Scott Rolen Elected to Baseball Hall of Fame

Scott Rolen will join Fred McGriff in Cooperstown when the pair are inducted in July.

Third baseman Scott Rolen was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2023 by a vote of the writers in the Baseball Writers Association of America.

The results, unveiled Tuesday, sets the stage for the induction ceremony this summer in Cooperstown, N.Y.

There were 14 players on the 2023 ballot, with the top returning vote-getters including Rolen, who received 63.2 percent of last year’s vote, along with Todd Helton (52 percent) and Billy Wagner (51 percent).

A player needs 75 percent of the vote for induction. Rolen received 297 votes, which accounted for 76.3 percent, five more votes than Rolen needed for election.

Rolen played 17 years in the Majors, finishing his career with a .281 batting average, 316 home runs, 2,077 hits and 1,287 RBI. He won a Gold Glove eight times and was a seven-time All-Star. He was the 1997 National League Rookie of the Year and played on the St. Louis Cardinals’ 2006 World Series championship team.

First baseman Todd Helton fell 11 votes short of election with 281 votes (72.2 percent). Other players who earned at least 50 percent of the vote were pitcher Billy Wagner with 265 (68.1 percent), along with outfielders Andruw Jones with 226 (58.1) and Gary Sheffield with 214 (55.0).

Rolen will join Fred McGriff on the dais in Cooperstown during ceremonies July 21-24. McGriff was selected in December through the first contemporary baseball era committee election. That committee, made up of 16 members, considers player that made contributions to the game after 1980, but were not elected during their initial eligibility.

McGriff was one of the most productive players of his era, hitting 493 home runs and 2,493 hits in an 19-year career that saw him finish in MVP voting six different times. The five-time All-Star and three-time Silver Slugger won a World Series ring with the Atlanta Braves in 1995. He also hit at least 30 home runs in a season for five of the six teams he played for.

You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard

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