2026 Hall of Fame elections just made strong case for Blue Jays legend Carlos Delgado

It's time one of the all-time greats of the Toronto Blue Jays franchise got his flowers. Carlos Delgado is a Hall of Famer, no doubt about it. But for whatever reason the voters just keep making the same mistakes and not bestowing said honor on Delgado. However, after Tuesday night's Hall of Fame vote, perhaps there is now finally a pathway and a willingness to right this wrong.

Andruw Jones and Carlos Beltrán both received enough votes by the Baseball Writers' Association of America to earn induction into the Hall of Fame. In comparison Delgado's numbers hold up against both players, which should bode well the next time Delgado is on the ballot.

2026 Hall of Fame elections just made strong case for Blue Jays legend Carlos Delgado

Both Beltrán and Jones accrued a higher overall career WAR than Delgado. However, both Beltrán (70.0) and Jones (62.7) played center field, a much more demanding defensive position than first base and were able to build up some points on the WAR system that way in comparison to Delgado (44.4).

From an offensive standpoint though, Delgado had the edge on both players in home runs (473) as well as some of the other hitting metrics such as batting average (.280), on-base percentage (.383), slugging percentage (.546), OPS (.929) and OPS+ (138). He also accumulated these metrics in less games played than either guy, and he had more hits (2038) and RBIs (1512) than Jones (1933 hits and 1289 RBIs).

Delgado received an insulting 3.8% of the vote in 2015, his one and only year on the BBWAA ballot. To be fair, this was a stacked ballot with some all-time greats. Craig Biggio, Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez and John Smoltz all received the required percentage to earn induction. Meantime future Hall of Famers on this ballot included; Mike Piazza, Jeff Bagwell, Tim Raines, Lee Smith, Edgar Martinez, Alan Trammell, Mike Mussina, Jeff Kent, Fred McGriff, and Larry Walker.

There were also some other big names that aren't in the hall (yet) but have a case to be (solely based on the numbers) in Curt Schilling, Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. So the fact that Delgado was also thrown into this crowded field is partly to blame, but it's still a glaring omission.

But things may be turning a corner for Delgado. This past December, Delgado received nine total votes and fell just shy of induction by the Era's Committee while another former Blue Jay, Jeff Kent, got in with 87.5% of the vote. Delgado will remain on that ballot the next time the Contemporary Baseball Era Players Committee gets to vote, which will be in 2028.

Whether you're looking at Delgado's resume compared to the two players who just got in, or comparing it to other primary first basemen already in the hall, his numbers stack up. He's 14th all-time in home runs at that position, sandwiched between McGriff (493) and Bagwell (449). He was also one of the most consistent and feared power hitters of the steroid era and was never once connected to PED's, unlike some other guys who are in the hall.