New York Yankees: 400 home runs and Carlos Beltran’s Hall of Fame case

The New York Yankees’ Carlos Beltran entered the 400-homer club over the weekend. How much of an impact will it make on his case for the Hall of Fame?

When you have as long and productive a career as Carlos Beltran has had, you tend to rack up some milestones. Beltran crossed another item off his career checklist yesterday when he hit the 400th home run of his MLB lifetime.

It was an important home run for the New York Yankees as well, as the two-run blast gave them a 5-4 lead over the Chicago White Sox in the sixth inning, en route to a 7-5 victory.

Beltran became the 54th player in history to reach the 400-homer plateau. Perhaps even more impressively, only three other switch-hitters have accomplished the feat: Mickey Mantle, Eddie Murray and Chipper Jones.

The achievement adds another wrinkle to what is already a highly debated case for induction into the Hall of Fame. As he nears the end of his career, fans and media alike are weighing the longtime veteran’s chances of entering baseball’s most hallowed domain. Does his 400th home run transform him from a borderline candidate into more of a sure thing?

Even amidst declining production, there is much to like about Beltran’s lifetime numbers. He owns a career .280/.354/.490 slash line along with 2,486 hits (101st all-time), 510 doubles (53rd), 1,461 RBIs (61st) and 1,023 walks (108th). His career 68.5 WAR is good for 109th all-time.

Those statistics put Beltran in some elite company, but in the pantheon of great power hitters, how much of a difference does 400 long balls make? 500 home runs used to be the benchmark for an automatic ticket-punch to Cooperstown, but the intensified scrutiny around steroids in the sport changed all that.

More from New York Yankees

• Time for the Yankees to embrace change: A call for Brian Cashman’s departure
• Stock Up, Stock Down: Braves, Yankees, Cubs, Red Sox
• New York Yankees: The harsh decline of Luis Severino
• New York Yankees: 4 players who are on the franchise’s Mount Rushmore
• New York Yankees: Everson Pereira awaiting call-up in Triple-A

Even if he plays a 20th season next year, Beltran obviously won’t hit that lofty mark, but he should finish in the neighborhood of some existing Hall of Famers like Cal Ripken Jr. (431 HR) and Mike Piazza (427). Of course, there are also plenty of non-HOF players in that area of the leaderboard as well. With all due respect to Adam Dunn (462 HR), you would be hard-pressed to find anyone who views him as an all-time great.

In today’s climate, gaudy home run totals simply don’t carry as much prestige as they once did. Fortunately for Beltran, he has a lot more than just home runs in his portfolio.

During his prime, Beltran was a legitimate weapon at the plate, in the field and on the base paths. He used his speed and athleticism to become one of the league’s premier center fielders, winning three consecutive Gold Gloves from 2006 to 2008. His 311 career stolen bases are 156th all-time, and his 86.39 percent stolen base percentage currently ranks as the fourth-best mark in history.

Only four other players have belted 400 homers and stolen 300 bases: Barry Bonds, Andre Dawson, Willie Mays and Alex Rodriguez. Mays and Dawson, of course, are enshrined in the Hall, and the other two would easily be if not for PEDs.

When it comes to Hall of Fame arguments, you can typically adopt either the “Do the numbers stack up?” approach or the “narrative” angle (or some combination of the two). From a pure numerical standpoint, Beltran is in somewhat of a gray area. However, his case gets stronger when you present him as one of the best switch-hitters of all-time and a rare combination of power and stolen base ability.

400 home runs is certainly a nice distinction for Beltran to have, but it probably won’t change too many minds one way or the other concerning his potential induction into the Hall of Fame. Nabbing an MVP award somewhere along the line would likely have been more of a boost to his resume.

Next: 5 Biggest Outlier Seasons by Active Hitters

Is Carlos Beltran a Hall of Famer? How much of an impact does crossing the 400-homer threshold make? Share your thoughts below.