The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum held its annual induction ceremony on Sunday in Cooperstown, New York, welcoming three new members to the institution. The 2026 Hall of Fame class consisted of Carlos Beltrán, Andruw Jones, and Jeff Kent, representing the smallest induction class since two players were inducted in 2022.
Beltrán, a dynamic five-tool player, earned the 1999 American League Rookie of the Year award and made nine All-Star appearances across his career with seven teams spanning 1998 to 2017. He accumulated 2,725 hits, 435 home runs, and 312 stolen bases, becoming one of only five players to achieve both 400 home runs and 300 stolen bases. Beltrán’s greatest success came with the Mets, the team that will appear on his Hall of Fame plaque. His postseason performance was particularly notable, with a .307 batting average and .609 slugging percentage across 65 playoff games. He secured his lone World Series championship in his final season with the Astros in 2017. Beltrán’s voting support increased steadily over his four years on the ballot, rising from 46.5% to 84.2%.
Jones, a 10-time Gold Glove winner and widely considered the best defensive center fielder of his generation, was elected in his ninth year on the ballot. At 19 years and 180 days old, he became the youngest player to hit two home runs in a World Series game during the 1996 postseason. From 1997 to 2007, Jones demonstrated exceptional two-way performance, slugging at least 26 home runs annually and hitting 30 or more homers seven times, including a 51-homer season in 2005. He finished his career with 1,933 hits and 434 home runs across five teams from 1996 to 2012.
Kent was selected by the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee in December after exhausting his 10 years of eligibility on the standard ballot, during which he never exceeded 46.5% support. The committee voted 14-2 in his favor, surpassing the required 12 votes for induction. As the 2000 National League MVP with the Giants, Kent established himself as one of the premier hitting second basemen in baseball history, holding the record with 377 home runs for a primary second baseman and ranking third with 1,158 RBIs. He maintained double-digit home run production throughout his entire career and appeared in five All-Star Games across six teams from 1992 to 2002.
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