Carlos Beltrán will be enshrined as the third player to represent the New York Mets in the Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday, joining Tom Seaver and Mike Piazza.
Beltrán, who began his career with the Kansas City Royals after being drafted in 1995, reflected on his reception in different cities during a pre-induction press conference. "If you don’t understand the process, sometimes it could be overwhelming. For me, it was," Beltrán said, recalling his initial experience in New York. "Coming from Kansas City, playing in New York, at the beginning, I didn’t understand why the fans were getting on me, while I played in Kansas City and never got booed."
He added, "So all of a sudden, I’m in New York, they boo me the whole month. I was like, ‘Oh my God, I just signed here for seven years and these people, they have no patience with me.’" Beltrán noted that New York is a city where the fanbase expects excellence and understands the game, wanting players to earn their contracts.
Beltrán also shared a pivotal moment from 1999 when Hall of Famer George Brett, during Brett's own induction ceremony, introduced a young Beltrán to Orlando Cepeda, another inductee that year. Brett told Cepeda, "I’ve introduced you to the next Hall of Famer from Puerto Rico. His name is Carlos Beltrán."
"I haven’t played a game, and you’re introducing me as a Hall of Famer," Beltrán recalled thinking. Brett’s response was, "Well Carlos, everything is possible in life. If you play hard and if you continue to play good and you continue to develop yourself, this is an opportunity."
Beltrán, a five-time All-Star with the Mets, seized that opportunity. "I end up getting to the Hall of Fame, but I fail 72 percent of the time," he said, acknowledging the inherent difficulty of baseball. "It’s a lot of pain, but at the end of the day, I have to say that New York is a great place… most of the most meaningful relationships I built in the game, I did it wearing the Mets uniform."
Beltrán also played two seasons with the New York Yankees late in his career.