Scott Rolen, who accumulated eight Gold Gloves, seven All-Star appearances, a Rookie of the Year award and a World Series title during his 17-year career, had a simple answer when he was asked about his humble and team-first personality.
“Well, I’m from Jasper, Indiana,” Rolen said. “It’s a hardworking community that values going to work, getting your job done, doing things right and treating people well. On top of that, I am Ed and Linda Rolen’s son, Todd and Kristin’s brother, and that just didn’t fly in our house.”
That kid from Jasper, Indiana, is the newest member of baseball’s Hall of Fame. Rolen was elected with 76.3% of the vote by the Baseball Writers' Association of America on his sixth year on the ballot. He was named on 297 ballots, five more than the 292 required to reach the 75% threshold for election.
Rolen was the 342nd member and 270th player elected to the Hall of Fame. He played his last 3 ½ seasons of his career with the Cincinnati Reds, which gave him a chance to play close to home.
“You don’t think about this,” Rolen said. “You think about trying to do the best you can and play for your team, play the game as best as you can. It’s such a long road. I never thought the Hall of Fame was going to be the answer.”
Scott Rolen goes from 10% of the vote to Hall of Fame
Rolen received 10.2% of the vote in his initial year, the lowest percentage for an eventual Hall of Famer in his initial year on the ballot. He remembered sitting in the car with his son, Finn, before coaching a fourth-grade basketball practice and listening to the results on the radio.
He told his son he just wanted to be higher than 5% to remain on the ballot.
Six years later, he received a phone call from a Hall of Fame official at his home surrounded by his wife, son and daughter.
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“Everybody cried,” Rolen said. “We’re an emotional family. When we get happy or whatever, that’s how it comes out. My son, it caught him a little off guard and he got real emotional. Then the first thing he did is he asked me if I wanted to play catch with him. It’s 30 degrees here and it’s going to snow like 12 inches tomorrow, and my son and I were in the driveway playing catch about 10-15 minutes after we got the phone call.”
The celebration continued with Rolen’s parents and his brother’s family. Rolen promised everybody steaks, so even if he didn’t receive the news he wanted to hear, “we were going to have a good night no matter what.”
Scott Rolen joins list of Hall of Fame third basemen
Rolen was the 18th third baseman elected to the Hall of Fame, which is the fewest among all positions. He will be joined by Fred McGriff at next summer’s induction ceremony in Cooperstown, New York. McGriff was elected by the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee in December.
"There was actually a never a point in my life where I thought I was going to be a Hall of Fame baseball player," Rolen said.
Scott Rolen's memories closing out his career with Cincinnati Reds
The Reds had Rolen at the end of his career, but that was part of the appeal to former Reds general manager Walt Jocketty, who traded for Rolen twice.
At the time, the Reds were 11 games below .500 and 9½ games back in the division when they traded for Rolen at the 2009 trade deadline. It was a surprise move at the time, but Jocketty thought Rolen was a great fit to hit in the middle of the lineup and he could benefit the team through his leadership.
“When Walt brought me there, he challenged me a little bit,” said Rolen, who spent 6½ seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies, 5½ with the St. Louis Cardinals, 1½ with the Toronto Blue Jays before finishing with the Reds. “He challenged me in a way that he wanted me to speak. I go about my business, try to do what I can, play hard, whatever. He challenged me and said, ‘I’d like a culture change. Please speak. That’s why you’re here. I want you to be here.’ ”
It’s hard to understate Rolen’s impact. He was a big reason the Reds turned from a 78-win team in 2009 to a 91-win team in 2010, leading the franchise to its first playoff appearance since 1995. He produced an All-Star season in 2010 with a .285 batting average, 20 homers, 83 RBI and Gold Glove defense.
Rolen was limited by injuries in 2011 and didn’t hit to his usual standards in 2012, the final year of his career, but his influence in the clubhouse helped turn the Reds into a team that made the postseason three times from 2010-13.
“I loved playing with him,” Joey Votto said in a video he posted on Instagram. “I learned so much. If any player is lucky enough to have a role model and a teammate like him, they’re as lucky as it gets. I shaped my career, my effort and my work in his mold. He’s a Hall of Famer today, deserving, and I have nothing but respect for him and his achievements.”
Rolen credited Miguel Cairo and Bronson Arroyo for being veteran influences alongside him during his time in Cincinnati.
“We had such great young talent and such energy with Jonny Gomes,” Rolen said. “We had young energy, young talent, and I think there was a little bit with Cairo, Arroyo and whatever, hey, this is how we’re going to do it and conduct ourselves. It worked out pretty well, obviously.”
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