Adam Wainwright and Carlos Beltran will be forever linked by a frozen moment in time. In the 2006 National League Championship Series, Wainwright snapped off the curveball of a lifetime and Beltran stood at home plate as the pitch nestled into catcher Yadier Molina's glove and sucked the life out of Shea Stadium. The St. Louis Cardinals went on to win a World Series, and Beltran was immortalized in New York Mets history as a not-so-innocent bystander.

When Beltran signed a two-year, $26 million contract with St. Louis in December 2011, Wainwright called to offer congratulations and make sure they were on the same wavelength. He knew the press was going to revisit the moment ad nauseam, and he wanted to make sure the incessant questions didn't drive a wedge between him and Beltran in a way that might hinder the team.

"I called him and said, 'Hey, I'm happy you're coming over. I think we should get this out in the open because we're going to be asked about it,'" Wainwright said. "And you know what he told me? He said, 'That was in the past. It was a great moment for you and not for me. But let's leave it in the past.' I told him, 'You got it, no problem.' I respected him so much for that, and I continue to respect him now."

The conversation was a microcosm of Beltran's career: low on drama and high on results. He's soft-spoken, determined and almost regal in his ability to rise above petty dramas and distractions and concentrate on the task at hand. The closest thing to a controversy you'll find surrounding Beltran came during a recent game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, when he attempted to bunt with two Cardinals on base and sent the local talk shows into a frenzy.

Carlos Danger, he is not.

When an athlete is so unassuming and mind-numbingly consistent, it's easy to lose track or sell him short. Beltran won an American League Rookie of the Year award with Kansas City and admittedly "cried like a baby" when the Royals sent him to Houston in 2004. Then he signed a $119 million contract with New York, where he made five All-Star teams and once smacked into Mike Cameron in an outfield collision for the ages.

St. Louis outfielder Carlos Beltran is one of baseball's most multitalented players. AP Photo/Jeff Roberson

All of a sudden Beltran is 36 years old and not quite as limber as he once was. The face is fuller, the body thicker and not so lithe, and he has to pick his spots. But the numbers reflect a bountiful career that keeps getting better. Beltran just made his eighth All-Star team, a distinction that ties him with Andre Dawson, Duke Snider, Jim Rice and Chipper Jones, among others. The first three are in the Hall of Fame, and Jones is on his way.

"As any teammate or person who's played against him will tell you, Carlos is one of most naturally gifted people in this era," Wainwright said. "He's a Chipper Jones-type gifted athlete. They have speed. They have power and average from both sides of the plate, and there are a lot of ways they can beat you."

As a Hall of Fame voter, I'm conditioned to look at an elite player with one eye on the present and another on posterity. Do his numbers jibe with what my eyes tell me, and does my gut say I'm watching a future Hall of Famer when he steps in the box? Someday, maybe a decade from now, Beltran's name will appear on a ballot, so it's helpful to file away those images now and save them for, say, 2023.

I've been on the fence about Beltran for a while now as a Cooperstown candidate, but I'm almost ready to climb off and commit to a yes. The man has a knack for sneaking up on people. Or maybe I just needed to pay closer attention.

Pluses and minuses

Craig Wright is already convinced. He's a longtime baseball statistician and author who has his own system for rating players' all-around contributions, and he's a hard-core Beltran booster.

"The honest-to-gosh truth is this man could step off the curb and get hit by a bus tomorrow and I would vote for him for the Hall of Fame," Wright said. "When I project his career out three more full seasons, he has an argument to be a first-ballot guy. It won't necessarily happen for him, but he'll have the credentials."

Wright thinks two factors will work against Beltran: (1) He's played for Kansas City, Houston, New York, San Francisco and St. Louis, so he lacks a true team identity; and (2) he's proficient at everything but not dominant enough in one area to have made it his signature contribution.

Beltran grades out better against his peer group in some areas than in others. Since the 2001 season, he's seventh in the majors in runs (1,157) and stolen bases (265) and 13th in home runs (325) while playing in home parks that weren't always hitter-friendly. But he's a mere 33rd in slugging percentage (.510) and 51st in on-base percentage (.364).

"He's a very well-rounded player, and well-rounded players who don't dominate in a specific category tend to be downplayed in people's minds," Wright said. "They don't realize that if you're very good in a lot of things, you can have immense value without being a superstar in any one. He's not Rickey Henderson. He's not Tony Gwynn. He's not a 50-homer guy. But what doesn't he do well?"

Of course, these are not the only arguments against Beltran. He has 354 career homers and 2,188 hits, and writers who base their selections on "counting stats" will note that he's well short of some classic milestones. The 300-homer, 300-steal club is a nice place to reside, but Steve Finley and Reggie Sanders are fellow members and neither of them is destined for Cooperstown.