Carlos Beltrán’s push to enter Cooperstown gained buoyancy on Tuesday, but the polarizing center fielder still must overcome a shortfall to reach the Hall of Fame. Beltrán appeared on 70.3 percent of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America ballots released Tuesday,

Carlos Beltrán is knocking at the door of Cooperstown. A steady increase in votes for the National Baseball Hall of Fame has the former Royal and longtime center fielder as close as ever to being elected in the coming year or two.

Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner — were inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on Tuesday. Another deserving candidate, outfielder Carlos Beltran, came agonizingly close to being the fourth.

Carlos Beltrán appeared on 70.3% of the ballots Tuesday, leaving the former Mets and Yankees outfielder shy of the 75% required for Hall of Fame election.

Also newly eligible next year are Matt Kemp, the runner-up to Braun for that MVP, as well as 2016 Cy Young Award winner Rick Porcello and longtime Kansas City Royals standout Alex Gordon.

Carlos Beltran was a close call as the Baseball Hall of Fame inductions were announced on Tuesday. Beltran fell about five percent shy of induction.

And Beltrán’s penchant for the game’s dark arts caught him up in the game in his final stop, Houston, where he finally became a World Series champion yet left with the stain of helping architect a sign-stealing operation on par with the Astros’ rivals – yet they had the misfortune of getting caught.

For the first time, I have an official Hall of Fame ballot in my hands. As I write this, I'm about to mail it. I have done a virtual truckload of homework in anticipation of this and it all started when I was a little kid.

Why are we even having this conversation? One absolutely worthless Baseball Writer of America decided not to put Seattle Mariners legend Ichiro Suzuki on his ba

George Gojkovich/Getty Images; Jim McIsaac/Getty Images The MLB has experienced its fair share of public scandals over the years, some of which involved more than one player - and in some cases, an entire team.

Well, we believe in exit velocity, bat flips, launch angles, stealing home, the hanging curveball, Big League Chew, sausage races, and that unwritten rules of a