COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — Adrian Beltré, Joe Mauer and Todd Helton were pegged as athletic phenoms from a young age and all three lived up to expectations with their induction to the Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday.
The Los Angeles Dodgers were so sold on Beltré early on that they broke MLB rules to sign him before he turned 16.
Beltré reached the big leagues just after his 19th birthday and was quickly considered one of the best prospects in sports as a teenager.
In Beltré’s induction speech, he says he played for his first team at the age of 13 and was a second baseman because his dad told him that’s the position he should play.
After a teammate asked him to switch and play third base, Beltré obliged and the decision paid off.
Beltré played 21 years for the Dodgers, Seattle Mariners, Boston Red Sox and Texas Rangers. He became a five-time Gold Glove winner and is the first third baseman with at least 450 home runs and 3,000 hits.
During his playing days, Beltré made it clear that he did not like anyone touching his head so of course, his teammates ignored the request and made a habit of touching his head anyways. At Sunday’s ceremony, fellow Hall of Famer David Ortiz continued the tradition by touching Beltré’s head prior to his speech.
“That never relaxes me,” Beltré said with a laugh. “(But) it was a little cute to go back to my playing days. …It’s just part of being in this fraternity. Even though I don’t love it, I don’t like it, but it felt like I’m open to people to be able to play around with me. I always like that.”
Mauer was a high school phenom in both football and baseball in St. Paul, Minnesota, and was named USA Today’s High School Player of the Year in football in 200 and baseball in 2001.
He was drafted by his hometown Twins with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2001 MLB Draft.
“It was truly an honor to be a (Minnesota Twin) and represent my hometown team,” Mauer said.
The future six-time All-Star catcher spent just three years in the minors before spending all 15 years of his big league career with the Twins.
Mauer finished his career with one Most Valuable Player award, three batting titles and is the only catcher in history with at least 2,000 hits, a .300 batting average and a .380 on-base percentage.
Mauer noted the emotion he felt seeing all the Minnesota fans throughout the weekend.
“It’s not easy to get to Cooperstown and especially with the events that have happened this last week,” he said. “But to see that many Twins fans out there, I just felt the love and I was just hoping that I could deliver the speech that I wrote down.”
Helton was also a football and baseball star and played both sports at the University of Tennessee.
Despite his dominance in both sports at an early age, Helton never felt comfortable in the spotlight or felt like a Hall of Famer.
“Those of you who know me know I’d be more comfortable doing anything other than standing up here talking about myself,” Helton said to open his speech. “I’m just a ball player and anyone in the media can attest to that fact.”
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