Why Carlos Beltran is going into Hall of Fame in Mets hat, not Royals

Why Carlos Beltran is going into Hall of Fame in Mets hat, not Royals originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Carlos Beltran had a tough choice to make.

When he was elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, he had to choose what hat to wear on his plaque: the New York Mets, or the Kansas City Royals.

Some players go in with no logo, but most pick one, and there aren’t any two-logo hats in the Hall.

Beltran picked the Mets hat, and it’s a painful one for Royals fans to deal with.

MORE: Yankees’ Jose Caballero is pushing the limit of the rules

Why did Carlos Beltran pick a Mets hat not a Royals one?

At the end of the day, it’s the player’s choice, and Beltran chose the team he spent the middle stages of his career with rather than the place he started.

The kid who came into professional baseball as a second-round pick by the Royals in 1995, the kid who learned from George Brett, will be immortalized with a Mets logo atop his head, not a K.C.

The reality is that, by the numbers, it was a really close call.

He played seven seasons apiece for the Royals and the Mets.

He played 839 games with the Mets, 795 with the Royals.

Beltran had 123 home runs with K.C. then hit 149 for New York.

He had 516 RBI with the Royals, then 559 with the Mets.

Beltran stole more with the Royals, 164 to 100 with the Mets.

His .287 average with K.C. was slightly higher, relative to .280 with the Mets. But it was an .869 OPS with the Mets, compared to .835 with the Royals.

Beltran won Rookie of the Year with the Royals.

He made four All-Star Games with the Mets, compared to just one with the Royals (although he somehow missed an All-Star Game in K.C. in a season he finished ninth in MVP voting).

Beltran also spent time with the Astros, Yankees, Cardinals, Rangers and Giants, but none of them would’ve been in consideration here.

He simply chose the Mets over the Royals.