“It’s about time,” could have been the theme of the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s Class of 2022 induction ceremony, last weekend in Cooperstown, N.Y. For many years, baseball fans and historians have questioned why players like Tony Oliva, Jim Kaat, Gil Hodges and Buck O’Neil weren’t already in the Hall of Fame. That injustice has now been rectified.

Headlining this year’s class was David Ortiz, a native of the Dominican Republic, the only player selected this year by the Baseball Writers ballot. Voted in by the Golden Days and Early Baseball Era committees were Tony Oliva, Jim Kaat, and the late Bud Fowler, Gil Hodges, Minnie Miñoso and Buck O’Neil.

Ortiz became the 58th first-ballot Hall of Famer and the 14th since 2014. The former Red Sox slugger finished his career with a .286 batting average, 541 home runs (17th all time), 632 doubles (12th all time), and 1,768 RBIs (23rd all time). He finished in the top five of the AL MVP voting in five straight seasons, and was voted to the All-Star Game 10 times.

“This game is so important here in America and around the world,” Ortiz said in thanking Major League Baseball. “Thank you for all the support you have given baseball as a sport, so that it continues to be part of our culture and part of the heart of all the fans worldwide.”

Ortiz helped Boston break the “Curse of the Bambino” in 2004 by going 12-for-31 with three homers, 11 RBIs and the walk-off RBIs in two games in the epic seven-game ALCS against the Yankees. He was also a key figure in title runs in 2007 and in 2013. Few players in baseball history meant more to an organization and a city than Ortiz did in his 14 seasons with the Red Sox.

This honor was a long time coming for the 83-year-old Kaat; a reliable left-hander who pitched in 25 seasons over four decades from 1959-83. Though Kaat was a member of the 1982 World Series champion Cardinals, his best years came with the Senators/Twins, for whom he debuted and toed the rubber for 15 seasons. His 625 career games started rank 17th all time, and his 4,530 1/3 innings rank 25th. Following his retirement Kaat became a broadcaster and continues to work for MLB Network.

Before Oliva even took the stage, his induction had a heartwarming reunion attached to it. The Twins and Sen. Amy Klobuchar had arranged for Oliva’s younger brother, Juan Carlos Oliva, who resides in Cuba, to obtain a visa so he could travel to Cooperstown to be there today. The two had not seen each other in the U.S. since 2009.

After immigrating from Cuba, Oliva signed with the Twins in 1961. He became the first native of the island to win Rookie of the Year honors, in 1964. He went on to win three batting titles and lead the AL in hits five times, and he was an eight-time All-Star. Like his former Twins teammate Kaat, Oliva had to patiently await his Hall call after falling short on 15 tries on the BBWAA ballot from 1982-96. But mere days after turning 84, he finally got his moment.

John “Buck” O’Neil gave a speech at the induction of the Negro League greats elected into the Class of 2006. Unfortunately, the 92-year-old died a few months later and did not get to live to see his rightful induction into the Hall. O’Neil held many roles in professional baseball over the years; as a Negro Leagues ambassador in addition to his influential career as a player, manager, scout and the first Black AL/NL coach.

The Hall of Fame’s Buck O’Neil Lifetime Achievement Award, established in 2008, speaks to his importance to the sport. I once met O’Neil in the press box at a Kansas City Royals game, and he was every bit the gentleman that I had heard about. Very friendly and willing to share a story or two.

Gil Hodges was a winner as a player and as a manager. He was an eight-time All-Star in an 18-year playing career as a first baseman for the Dodgers and Mets, winning three Gold Gloves and leading the Dodgers to seven NL pennants and two World Series titles. At the time of his retirement in 1963, his 370 career homers were third-most for a right-handed hitter.

Hodges turned his sights to managing, and after five years with the Senators, he took over a Mets team that had never won more than 66 games and turned it into a World Series champion during the “Miracle Mets” season of 1969. Hodges died from sudden heart attack in 1972, at the too-young age of 47.

Miñoso was a 13-time All-Star and member of the “Go-Go” White Sox of the 1950s and ‘60s. He had a career that spanned five decades, from his 1947 debut in the Negro Leagues to his 1949 debut in the American League to his 1980 activation, at age 54, as a pinch-hitter for two games. With his passing in 2015, he did not get to see that long, productive and historically meaningful career fully recognized by the Hall of Fame.

Bud Fowler, who was born John W. Jackson, is actually the first Hall of Fame inductee who hails from Cooperstown. Fowler’s induction partners, with the Hall of Fame’s recent undertaking of a two-year project to create a permanent exhibit on Black baseball. Fowler is believed to have been the first Black player to integrate white professional leagues, debuting in the International Association in 1878.