Former Phillie Scott Rolen elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame; Jimmy Rollins sees an increase in votes after year two on the ballot
Former Phillies 3B Scott Rolen has been elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Rolen, in his sixth year of eligibility is headed to Cooperstown after receiving 76.3% of the vote.
Scott Rolen Headed to Cooperstown
Scott Rolen’s career started off in Philadelphia, slashing .282/.373/.504 in 844 games. Rolen played from 1996 to the first half of 2002 and was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals for Placido Polanco, Mike Timlin, and Bud Smith.
The flashiest part of Rolen’s game was his defense, winning eight gold gloves throughout his career, with four of them coming in Philly. He’s a World Series Champion, Rookie of the Year, 7x All-Star, and a Silver Slugger Winner.
Rolen has a career slashline of .281/.364/.490 in 17 seasons in the pros.
He played four years with Cincinnati following his time in St. Louis and ended his career with the Toronto Blue Jays. Rolen retired after the 2012 season and is now the 18th third baseman enshrined in Cooperstown.
Full Ballot Results
Scott Rolen received 76.3% of the votes, becoming the only person on the ballot to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, getting in by just 1.3%. He’ll join Fred McGriff as the only two members of the Class of 2023.
Phillies managing partner John Middleton released a statement on Rolen’s induction to Cooperstown.
Jimmy Rollins Sees an Increase in Voting Percentage
Jimmy Rollins received 12.9% of the votes, and although Rollins didn’t get in this year and probably won’t be in for a while, seeing an increase in votes from year 1 to year 2 is a positive sign.
Rollins is the only shortstop in a near-century to play 162 games in a season. He had a 38-game hit streak in 2005, which put the Phillies on a hot streak to finish the season. That hitting streak was the longest streak from a SS since 1894 (Bill Dahlen), and ranks 8th as the longest hit streak in MLB history.
The stats that are often forgotten about in Major League Baseball are defensive stats. Jimmy Rollins was a four-time gold glove winner, had a career fielding percentage of .983, and played over 19,000 innings at shortstop throughout his 17-year MLB career.
Jimmy Rollins had 12 MLB seasons with over 140 games played. That has only been accomplished at the shortstop position by Derek Jeter, Cal Ripken Jr, Ozzie Smith, and Omar Vizquel. Rollins slashed .264/.324/.424 in 17 total seasons.
Chase Utley on the Ballot in 2024
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