ST. LOUIS, Mo. (Matrix Midwest) – Former Cardinals outfielder Carlos Beltran was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, it was announced Tuesday evening.
Beltran played for the Cardinals from 2012-2013, helping to lead the Redbirds to the NLCS in 2012 and the World Series in 2013. In those two combined seasons, he recorded a .282 average, 56 home runs and 181 RBI.
Beltran spent most of his career with the Kansas City Royals and New York Mets. In Kansas City, he was the AL Rookie of the Year in 1999.
He was traded to the Houston Astros in the middle of the 2004 season, and Cardinals fans saw up close how dangerous he could be at the plate during a seven-game NLCS. Even though the Cards won the series, Beltran hit .417, with 4 home runs and 5 RBI; he recorded a 1.521 OPS.
Beltran then signed as a free agent with the New York Mets before the next season and was a key cog on the Mets team that had the NL’s best record in 2006. That season, he was famously the last out in the NLCS, watching an Adam Wainwright curveball flutter over the outside corner for strike three.
Beltran was later traded to the San Francisco Giants in 2011 before he signed with the Cardinals. He then played for the New York Yankees and Texas Rangers. He played his final season with the Astros in 2017.
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