Four more MLB greats became part of forever on Sunday afternoon in Cooperstown, where Adrián Beltré, Todd Helton, Joe Mauer and Jim Leyland were officially inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
All four members of the Class of 2024 reflected on their stellar careers, alternating between moments of levity and emotion during their speeches at a 2.5-hour ceremony at the Clark Sports Center in upstate New York.
Beltré became a first-ballot Hall of Famer, receiving 95.1% of the votes from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America to recognize a 21-season career in which he recorded 3,166 hits, 477 home runs and 1,707 RBI and won five Gold Gloves at third base.
The fun-loving Beltré spent seven seasons with the Dodgers; five with the Mariners; one with the Red Sox; and his final eight with the Rangers, with whom he is pictured with in his Hall of Fame plaque.
During his speech, Beltré recalled playing second base during his youth in the Dominican Republic, until he agreed to switch positions with his team’s third baseman.
“I immediately fell in love with that position,” Beltré said. “I loved every challenge of playing third base. I was hooked. Those hot shots, slow ground balls, bunt plays, I couldn’t get enough of them.”
A funny moment saw Beltré, who notoriously hated having his head touched, get surprised on stage by David Ortiz, who snuck behind him and touched his head.
Beltré made his MLB debut in 1998, a year after Helton played the first of his 17 seasons, all with the Rockies.
A career .316 hitter, Helton led the majors with a .372 average, 147 RBI, 59 doubles and a .698 slugging percentage in 2000 to earn the first of five All-Star selections.
The lefty-swinging Helton’s 2,519 hits, 369 home runs, 1,406 RBI and 592 doubles all rank first in Rockies history. He won three Gold Gloves as a first baseman.
“My family purchased a VCR for the sole purpose of me watching this 15-minute video of Rod Carew on ‘The Baseball Bunch.’ He was talking about hitting the ball the other way,” Helton said, referring to the 1991 HOF inductee who also hit left-handed.
“It was literally the only video we owned, and I must have watched it a million times.”
Helton received 79.7% of the BBWAA votes in his sixth year on the ballot, putting him past the required 75% threshold.
Before his MLB career, Helton played quarterback at Tennessee, where he overlapped with Peyton Manning in 1994.
“Being the quarterback sandwiched between Heath Shuler and Peyton made my decision to pursue baseball easier,” Helton joked.
Helton was briefly managed by Leyland, whose lone season with the Rockies came in 1999. Leyland was better known for his work with Pirates from 1986-96; the Marlins, whom he won the 1997 World Series with and also managed in 1998; and the Tigers from 2006-2013.
Leyland went 1,769-1,728 (.506) during his 22 seasons as an MLB manager and won Manager of the Year honors three times.
Long before he became Detroit’s manager toward the end of his career, Leyland spent his first 18 years in pro baseball as a minor-league player and coach in the Tigers organization.
“Managing in the minors can be tough because you have to release players and shatter their dreams of ever becoming a big leaguer, and I knew that because I was one of them,” Leyland said. “On the other side of that spectrum, it is so rewarding because you get the chance to tell a player he’s going to the big leagues.”
The Contemporary Era Committee voted Leyland for the hall in December. Leyland is not affiliated with a specific team on his plaque.
Leyland’s managerial tenure in Detroit meant sharing a division with Mauer, whose 15 MLB seasons all came with the Twins from 2004-18.
Considered among the greatest catchers in MLB history, Mauer won three batting titles, including in 2009, when he hit a career-best .365 en route to AL MVP honors.
Mauer won three Gold Gloves and hit .306 in his career. He was on 76.1% of the BBWAA ballots, making him this year’s other first-ballot Hall of Famer.
“As tough as it is to get into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, it might be just as tough to sum up what this game, this honor and this moment truly mean to me,” Mauer said.
CC Sabathia, Ichiro Suzuki and Felix Hernandez are among the former players set to become eligible for the first time on the 2025 ballot.
