A gleaming Tony Perez delivers his speech. (Craig Ruttle photo) | ZOOM |

        COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — Tony Perez's smile stretched from Cooperstown to Cuba.

        “I doubt that a king at his cornonation feels better than me today,” Perez said.

        It was the most beautiful, and most telling, remark the Reds' newest Hall of Famer made in a regal speech Sunday at his induction ceremony.

        Finally, Perez was a Hall of Famer. The nine years he spent waiting to be elected suddenly were gone. The Big Dog's day was pure joy.

        His smile beamed from the stage up the hill to the farthest reaches of the 25,000-person crowd from the moment he stepped into the spotlight. He strode confidently onto the stage with it, and it left his strong, chiseled face only in the moments before he began his speech as he collected his thoughts.

Perez's sons Eduardo and Victor and wife Pituka reacts as Tony talks about them. (Craig Ruttle photo) | ZOOM |

        “Those nine years don't mean anything now,” Perez said later. “I'm in the Hall of Fame.”

        Perez's speech was Hall of Fame-caliber too, considered the finest of the day by many. The RBI machine of the Big Red Machine may not have spoken the clearest English, but his was the most impressive of the three inductees. He also consistently drew the most cheers from the heavily Red-painted crowd.

        Dressed sharply in a tan suit and white shirt, Perez took his place on stage with the 47 returning Hall of Famers a little nervous about his English. But i t didn't show; he was the picture of confidence, standing tall next to his plaque as commissioner Bud Selig introduced him.

        That was the only time Perez looked at all serious. “You can't describe how you feel when you see that plaque,” he said.

        He blew a kiss to his wife, Pituka, looked proudly on his sons Viktor and Eduardo, put on his glasses and began.

        “What a feeling,” Perez said. “It's hard to describe the emotions of the happiness. I feel blessed.”

Perez with his plaque. (AP photo) | ZOOM |

        He talked of his upbringing in Cuba, of his father's admiration of Chicago White Sox Latin star Minnie Minoso, of how he told his mother he was going to be like Minoso. “She say, "Son, I wish you luck. It's not going to be easy,' ” Perez said. “Well, here I am.”

        When he signed with the Reds at age 16, Perez said, his mother didn't want him to go “because of her love.” When he reported to Geneva, N.Y. for his first spring of minor-league ball, it was so cold “I could feel it in my bones, how I missed the heat of my country and the love of my family.”

        Perez called the 1967 All-Star game, when he was named MVP after hitting the winning home run, a career thrill. And, of course, hitting that huge game-tying homer in Game 7 of the 1975 World Series “when my friend Carlton Fisk (also an inductee) was good enough to ask (pitcher) Bill Lee for that blooper pitch one more time.”

        That drew big laughs from the crowd, and a chagrined smile from Fisk.

        Though he played in five World Series and seven All-Star games, Perez said the thing he is proudest of is “I always played to win and never cared for numbers or records. I always gave 100 percent on the field, and my only concern was winning.”

        Perez thanked the fans in Cincinnati, Montreal, Boston and Philadelphia, where he played, and South Florida, where he now works. And he congratulated his former manager and fellow inductee Sparky Anderson, saying, “I think they made me wait so long so that we could be inducted together.”

        He also made a pitch for Latin stars Minoso, Luis Tiant and Tony Oliva and former Reds teammates Davey Concepcion and Pete Rose to be inducted in the Hall of Fame. Then he honored his family, especially Pituka. “The day I met her, m y career really started,” he said. “I'm not the only Hall of Famer in the family. She's the real one.”

        Pituka's smile was the only one bigger than Tony's.

        Perez concluded his remarks in English with some advice to today's players: “Please, respect and honor the uniform you're wearing. Respect the fans. And more important, respect the game of baseball, a national great pastime.”

        Fisk choked up several times during his long 37-minute speech. But Perez said later he never worried about crying through his, which measured about 11 minutes.

        “I want to have fun,” Perez said with that smile. “This is a day to have fun. I didn't want to make my wife cry.”

        Toward the end of his speech, Perez switched to Spanish for his friends and family in Latin America. At the very end, he switched back to English, and in classy and humorous Tony style, saluted his fans everywhere.

        “So I say, "Thank you very much, merci beaucoup, muchas gracis.”

Hall of Fame induction colored Red Perez feels like a king Sparky: Happy, humble, grateful Brennaman creates stir with Rose remark Rose in Cooperstown but not at Hall SULLIVAN: Hall is worth the wait Reds may have long wait now RETURN TO HALL OF FAME PAGE

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