Puerto Rico and Curaçao may be small islands, but the support they showed was massive as elite center fielders Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones were inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday.
Both joined slugging second baseman Jeff Kent as the newest members before an estimated crowd of 12,000 fans at the Clark Sports Center in Cooperstown, with 57 other Hall of Famers on stage — creating the largest gathering of current Hall of Famers.
Jones’ speech was almost like a love letter to his home country of Curaçao.
“There’s no easy way to get here from the small island of Curaçao, more than 2,000 miles away,” Jones said. “But today Cooperstown and Curaçao are forever joined together.”
The longtime Atlanta Braves outfielder, a 10-time Gold Glove winner and five-time All-Star, is the first player from Curaçao to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. But he said he doesn’t plan on being the last. He pointed to players who have followed him, including Ozzie Albies and Kenley Jansen, as part of the Curaçao legacy started by Hensley “Bam Bam” Meulens.
Among the highlights, Jones’ tribute to his late father, Henry Jones, stood out. He said his father used to hit him flyballs from foul pole to foul pole to teach him how to track the ball, and how to build strong wrists by rolling a sledgehammer.
“Everything he taught me had a purpose,” Jones said. “Henry Jones was a legend in Curaçao, a great player in his own right. And I’m not standing here in Cooperstown without his constant coaching. Dad, we did it.”
Chants of “Puerto Rico” broke out before Beltrán even uttered a word. And whenever he mentioned his home island, the crowd cheered for him and waved flags.
“Everywhere I played baseball, I always tried to represent my island,” Beltrán said. “I tried to do the best I could for the organizations that I played, but also I wanted to represent Puerto Rico.”
The 20-year veteran and 1999 AL Rookie of the Year ran through each organization he played for, thanking them for the different lessons each provided. The New York Mets received the most praise.
“When people ask me about why I chose (the Mets) cap, I have to say this,” he said. “Guys, it’s simple. Every organization shapes your career. New York shaped my life.”
When discussing the teams he played for, Beltrán gave specific examples from some of his stops, including watching teammates Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell “play with pain” in Houston. But he did not mention winning the World Series with the Astros in 2017. That title carries controversy because of an illegal sign-stealing scheme and Beltrán’s involvement in it.
Beltrán did not directly address the scandal, but did comment on those who may or may not have voted for him for whatever reasons.
“To the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, I want to say thank you for making me a Hall of Famer. … And for those that didn’t (vote for me) — that saw things different — I want to say also thank you. I appreciate your perspective,” he said. “If baseball has really taught me something, I want to say is that I hope in life, we continue to measure ourselves by the same standard we have used to measure others.”
Beltrán earned 84.2% of the vote from the BBWAA to make the Hall on his fourth try. Jones garnered 78.4% in his ninth year of eligibility, eclipsing the 75% needed for induction. Kent was elected by a much smaller panel last December, the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee, after dropping off the BBWAA ballot when his eligibility ran out in 2023.
The 2000 NL MVP with the San Francisco Giants played for six teams over his 17-year career and set the all-time home run mark for second basemen. A hard-nosed player, Kent showed a softer side during induction weekend.
Before even speaking, Kent needed tissues to wipe the tears from his eyes after looking at his parents in the crowd, he said in a post-ceremony news conference.
“I was more emotional for the 35, 40 minutes of sitting down than I was for the speech,” he said. “I thought I was going to be a wreck and I’m glad it was only a half a wreck.”
In his speech, Kent told a story of how his baseball career turned when his father offered him a deal: if he earned a college scholarship, he would buy him a pickup truck. Kent quit racing motorcycles and shifted his focus to school and baseball and eventually earned a scholarship to the University of California, Berkeley.
In turn, he got a pickup truck he still has.
“It sits in my garage as a simple reminder that some of the simplest things can change the entire direction of your life,” Kent said.
Reporting by The Associated Press.
