2024 Baseball Hall of Fame Election Day

Courtesy of the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Congratulations to the Baseball Hall of Fame BBWAA Class of 2024: Adrián Beltré, Joe Mauer, and Todd Helton. They join Hall of Fame manager Jim Leyland, who was elected by the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee in December with his name on 15/16 ballots. All four will be officially inducted during the July 21 ceremony at the Clark Sports Complex.

• Adrián Beltré is one of 12 players with 3,000 hits and 400 home runs.

• Joe Mauer played his entire career with the Minnesota Twins and was the first catcher to take home a batting title in 60 years.

• Todd Helton played his entire career with the Colorado Rockies. He joins fellow Rockies HOFer Larry Walker in Cooperstown

Going into the announcement, three players seemed to be guaranteed based on the public tracking: Beltré, Mauer, and Helton. As is the usual case, a few players tracked close but fell short: Billy Wagner (284/73.8) and Gary Sheffield (246/63.9). With 385 ballots submitted in the 2024 election, candidates needed to receive 289 votes to be elected. Wagner fell five votes short—next year is his final ballot.

Beltré earned the most votes of the 26 candidates with 366, which accounted for 95.1 percent of the electorate. Helton gets elected on the 6th ballot after being named on 307 ballots (79.7 percent) and Mauer got 293 votes (76.1).

The only other players to gain mention on more than half the ballots were outfielders Gary Sheffield with 246 (63.9), Andruw Jones with 237 (61.6) and Carlos Beltrán with 220 (57.1). Sheffield did not become the 8th player elected in his last year and will now hope for induction by the Veterans Committee. Matt Holliday fell off the ballot with just 1%. Amongst the 12 first-year eligible players, second baseman Chase Utley earned 111 votes (28.8) and third baseman David Wright finished with 24 (6.2). It’s going to be an uphill battle for both.

There were 26 candidates on the ballot—12 first-time players and 14 returning.

The Hall of Fame has 346 elected members, including 273 players, of whom 139 have come through the BBWAA ballot. Beltré and Mauer’s elections bring to 60 the total of players elected in their first year of eligibility by the BBWAA. This year marked the 10th time the BBWAA elected three players and the first time since 2017 when Jeff Bagwell, Tim Raines and Iván Rodríguez made the grade.

The average ballot in the 2024 election contained 7.00 names, up from 5.86 last year, with 24.4 percent of the voters using all 10 slots, up from 13.9 a year ago. The total of ballots cast marked a 97.7-percent return rate of the 394 ballots mailed to voters. There were no blank ballots submitted.

The final voting tally:

• Adrián Beltré 366 (95.1%)

• Todd Helton 307 (79.7)

• Joe Mauer 293 (76.1)

• Billy Wagner 284 (73.8)

• Gary Sheffield 246 (63.9)

• Andruw Jones 237 (61.6)

• Carlos Beltrán 220 (57.1)

• Álex Rodríguez 134 (34.8)

• Manny Ramírez 125 (32.5)

• Chase Utley 111 (28.8)

• Omar Vizquel 68 (17.7)

• Jimmy Rollins 57 (14.8)

• Bobby Abreu 57 (14.8)

• Andy Pettitte 52 (13.5)

• Mark Buehrle 32 (8.3)

• Francisco Rodríguez 30 (7.8)

• Torii Hunter 28 (7.3)

• David Wright 24 (6.2)

• José Bautista 6 (1.6)

• Victor Martinez 6 (1.6)

• Bartolo Colon 5 (1.3)

• Matt Holliday 4 (1.0)

• Adrián González 3 (0.8)

• Brandon Phillips 1 (0.3)

• José Reyes 0

• James Shields 0