Three major league sluggers who dominated the world were successfully inducted into the Hall of Fame, the highest honor. It has been five years since 2019 that three players passed the press vote at once.
The Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) announced on the 24th (Korean time) that three retired players, third baseman Adrian Beltre, first baseman Todd Helton, and catcher Joe Mauer, were finally selected as 2024 Hall of Fame inductees as a result of voting. All three met the admission criteria of receiving more than 75% of the votes. The dedication ceremony has been scheduled for July 22nd.
The candidate who received the most overwhelming support was Beltre. There were 366 (95.1%) votes in favor out of 385 votes. A native of the Dominican Republic, a baseball powerhouse, he made his big league debut with the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1998 season and has since played for four teams. He played with Park Chan-ho during his time with the Dodgers, and Choo Shin-soo with the Texas Rangers when he was in his 30s.
Consistency was Beltre’s greatest weapon. Although he had no experience as the league's best player (MVP) and only had one classic batting title, home run king and most hits, he remained a starter until his late 30s thanks to his consistent performance. Since his big league debut, there have only been two seasons in which he did not complete 100 games, and he hit double-digit home runs every year except for two. The result was the 12th player in big league history to reach 3,000 hits and 400 home runs. It was the first case in which a major league batter born outside the United States exceeded 3,000 hits.
In the United States, Beltre's admission was seen as a fait accompli even before voting began. Normally, the vote rate is low immediately after being listed as a candidate and increases as the years go by, but Beltre entered the race without blood, recording the highest vote rate this year.
Like Beltre, Mauer also succeeded in entering his first year. His vote percentage was 76.1% (293 votes), narrowly exceeding the threshold for induction. He established himself as the Minnesota Twins' starting pitcher in his early-to-mid 20s and enjoyed his best years, ranking first in batting in the American League in 2006 and 2008-2009. In particular, in 2009, he won three awards including on-base percentage and slugging percentage, and was selected as MVP.
Mauer, who went downhill after suffering a concussion in 2013, ended his career with a career batting average of 0.306, 2,123 hits, and 143 home runs. Although his cumulative record itself was not outstanding, the characteristics of his catcher position and the fact that he was a one-club man were taken into consideration. Mauer became the third catcher to be inducted into the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility, following Johnny Bench and Ivan Rodriguez.
Unlike the other two, Helton went through ‘six moves’. He, who was considered the franchise star and spiritual leader of the Colorado Rockies during his active years, suffered a bitter defeat in his first vote in 2019. This was because the home stadium, Coors Field, located on a hill, is famous as a graveyard for pitchers, and first base is traditionally filled with heavy hitters. At that time, he only received 16.5% of the vote.
Since then, Helton's vote rate has steadily risen. I was caught repeatedly drunk driving along the way, but it didn't actually affect my voting. As a result, he succeeded in running the long-awaited Cooper Star with 79.7% (307 votes) this year. As soon as he heard the voting results, he clenched his fists and said in a video interview with local media, "I honestly didn't think the phone would ring." “It is the best award,” he emphasized.
With the addition of the three, the total number of MLB players inducted into the Hall of Fame since 1936 is 273. Billy Wagner (73.8%), Andrew Jones (61.6%), and Carlos Beltran (57.1%) promised 2025. Gary Sheffield, well-known in Korea as 'Park Chan-ho's helper', failed to enter in his 10th attempt, slipping to 63.9%.
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