Induction Eve a special time for Class of 2024

Class of 2024 National Baseball Hall of Fame electees Adrian Beltré, Todd Helton, Joe Mauer and Jim Leyland were a day away from entering baseball immortality on Saturday.

And they savored every moment.

Under sunny skies and unusually mild temperatures, the four newest electees began Saturday’s schedule in Cooperstown by competing in the Baseball Hall of Fame Golf Tournament at the Leatherstocking Golf Course. Standing near the first tee as they made their way, along with other Hall of Famers around the course, they talked about the emotions and whirlwind days leading up to the induction ceremony.

“It’s hectic and there’s a lot going on and they got you doing a lot, but it’s absolutely fantastic,” said Leyland after teeing off, explaining his first few days in Cooperstown. “Everybody’s giving me some pretty good advice. They said you’ll enjoy it next year a lot more than this year because you’ve got so much going on with a speech and everything. You’re a little nervous about that. It’s just absolutely fantastic to see all the Hall of Famers.

“There’s going to be a lot of people there, obviously, and you got all the Hall of Famers behind you,” added the longtime manager. “But my daughter gave me the best advice. She said, ‘Just tell ‘em how you feel.’”

According to Mauer, the catcher who spent his entire playing career with the Twins, he and his family arrived in Cooperstown a few days ago “and obviously right when I got here the nerves started flooding. I’m starting to settle in a little bit, but I’m sure they’re going to come back tomorrow right before the speech.

“It seems like just the other day we got the call in January. I can’t believe we’re already here. I’m just trying to take it all in. I know there’s going to be a lot of emotions this week and I’m just trying to embrace that and kind of roll along with it.”

Hall of Famer Paul Molitor, who was also playing golf, managed Mauer with the Twins from 2015-18. He also shares the distinction with the catcher of being one of the four Cooperstown enshrinees to have been born in St. Paul, a list that includes Jack Morris and Dave Winfield.

“People joke about why that would happen, with four people in such a small geographical perimeter, but we’re just so excited to have Joe be a part of this and have his induction this weekend,” Molitor said. “He’s the youngest member. We’re going to try to treat him like a rookie for now and we’ll see how it goes.”

For Helton, the face of the Rockies who spent his entire big-league career at first base for the franchise, he said the enormity of the induction is starting to sink in.

“I think the parade today will help it sink in. But I don’t think I’ll feel the full effects until I’m up on the stage and get that dadgum speech over with,” Helton said. “It’s an amazing honor. Just being around the guys, the other Hall of Famers, it’s quite honestly daunting for me because I looked up to those guys my whole life and played against those guys that are obviously great, great players.

“Overall, I don’t think it’s been as hectic as I thought, but it’s now going to get hectic. I actually slept last night for the first time, so I feel way better and ready for the day,” he added. “I’m a baseball player, not a public speaker, but I’ll do my best. I practiced a lot. I do like my speech. It’s very true and honest. So, it’ll be easy to say I hope.”

The gravity of being a Hall of Famer has been reinforced this weekend for Beltré as he’s had the opportunity to rub shoulders with the sport’s living legends.

“It means a lot, obviously. I’ve never been in this environment before and walking around and seeing Hall of Famers left and right is a little nerve-racking,” he said. “Being around these guys for two days now is pretty cool.”

A busy Saturday of events continued with the 2024 Awards Presentation, a midafternoon event held at the nearby Alice Busch Opera Theater. Joe Castiglione received the Ford C. Frick Award for excellence in broadcasting and Gerry Fraley was posthumously honored with the BBWAA Career Excellence Award for meritorious contributions to baseball writing.

“As I stand here, I think of Luke/Chapter 1/Verse 37. ‘With God nothing shall be impossible,’” Castiglione began. “I never thought this award would be possible. There’s so many worthy candidates and I’m honored to have been selected by previous winners.

“My first hope was to be Mickey Mantle, but as Frick Award winner Ernie Harwell used to say, ‘I wanted to be a ballplayer in the worst way. And that’s exactly how I played.’”

