COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. – There were six distinct groups of fans who settled in on the lawn of the Clark Sports Center to watch the enshrinement of their baseball heroes on Sunday.
There were Twins fans for Tony Oliva and Jim Kaat, White Sox fans for Minnie Minoso, Royals fans for Buck O'Neil, Red Sox and Dominican Republic fans for David Ortiz and general baseball fans.
The Dominican contingent stole the show. It cannot be underplayed what Ortiz has meant to his country, as he joins Juan Marichal, Pedro Martinez and Vladimir Guerrero as Hall of Fame players from the island nation. A sea of Dominican flags waved all afternoon.
Ortiz, who slugged 541 home runs over a 20-year career that began with the Twins, ate it all up.
"I just want to let you guys know I'm real," Ortiz said. "I'm going to talk to you guys in English and Spanish."
Ortiz spent the next 18 minutes smoothly switching between the languages as he spoke about his life in baseball, what the Hall of Fame means to him and offering up his career as inspiration for others.
The Twins, an organization he was with for six seasons, were represented well in his speech. He credited former Class A Fort Myers manager John Russell and Class AA New Britain manager and former Twins infielder and coach Al Newman for giving him confidence that he could succeed in the majors.
"Those two guys were father figures," Ortiz said.
He was honored to be part of the same class with Oliva and Kaat and thanked both for their advice back in the day. He also shared how much he misses Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett, whom he knew well and also learned a lot from.
Yes, he mentioned that things didn't work out with the Twins, who released him after the 2002 season.
"I learned from my time there that once I get my shot in any other place, I was going to work hard to never let it go," Ortiz said.
Who's next?
The Hall of Fame often is the venue for speakers to stump for players they feel deserve entry. Sunday no different.
Oliva, during his speech, advocated for Luis Tiant to be elected to the Hall. Tiant, who pitched for the Twins in 1970, was 229-172 over 19 seasons for six teams. He won 20 games four times but also lost 20 games once.
"Sometimes some players take a little bit longer [to get in]," said Oliva, who should know. "I don't know why. You see his record, and he is one of the two or three best pitchers in the American League."
Kaat's choice for a Hall pass goes to fellow lefthander Tommy John, who was 288-231 in his career with a 3.34 ERA and three top-four finishes in the Cy Young Award vote. John also missed the 1975 season while having an elbow ligament replacement surgery that would revolutionize sports medicine. He won 164 games — and had three 20-victory seasons after the surgery. That's when wins mattered in evaluating pitchers.
"I think it's a travesty that Tommy is not in," Kaat said. "Is there a more famous pitcher than Tommy John?"
Greatness on Line 1
Sandy Koufax, now 86, is enjoying his 50th year as a Hall of Famer. The Dodgers great made a point of calling Kaat — Koufax's adversary in Game 7 of the 1965 World Series — to welcome him to the club.
"He said, 'Hey, you are one of the guys in my age bracket that I remember and actually pitched against,'" Kaat said. "And then his last words were, 'Keep your speech short.'"
"I told him before we went on stage, I said I think I got it down to 11 minutes, and [later] they told me I hit 11 on the nose."
