Rolen Gets Call to Cooperstown While Helton Falls 11 Votes Shy of Induction

The Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) have elected Scott Rolen to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. 

Rolen, an 8-time Gold Glove winner at third base, received 76.3% of the vote in his sixth year of eligibility on the BBWAA ballot. In 16 big league seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies, St. Louis Cardinals, Toronto Blue Jays and Cincinnati Reds, Rolen collected 2,077 hits for a lifetime batting average of .281 with 316 HR and 1287 RBI. Rolen won NL Rookie of the Year honors in 1997 as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies, was named to 7 All-Star Teams and played in two World Series with the St. Louis Cardinals earning a ring in 2006. His best overall season came in 2004 when he had career highs in batting average, HR and RBI (.314, 34, 124) for the Cardinals team which won the NL pennant but would be swept in the World Series by the Boston Red Sox. Above all else, Rolen was best defensive third baseman of his generation and becomes only the 18th player at the hot corner ever to be inducted into Cooperstown. Defense has generally been undervalued and I'm glad to see someone like Rolen get in largely on the strength of his glove work.

The only question is whether Rolen will be inducted as Phillie or a Cardinal. His longest tenure was with the Phillies but most of his Gold Gloves came with the Cardinals. Whichever cap he wears, Rolen will get a plaque in Cooperstown along with Fred McGriff on July 23rd. 

This question will not be raised when Todd Helton is inducted into Cooperstown as he played his entire 17-year MLB career with the Colorado Rockies. Helton attained 72.2% of the vote falling 11 votes shy of induction. It is worth noting that Helton a 20% jump in support from a year ago. Unless Helton pulls a Schilling and demands the BBWAA not vote for him then he will likely be part of the Class of 2024. 

The other day a friend of mine, in response to my 2023 BBWAA ballot choices, wondered why I was so high on Helton. In his 17-year career, Helton hit above .300 12 times. To put this into perspective, Ichiro Suzuki hit .300 10 times in his career. Now I'm not claiming that Helton is better than Ichiro as Ichiro was a better overall player. But as far as players from his era, when it comes hitting .300, Helton has no peer. Although Helton won only one batting title, he finished in the top five in batting in the NL on six other occasions. 

Here are some other notable vote getters. Closer Billy Wagner earned 68.1 % of the vote. Wagner has two more years of eligibility and I suspect he will make it through in 2024 and 2025. Meanwhile, Carlos Beltran in his first year of eligibility and Jeff Kent in his final year of eligibility each earned exactly 46.5% of the vote. Given his role in the Astros sign stealing scandal, Beltran did better than I expected. The question is whether his vote total will go up in the coming years. As for Kent, he does have a chance at Cooperstown when the Contemporary Era Committee convenes in December 2025 to vote on the Class of 2026. 

For now though the hour belongs to Scott Rolen.