Cooperstown said goodbye to its newest Hall of Famers in the traditional Monday goodbye July 27, at Doubleday Field as MLB Network host Jon Morosi did a live version of his “The Road to Cooperstown” podcast with Jeff Kent, Andruw Jones and Carlos Beltrán in front of hundreds of Hall members.
The hour-long, Monday-morning event is an annual look back at Induction Weekend with the honorees, who are usually more relaxed and happy to speak candidly about their Cooperstown and career experiences.
“The speech is over, now the fun has begun,” Morosi said to begin the roundtable.
All three inductees mentioned the impact of seeng their plaques hung at the Hall on Sunday after their speeches. Morosi asked them about the private, “members only” dinner at The Otesaga on Sunday, and how it felt to be dining in a room full of friends, family members and 60 Hall of Fame players.
“Yesterday, when we were at the dinner, you look at the people in that room, and you look at yourself and it is kind of a reality check that you made it,” Beltrán said. “I am so grateful and thankful for that.”
Kent, who choked up several times during his speech Sunday, also choked up Monday when talking about the plaque gallery.
“I thought I was done crying,” he said. “I had my mom and dad. I saw not all the players have all their parents here. … To have that moment with your family, that is awesome. It is still something that I am going to have to process.”
Morosi asked what else the players would say if they had one more minute in their speeches. Beltrán said he wanted to express more gratitude. Jones said he wanted to thank more people, including former Atlanta President Stan Kasden, who signed him to his first long-term deal. Kent said he left out a paragraph of his speech in which he wanted to tell kids to stick with the game even when it gets hard, and to be honest about their failures.
“When the game does fail you — it is going to come — when those moments come, what great athletes do, is they are honest with themselves and their failure,” Kent said.
All three players expressed their gratitude to Cooperstown, and their amazement at the Hall of Fame.
Jones spoke about playing an exhibition in Cooperstown in 2004 and how it changed his game.
“A lot of people didn’t want to do it, but once we got here. When you get here, the history just brings you alive,” he said.
“I was struggling a little bit, I think, and Bobby was like, ‘I bet you cannot hit a home run in right field.’ I think I hit that gray house over there,” Jones said.
Beltrán said he was amazed on his orientation tour when he got to see the archives and hold artifacts from Roberto Clemente.
“Clemente in Puerto Rico he is untouchable,” he said. “It does not matter if I had more hits than Clemente, more Gold Gloves than Clemente, I was going to end up second. Clemente was basically the guy who set up the standards for baseball in the Caribbean, in Puerto Rico. … Being at the museum, being able to hold Clemente’s bat, being able to touch Clemente’s glove.
“That was incredible,” he said.
As the hour wrapped up, Morosi encouraged the three men to discuss their charitable efforts. Kent funds a scholarship for women’s athletics at Cal-Berkeley, his alma-mater. Jones funds scholarships for students from his native Curaçao. Beltrán runs a baseball academy in his native Puerto Rico. All three say they stress education as a compliment to athletics.
All three players thanked their fans, with Kent thanking the Puerto Rican fans for making the weekend special. Beltrán and Jones noted it took a lot of difficult travel for their fans to attend Induction Weekend.
“For all the fans that came here from Curaçao, it is a long way, and it is hard to get here,” Jones said. “Even for America people, it is hard to get here. Thank you for coming. I wouldn’t be able to do it without you guys.”