Pudge: “Edgar deserves to be in the Hall of Fame”
By Adrian Burgos
A wide smile came across Ivan Rodríguez’s face as he held a bat that once belonged to his baseball hero Johnny Bench during his orientation tour at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in March 2017.
He asked if anyone wanted to take a picture. Then, he and his wife posed holding Bench’s bat and one of his own. His jovial mood and smile made it easy to tell that this was like baseball heaven for him.
He capped the orientation not just thinking of joining Bench but also advocating for Edgar Martínez joining him in Cooperstown, N.Y., one day.
“Edgar is a great friend of mine,” Rodríguez began. He then addressed Martínez directly.
“I want you to be here, next year, right next to me and I can’t wait. You deserve to be here in this beautiful building here in Cooperstown. And I’m going to be pulling for you, because you deserve to be here.”
Perhaps nothing tops receiving the call from Cooperstown to be informed that you have been elected to the Hall of Fame. However, what it means to be enshrined really begins to sink in when the newly elected member takes the orientation tour.
The Hall of Fame arranges a guided tour to each newly elected member and their guests. A Hall of Fame official takes the group through exhibits celebrating the impact of Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, Roberto Clemente and Jackie Robinson, among other baseball immortals. The tour includes a visit to the vault that houses the special collection of artifacts. The tour ends in the plaque galley at the spot where the newly elected member’s plaque will be hung.
The tour impresses upon the honoree that you’ve been selected to join those forever immortalized in Cooperstown.
That exclusivity is all the more notable when it comes to Latino members, when they realize that they are part of an even smaller group. Their name is being added to the likes of Clemente, Juan Marichal, and Luis Aparicio.
The impact of the tour on Rodríguez was clear when he sat down for an interview afterwards. That came through when I shared a La Vida video of former teammates and Puerto Rican players congratulating Pudge on his election to the Hall. One individual whose words clearly moved Rodríguez was Martínez. I asked for his response.
Pudge stated it plainly—Edgar belonged in Cooperstown and he looked forward to the day they both could enjoy each other’s company as fellow members of baseball’s greatest fraternity.
Featured / Inset Image: La Vida Baseball