Beltran, Jones & Kent Enter Baseball Hall Of Fame

July 27, 2026 4:32 am

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. (AP) — Puerto Rico and Curaçao may be small islands, but the support they showed was massive as elite center fielders Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones were inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday. Both joined slugging second baseman Jeff Kent as the newest members before an estimated crowd of 12,000 fans at the Clark Sports Center in Cooperstown, with 57 other Hall of Famers on stage, creating the largest gathering of current Hall of Famers. Jones’ speech was almost like a love letter to his home country of Curaçao. Chants of “Puerto Rico” broke out before Beltrán even uttered a word. And whenever he mentioned his home island, the crowd cheered for him and waved flags.