Castiglione has called Red Sox games on the radio for a record 42 seasons. After calling games for the Indians and Brewers, he joined the BoSox radio team in 1983. The longest tenured broadcaster in Red Sox history, he was inducted into the franchise’s Hall of Fame in 2014.

“At my 50th college reunion a classmate said to me, ‘You’re the one guy who did exactly what he said he wanted to do,’” Castiglione said. “What a blessing. This honor caps the many blessings I’ve had. The catchphrase fits so well: ‘Can you believe it?’”

Mike Lowell, the onetime third baseball for the Red Sox and current broadcaster, was in attendance when Castiglione received his honor.

“He was such a staple for Red Sox fans. My whole time there he was there,” said Lowell, who played for the Red Sox from 2006-10. “We had a special bond because in Spring Training I rented a buddy of his’s house. His wife was a teacher, and she tutored my kids when they were there. They were in third grade and kindergarten. We just had a cool relationship. It was something that was a little different. Usually, the players don’t really associate that much with the radio guys and the TV guys. It’s kind of you know, you’re together but not joined. So, Joe is a special guy, and it’s pretty fortunate to be able to witness the biggest honor he can have.”

Mark Whicker, a sportswriter and Fraley’s longtime friend, spoke on Fraley’s behalf.

“The winner of the Career Excellence Award goes to baseball writers who stand the test of time,” said Whicker. “Ideally, your winner is a beat person who covers the team wherever it goes and whatever it does. It means getting to the ballpark five or so hours before the first pitch, walking out at midnight or later. Showing up at airports before dawn. It requires organization, stamina, the ability to use statistics without letting them use you, an accurate reading of baseball clubhouses and maintaining relationships with players who might not always appreciate your commentary. And seeing everything that happens and some things that don’t over nine or more innings.

“We are honoring Gerry Fraley today because he is the epitome of all that. He knew the teams he covered better than they did themselves.”

For nearly 40 years, from his hometown of Clearwater, Fla., to major league beats in Philadelphia, Atlanta and Arlington, Texas, Fraley formed relationships with players, coaches, scouts, executives, and umpires that made him one of the most trusted voices in the industry. Fraley, who passed away in 2019 at the age of 64, covered the Phillies, Braves and Rangers and was a pioneer in the advent of daily notebooks as part of beat coverage. He also was a national baseball writer at the Dallas Morning News, where he spent nearly 25 years as beat writer and columnist.

The Awards Presentation ended with Castiglione interviewing Hall of Famers Joe Torre and David Ortiz about the longstanding Yankees-Red Sox rivalry.

“I grew up living in Brooklyn and I was a Giants fan, which was a mortal sin,” said Torre, a Class of 2014 electee who skippered the Yankees from 1996 to 2007. “You weren’t allowed to do that. And we had three teams in the New York area at the time. And if you were a fan of one of the teams you automatically hated the other two. So, I hated the Yankees, and I hated the Dodgers, and I ended up managing both those teams.

“Then I played with the Cardinals, and I had the sense and feel of the Cubs and the Cardinals, which was amazing. And then when I came to the Yankees, nothing can compare with the Red Sox-Yankees. It even got to the point where Don Mattingly’s son was going to be drafted and he didn’t want the Red Sox to draft his son. But the rivalry was so crazy that when we played, and we played 18-19 times a season, after one of the series was over, either Terry Francona would call me or I’d call him and we’d say, ‘I’m glad this crap was over for six weeks.’ Because everything was like World War III. The media jumped on it, loved it, and I guess we pretty much lived up to everything.”

Ortiz said he really became aware of the rivalry after the 2003 postseason, his first season in Boston, when the Red Sox lost to the Yankees in the seventh game of the American League Championship Series.

“I was looking around, and I saw people crying,” he remembered. “I was like, “This is this is real, right?

“Once I saw that happening after the 2003 playoff, I was like, ‘Man, this town right here is a baseball town.’ And that’s how I started engaging myself to the rivalry.”

Bill Francis is the senior research and writing specialist at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum