The Baseball Hall of Fame welcomes the Class of 2026 this weekend in Cooperstown, a three-player group considered among the best of their generation.
The ceremony takes place on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. ET, airing on MLB Network.
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is in Cooperstown, New York, a village in upstate New York about a 200-mile drive from Yankee Stadium. The Hall of Fame's first class was in 1936, consisting of Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson and Walter Johnson.
This year's inductees are center fielders Andruw Jones and Carlos Beltrán, and second baseman Jeff Kent. The trio took dramatically different paths to this moment.
Carlos Beltrán, a nine-time Gold Glove winner, was a key player in the St. Louis Cardinals' World Series title in 2011. He played for several teams, including the Kansas City Royals, Houston Astros, New York Mets, San Francisco Giants, and New York Yankees.
Jeff Kent, a two-time National League MVP, had a 17-year career with the Toronto Blue Jays, New York Mets, Cleveland, San Francisco Giants, Houston Astros, and Los Angeles Dodgers. He holds a career batting average of .290 and hit 377 home runs.
Andruw Jones, a five-tool player, spent 14 seasons with the Atlanta Braves, winning 10 Gold Glove awards and finishing second in the 2000 National League MVP voting. He also played for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Texas Rangers, and Chicago White Sox.
Jones said in an interview that he had "painted a picture that I accepted, which was that it's probably just not going to happen" regarding his Hall of Fame induction. "I'm OK with it. You know, it's not going to make my life much better anyway, so I'll just deal with it."
The ceremony marks the culmination of a long process for the three players. Beltrán had to wait until his fourth year on the ballot, some form of punishment for his presence in the Astros' 2017 cheating scandal. Jones, meanwhile, saw his support rise from 7.3% to induction-worthy in his ninth appearance on the ballot.
The 2026 class will be enshrined alongside the likes of Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, and Ted Williams, who have all been immortalized in Cooperstown.
Source: Yahoo Sports