Growing Latino presence in the Show

When the great Roberto Clemente was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1973 after his tragic death in a plane crash, he became the first Latin American-born player with a plaque in Cooperstown.

The Puerto Rican idol opened the doors, but it took years for many others to join him. During the next 37 election cycles, only five Latinos who played in the Major Leagues entered the Hall of Fame: Juan Marichal (Dominican Republic, 1983), Luis Aparicio (Venezuela, 1984), Rod Carew (Panama, 1991), Orlando “Peruchín” Cepeda (Puerto Rico, 1999) and Atanasio “Tany” Pérez (Cuba, 2000).

Three other Cuban players, who saw action in the Negro Leagues before Jackie Robinson broke the racial barrier in 1947, were also exalted: Martín Dihigo, José Méndez and Cristóbal Torriente.

But since the beginning of the last decade, that small river of Latino players in the Hall has become more and more plentiful and everything seems to indicate that this will continue to be the case for the rest of the course of this decade and beyond.

On Sunday, the group grew bigger thanks to the election, by the Golden Era Committee, of Cubans Orestes “Minnie” Miñoso and Tony Oliva. With the entry of the two sluggers, Cuba is now the Latin American country with the most members in Cooperstown with six, surpassing Puerto Rico.

The immortals of the second decade of this century
During the past decade, the number of Latinos in the Hall of Fame went from six to twelve. And five of the new hot spots arrived in the second half of 2010. Between 2017 and 2019, four of the 11 selected by the North American Baseball Writers Association (BBWAA) were born in Latin America.

Roberto Alomar, Puerto Rico (2011, second year on the ballot): The second baseman, a 12-time All-Star and 10-time Golden Glove winner, followed the legacy of his father, Sandy Alomar, who played 15 seasons in MLB. His brother, Sandy Jr., played 20 seasons in the Big Top and is now Cleveland’s coach.

Pedro Martínez, Dominican Republic (2015, first year on the ballot): Pedro joined Marichal as the second Dominican and second Latino pitcher to reach the Hall. He honored that bond during a moving exaltation speech in two languages, during which he called Marichal to the stand.

Iván Rodríguez, Puerto Rico (2017, first year on the ballot): “Pudge” and his mighty arm carved their way to Cooperstown with 13 Golden Gloves as a catcher, 14 All-Star calls and the 1999 AL MVP award.

Vladimir Guerrero, Dominican Republic (2018, second year on the ballot): One of the most spectacular and dynamic players of his time, Guerrero came to the Hall with his hits. During his exaltation speech, he was already thinking of everyone who would come after him, saying, “I know this could open doors for other players.”

Mariano Rivera, Panama (2019, first year on the ballot): The all-time saved games leader became the first player to be unanimously elected to the HOF, being named on each of the 425 BBWAA ballots.

Edgar Martínez, Puerto Rico (2019, 10th year on the ballot): Martinez, who was born in New York but raised in Puerto Rico, finally got the call in his final year of eligibility on the BBWAA ballot, completing a skyrocketing ascent after receiving just 27% support in 2015.

Those who come on the ballot
Over the next several years, the Hall of Fame Latino guild will continue to grow, with at least two candidates extremely likely and others highly hopeful. Here’s a look at the upcoming BBWAA ballots.

2022David Ortiz seems well-positioned to join Edgar Martinez at some point as the only players who were primarily designated hitters and ended up in Cooperstown. Ortiz, in addition to what he did with the bat, is a legend in October and won the World Series three times. Another interesting story this year will be how Alex Rodríguez will fare on the ballot. A-Rod, of Dominican parents, has numbers to spare for the Hall of Fame, but also many doubts around him about the use of substances to improve physical performance. Among those who repeat last year, Venezuelan Omar Vizquel fell below 50% in 2021 after taking 52.6% the previous year, while Dominicans Manny Ramírez (28.2%) and Sammy Sosa (17% in the last election and now in his final year of eligibility), plus Venezuelan Bob Abreu (8.75%), have a long way to go.

2023: Puerto Rican Carlos Beltrán has a stellar argument due to his complete game (435 homers, 312 stolen bases, three Gold Gloves in center field). But his chances took a hit after the Astros sign-stealing scandal, which ended up prompting Beltran to step down as Mets manager before he led his first game.

2024: Several prominent Latino players are expected to be on this ballot, but Adrián Beltré is the most likely to reach the Hall, after going past 3,000 hits in his 21-year long career at third base.

Of course, as the cases of Oliva and Miñoso demonstrated once again, the BBWAA ballot is not the only way to enter the Hall, whose Eras Committees (formerly known as the Veterans Committee) are in charge of evaluating the arguments of those who have already left the journalists’ ballot. The candidates are divided into eras and these are rotated year by year. Eleven players, including the six from this year, have been chosen by this method since 2018.

Among the players whose cases could be reconsidered in the coming years by these committees are Cuban Luis Tiant, Puerto Ricans Bernie Williams and Carlos Delgado, and Venezuelans David Concepción and Johan Santana.

Cuba
Martin Dihigo
Jose Mendéz
Orestes “Minnie” Miñoso
Tony Oliva
Tany perez
Cristóbal Torriente

Puerto Rico
Roberto Alomar
Orlando “Peruchín” Cepeda
Roberto Clemente
Edgar martinez
Ivan rodriguez

Dominican Republic
Vladimir Guerrero
Juan Marichal
Pedro Martinez

Panama
Rod Carew
Mariano rivera