Carlos Beltrán’s involvement in the Astros sign-stealing scandal on their way to the 2017 World Series title tarnished his reputation and cost him the Mets managerial job — but it didn’t ultimately keep him out of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Beltrán was inducted in his fourth year on the ballot with 84.2 percent of the vote, and on a Zoom call Tuesday, the former Met and Yankee acknowledged his past transgressions made his road to Cooperstown more difficult.
“There’s no doubt the Astros situation has been a topic,” Beltrán said, adding that it wasn’t “positive” for him.
“At the end of the day, when I look at my career, when I look at the things in the game of baseball, there’s no doubt you’re gonna go through ups and downs,” Beltrán said. “You’re gonna make good decisions [and] you’re gonna make so-so decisions, right? And, also, you’re gonna make bad decisions.”
That includes his involvement in Houston’s plan to steal signs in 2017 — which included the banging of trash cans to alert hitters of pitches— including in the playoffs, when they beat the Yankees in the ALCS on their way to a championship in Beltrán’s final season of his playing career.
“When I retired from baseball, I thought everything I built… meaning like relationships and good people, I was able to relate myself with, I thought that was gonna be lost,’’ said Beltrán, who later worked for the Yankees and is currently a special advisor for the Mets. “Being back in the game, I still receive love from the people. I still receive love from the players. The teammates inside the clubhouse know the type of person that I am. At the same time, I understand that’s also a story I have to deal with.”
Now he can tell that story as a Hall of Famer, as Beltrán will be enshrined in July, alongside Andruw Jones and Jeff Kent, another former Met.
Beltrán’s rise up the ballot was steady in his four years, beginning at 46.5 percent in his first year of eligibility to 70.3 percent last year.
He’s wrestled with his reputation for years, telling The Post in 2022 that he knew many fans would not be as forgiving as some of his ex-teammates and even opponents.
“That’s a battle I will not win,” Beltrán said then of his standing with many fans. “No matter how much I try to excuse what I did in the whole situation, I will not win. I know that when I’m around [the ballpark] and around the players, they acknowledge me and shake my hand. The perception I had from the fans, I lost some of that.”
He remains respected around the game and said Tuesday he hasn’t given up on his goal of possibly managing.
Beltrán said the fact he’s able to work with the Mets and owner Steve Cohen has allowed him to stay “relevant” in the game and perhaps boosts his chances of getting back in the dugout after his first attempt was derailed by the reports of the scandal in 2019.
“Managing is something I’d love to try at some point if God gave me the opportunity,’’ Beltrán said.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
