COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — Some things are forever. No one needs to explain to Carlos Beltrán what they are.
The Baseball Hall of Fame? That’s one of those things. But cheating scandals? That’s another one of those things. And Thursday, on the day Beltrán walked through the doors of the Hall for the first time since his election this week, he said he understood that his connection to the sign-stealing exploits of the 2017 Houston Astros will follow him for the rest of his life.
In his introductory news conference in Cooperstown, Beltrán conceded that he can never escape the shadows cast by that scandal. But, he insisted, “that doesn’t really define the person that I am.”
Even on the day he got to bask in the glow of walking through the Hall’s plaque gallery on his first visit since his election, Beltrán was asked to reflect on the lingering cloud that has followed him since MLB commissioner Rob Manfred identified him as a central figure in that Astros team’s illegal use of technology — and pounding trash-can lids — to steal and relay signs to their hitters.
Beltrán, who had just retired after a 20-year-career, was the only player identified by name in the commissioner’s report on the scandal. Like the rest of his Astros teammates, he wasn’t formally disciplined by the league for his role in that scheme. However, only days after the report was issued, he and the New York Mets, who had hired him as their manager earlier in the 2019-20 offseason, “mutually agreed to part ways” before Beltrán could ever manage a game.
Instead of sailing into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot in 2023, it took Beltrán four tries to finally get elected. His association with that Astros team was likely the biggest reason it took him so long. So on this mostly jubilant day, Beltrán’s tone grew serious as he tried to explain how that scandal had followed him all the way to Cooperstown.
“When you hear the name, Carlos Beltrán, that’s something that’s going to be attached to my name,” Beltrán said. “But at the same time, that doesn’t really define the person that I am. That’s a moment of my career.”
Carlos Beltrán was the only player identified by name in commissioner Rob Manfred’s report on the Astros’ scandal. (Bob Levey / Getty Images)
When asked what he would want people to know about that season, Beltrán at first spoke of the talent of those 2017 Astros and their pursuit of greatness. Then he turned pensive and, without getting into the specifics of what the Astros did, he acknowledged his team had possibly crossed a line it shouldn’t have crossed.
“There’s a lot of times,” he said, “you get caught up thinking at that moment, and there’s a lot of times where … we did take it to a different level, meaning on finding ways to beat the opposing team.
“But at the same time, you know, as a group and as an organization, we also felt that, you know what? Being able to find a way to take advantage of, obviously, the opposing team is something that every team will do whatever it takes in baseball to get to that point.”
However, the evidence clearly indicates that what the Astros were caught doing was at a different level from what “every team will do.”
The Astros’ cheating scheme at home in 2017 was different from what other teams were caught doing, and has been widely regarded as more egregious.
In 2017, MLB punished the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees for what’s known as a “baserunner” system. Sign sequences were decoded using in-game video, disseminated to the dugout, and then when a runner got to second base, the runner would often know how to crack the catcher’s code, so long as it hadn’t changed.
The Astros used a baserunner system on the road. But in their ballpark, they skipped the pretense of needing a runner on base. Near the entrance to the dugout, Astros players and staff watched a camera feed fixed on the catcher’s sign and then in real-time made noise — by banging on a garbage can — to tell the hitter what was coming on a pitch-to-pitch basis. It was an attempt to influence the game that took place entirely off the field of play.
But beyond his attempt to suggest that the Astros’ scheme wasn’t much different from what was happening elsewhere, Beltrán also used his reflections on that time to try to paint a different portrait of himself — and distance himself from the perception that he is some kind of villain.
Ask his teammates, he said. Ask those who have followed his career: “Ask the people who know what kind of person I am,” he said. “I feel like a guy who, in my 20 years (as a player), I have been able to promote the game of baseball.”
He then spoke of the high school he has established in Puerto Rico — and the education that school has provided, the kids he has helped mature and develop. That, he said, should be the legacy of his time in the game.
“Thinking about perfection — perfection is not part of (anyone’s) life,” Beltrán said. “We are imperfect. You know, we are going to make good decisions at times. We are going to make bad decisions. But that moment doesn’t really define who I am as a human being today.”
— Evan Drellich contributed to this report.
