Player Profile: Carlos Beltran

I have 61 cards of Carlos Beltran. This one is from 2001 Studio.

Playing career: Outfielder Carlos Beltran has had a borderline-Hall of Fame career, hitting .283 with 358 HR and 308 SB in sixteen seasons with the Royals, Astros, Mets, Giants and Cardinals. The 1999 American League Rookie of the Year, he has won three Gold Glove awards and has driven in at least 100 runs in seven different seasons. He is also one of the best postseason hitters of all time (and certainly the best never to win a World Series), hitting .333 with 16 HR and 40 RBI in 219 at bats.

Where he is now: He signed with the Yankees for 2014, possibly because he was unable to sell the Port Washington, Long Island mansion he built while with the Mets.

My memories: I remember him tearing up the Cardinals in the 2005 NLCS, then striking out against the Cardinals to end the 2006 NLCS. He was considered a disappointment, probably somewhat unfairly, for the Mets. He became something of a folk hero this year as he finally made his first World Series appearance. Here’s hoping he has plenty left in the tank for the Yanks.

Interesting facts: He created the Carlos Beltran BaseballAcademy, a high school and baseball academy in Puerto Rico.

He is co-owner of Sofrito, a Puerto Rican restaurant in Manhattan.

His cousin Reymond Fuentes made his major league debut for the Padres in 2013.

Google Autocomplete results: He is first when you type Carl, ahead of Carl Icahn, a billionaire investor. There does not appear to be any other prominent Carlos Beltrans.

Coming up next: The next profile will be Francis Beltran.