB content.

Follow Fantom Sports on X!

Follow Fantom Sports on Twitch!