(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Illustrations Hall of Fame Class & Voting Results by Major League Baseball)
    Andruw Jones and Carlos Beltrán elected into Baseball Hall of Fame
Nederlands
  COOPERSTOWN, New York / SECAUCUS, New Jersey (USA) -
Outfielders Andruw Jones and Carlos Beltrán were elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Tuesday-evening (January 20).
They will officially be inducted on July 26.
On that day, Jeff Kent also will be inducted in the Class off 2026
He was elected on December 7 by the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee.
On Tuesday-evening, Josh Rawitch, President of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, announced the results of this years regular election voting in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, during the Hall of Fame Show of MLB Network from its studio in Secaucus, New Jersey.
Carlos Beltrán was on the ballot for the fourth time, Andruw Jones for the ninth time.
Carlos Beltrán received 358 votes or 84.2% to finish in first place.
Last year, he finished fourth with 70.3%.
Curaçao-born Andruw Jones received 78.4% (333 votes) to finish in second place.
In 2025, he finished fifth with 66.2%.
Beltrán became the sixth player from Puerto Rico to be elected into the Hall of Fame, following Roberto Clemente (1973), Orlando Cepeda (1999), Roberto Alomar (2011), Iván 'Pudge' Rodríguez (2017) and Edgar Martínez (2019).
Jones became the second player from the Netherlands and the first from Curaçao to be elected into the Hall of Fame.
In 2011, Bert Blyleven was the first and the lone one born in the Netherlands (in Zeist).
When Jones was informed that he was elected into the Hall of Fame, he was in the Dominican Republic for a golf-tournament with former Major Leaguers.
Amongst them were Hall of Famers Adrian Beltré, Ken Griffey Jr., Iván Rodríguez and C.C. Sabathia, who celebrated the election with Jones.
Sabathia was elected last year.
As always, players needed 75 percent to be elected.
Players can be on the ballot for a maximum of ten years.
This year, there were 27 players on the ballot.
Fifteen of them were leftovers from last year and twelve were eligible for the first time.
Twelve players, including eleven first-timers, received less than five percent and will be dropped from the ballot.
The lone newcomer to get enough votes was pitcher Cole Hamels (23.8%).
Also dropped from the ballot was outfielder Manny Ramirez, who received 38.8% in his tenth and final time on the ballot.
After ten years (through 2014, this was 15 years) on the ballot, players will no longer be eligible for the regular election.
However, they can be considered for future elections by the Era Committees.
There are three committees (two of them consider players), who rotate every three year to come together to vote on selected candidates.
Besides Beltrán, Jones and Kent, the Hall of Fame also will honor Joe Buck and Paul Hoynes on July 26.
On December 10, Buck was announced by the Hall of Fame as the recipient of the Ford C. Frick Award.
This Award is presented to a broadcaster for 'major contributions to baseball' and has been presented annually since 1978.
Buck was the lead play-by-play announcer for Fox Sports from 1994 through 2022.
For Fox, he covered St. Louis Cardinals through 2007.
Buck has called the World Series 23 times.
Hoynes was announced by the Hall of Fame as the recipient of the BBWAA Career Excellence Award on December 9.
With this Award, the BBWAA honors a baseball writer (or writers) 'for meritorious contributions to baseball writing'.
Hoynes is the beat reporter on Cleveland Guardians for The Plain Dealer since 1984.
(January 20)
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