Former St. Louis Cardinal and
Philadelphia Phillie third baseman Scott Rolen has been elected to the
Professional Baseball Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers Association of
America. He will join Fred McGriff this summer in induction ceremonies at
the hall in Cooperstown, NY. McGriff was selected to the hall by the Contemporary
Era Committee.
I had the chance to watch Rolen
many times at Busch Stadium II and Busch Stadium III, while he was a member of
the Cardinals between 2002 and 2007. Rolen was a good third baseman offensivly
but I didn't think his production would land him in the hall. However, he
is one of the best defensively I've ever seen play the position. While
with the Cards Rolen played on two world series teams. The Cardinals lost
to the Red Sox in 2004 and then won it all against the Detroit Tigers in
2006. Rolen was an integral part of both teams.
I hope Rolen will go into the
Hall with a Cardinal hat on his induction plaque. He played more years
with the Phillies but put up better numbers with the Cardinals and was selected
to four All-Star teams during his time in St. Louis.
He played a total of 17 years
in the big leagues, seven with the Phillies, six with the Cardinals, parts of four
years with the Reds and a partial season with the Blue Jays. His career
stats included a .281 batting average, 316 home runs and 1287 RBI.
Rolen and McGriff, who played
for the Blue Jays, Braves and Rays, will be inducted into the baseball hall on
Sunday July 23rd.
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