The Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York expanded its list of players by two this past Sunday afternoon. Inducted into the Hall were Fred McGriff and Scott Rolen.
I Consider myself fortunate to have seen Rolen play for the Cardinals at Busch II and the new St. Louis stadium that opened in 2006. He was a key to the Cards National League title in 2004 and the Birds run to the World Series championship in 2006.
Rolen played for four major league teams during his 19 year career but note he's wearing a Cardinal cap on his HOF plaque.
The Baseball Writers Association of American selected McGriff, who was a unanimous choice of the Hall's Contemporary Baseball Players Era Committee, in December. I saw McGriff play in person on many occasions during his career when he would come to St. Louis as a member of the Padres, Braves, Cubs and later the Dodgers.
I particularly remember the 1996 NLCS series in which McGriff played a key role in the Braves win and return to the World Series. It seemed as if McGriff was at the plate whenever runners were in scoring position. He homered twice in the seven game series and drove in seven runs with an .858 OPS. McGriff also destroyed the Cardinals in the last three games of the NLCS that year in which Atlanta outscored St. Louis 32-1.
Images courtesy of the National Baseball Hall of Fame
Chicago Cubs announcer Pat Hughes was also inducted into the Hall of Fame Broadcasters wing as the 2023 Ford C. Frick Award winner. He was joined in the Hall's Writer's Wing at the Cooperstown festivities by John Lowe who received the Baseball Writers Association of America's Career Excellence Award.
