COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — Tom Seaver’s daughter, Sarah Seaver Zaske, was amongst those that made the journey to symbolize the Mets for Gil Hodges’ long-awaited induction into the Baseball Corridor of Fame on Sunday.
“Cooperstown all the time has been a particular place for my household. Dad all the time used to like coming right here. I do know he appreciated how a lot Gil did for his profession,” Seaver Zaske stated earlier than the ceremony. “He all the time used to say he took slightly bit of recommendation from Gil each time he took the mound.
“When Gil was elected, Tom was all the time such an advocate, and I do know he would wish to be right here. I wished to be right here to pay homage to Gil Hodges.”
Tom Seaver, the Mets legend who was elected to the Corridor in 1992, died in 2020. 4 of his World Collection-winning teammates from 1969 — Cleon Jones, Ed Kranepool, Artwork Shamsky and Ron Swoboda — and Tommie Agee’s widow Maxcine and daughter J’nelle additionally have been in attendance.
To deafening chants of “Papi, Papi” from Crimson Sox followers and flag-waving supporters from his native Dominican Republic, David Ortiz was the ultimate inductee of the day.
“Wow, Cooperstown!” Ortiz shouted at the beginning of a 20-minute speech that alternated between English and Spanish. “This path has allowed me to be right here right now, and hopefully impressed everybody to consider in your self. If you consider in somebody, you may change their world.”
The three-time World Collection winner’s two game-winning hits additional innings within the 2004 ALCS comeback towards the Yankees are among the many achievements listed on Ortiz’s Corridor of Fame plaque.
Ortiz’s 21-year-old daughter Alex sang the nationwide anthem.
One 12 months after his induction ceremony, Derek Jeter tweeted that he was “very disillusioned” to be unable to attend as a result of “sadly my household is coping with a Covid state of affairs.”
With an help to Amy Klobuchar, the U.S. Senator from Minnesota, Juan Carlos Oliva obtained the visa he wanted to journey from Cuba to the Unites States to see his brother Tony Oliva enshrined Sunday within the Baseball Corridor of Fame.
Tony Oliva was the final MLB participant to go away Cuba with the federal government’s permission earlier than Fidel Castro’s regime closed the island to and from the U.S. within the early Sixties. Juan Carlos Oliva and their dad and mom by no means noticed Tony play in individual within the majors.
“I’m very completely satisfied that my household and my brother, who got here from Cuba and who performed baseball for Group Cuba, was in a position to come,” Tony Oliva stated. “He got here from Cuba to Santo Domingo, from Santo Domingo to america and [was] reunited with my household right here.”
In his acceptance speech, Oliva stumped for countryman Luis Tiant to be inducted by the Golden Period committee. Inductee Jim Kaat added “it’s a travesty” that 287-game winner Tommy John additionally isn’t within the Corridor. “Is any pitcher extra well-known than Tommy John?” Kaat stated, referring to the elbow surgical procedure that bears John’s title.
Corridor of Famer Dave Winfield gave the acceptance speech for inductee Bud Fowler, who was the primary identified black participant to combine an expert baseball group within the 1870s. … Negro Leagues legend and longtime major-league scout Buck O’Neil was inducted by niece Dr. Angela Terry.
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