ee Gold Glove awards. Here’s a bit more of why the Baseball Writers’ Association of America voted these three among the 26 on the 2024 Hall of Fame ballot for enshrinement.

Adrian Beltre

A veteran of 21 MLB seasons, the third baseman was elected in his first year on the ballot with 95.1 percent of the vote. When he made his debut in 1998, the 19-year-old Beltre was the youngest player in the sport. Over the course of his career, he displayed a combination of hitting and defense never seen before at the position as he’s one of just four players—and the only infielder—to have at least 3,000 hits, 400 home runs, and win five Gold Gloves.42:T515,While many players tend to fade as they reach their 30s, that wasn’t the case with Beltre as the symmetry of his career numbers is astonishing. He hit 234 home runs in his 20s and 235 home runs in his 30s, while still maintaining elite work with his glove. All four of his Gold Glove awards came in his 30s, and he spent that latter part of his career with the Texas Rangers, who are among four teams he played for but is the club who he selected to represent on his Hall of Fame cap. Beltre will become just the second Hall of Famer whose primary team was the Rangers, and he’s only the fifth Dominican-born player to make Cooperstown.

Joe Mauer

With 76.1 percent of the vote, Mauer just met the 75 percent threshold to get inducted in on his first year on the ballot, making him the third catcher ever with that honor (Johnny Bench, Ivan Rodriguez). The native of St. Paul, Minnesota, spent his entire career with his hometown team of the Minnesota Twins after being the No. 1 overall pick in the 2001 MLB Draft. Mauer was a hitting machine who is a lifetime .306 hitter and is the only catcher in MLB history with three batting titles. He won the 2009 American League MVP after hitting .365 that season,

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