Former Phillie Scott Rolen is elected to the Hall of Fame

Scott Rolen vacuumed almost every ball that got hit in his direction in a 17-year major-league career as a third baseman with four teams, including the Phillies.

Tuesday night, he reeled in enough votes to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

In his sixth year of eligibility, Rolen completed a meteoric rise up the ballot by receiving 76.3% of the vote from 389 long-standing members of the Baseball Writers Association of America, narrowly surpassing the three-quarters majority required for election, the Hall of Fame announced. He will be the 18th third baseman to be inducted, the first since Chipper Jones in 2018.

Rolen and slugging first baseman Fred McGriff, elected last month by a 16-member era committee, will be honored July 23 in Cooperstown, N.Y.

“There was actually never a point in my life that I thought I was going to be a Hall of Fame baseball player,” Rolen said via Zoom. “When I made the ballot, it was a great honor at that time.”

The Hall of Fame hasn’t announced which hat will be featured on Rolen’s plaque. He made four All-Star teams and won a World Series with the St. Louis Cardinals but spent more seasons with the Phillies (seven) than any team before asking to be traded in 2002. He also played for the Toronto Blue Jays and Cincinnati Reds.

In a statement, Phillies owner John Middleton said the team is “privileged” to be associated with Rolen and intends to honor him at Citizens Bank Park “this season at a date to be determined.”

Rolen, 47, finished his career with 2,077 hits, 316 home runs, and eight Gold Glove awards. He hit three homers for the Cardinals in the 2004 National League Championship Series, including a go-ahead two-run shot against Houston’s Roger Clemens in Game 7, and went 8-for-19 in the 2006 World Series.

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But Rolen’s formative years were spent with the Phillies. They drafted him out of high school in the second round in 1993. He made his major-league debut three years later and was named NL Rookie of the Year in 1997.

“My six years in Philadelphia kind of taught me how to play the game,” Rolen said. “We were a little rough. We were young. I learned to really hustle and play hard or it wasn’t going to work very well for you.”

Specifically, Rolen cited the late John Vukovich with imparting those lessons. “Vuk,” beloved within the Phillies organization, was a fiery former infielder and childhood friend of Larry Bowa’s. He cared for players but drove them hard to help make them better.

Rolen recalled attending his first major-league camp in 1996 and being ordered by Vukovich to report to the field before the sun rose to take ground balls.

“He said, ‘Kid, be there at 6,’” Rolen said. “We went out there and he, as much as anybody, taught me how to work. He made me work hard. It wasn’t a choice. I didn’t have a choice to work hard. He worked as hard as I did, and he’s sweating and he’s hitting balls. It was nonstop. We just did it over and over and over, and he took a real interest in me. He taught me different defensive fundamentals that I just didn’t know about. Widened my stance. Put my glove in a certain spot. The learning curve was so fast because he was just right there with me the whole way. He spent so much time with me.”

Rolen’s timing with the Phillies was rotten. They lost 94, 87, 85, and 97 games in his first four full seasons. He often clashed with Bowa, who took over as manager in 2001. There were talks about a contract extension, but Rolen turned down $140 million and asked out because he said he wanted to play for a contender.

The Phillies traded him to St. Louis at the deadline in 2002, four months before signing Jim Thome and two years before opening Citizens Bank Park. But it took them until 2007 to kick off their golden era of five consecutive NL East titles, two pennants, and a World Series crown.

“Their plan was that with a new stadium and to get in and just spend some money,” Rolen said. “They brought Jim Thome in, which was fantastic. But I think it was at that point where we weren’t there yet. We didn’t really come to agreement on what the future looked like and the contract, and everything worked out for both of us, I suppose. My six years in Philadelphia, I wouldn’t trade for anything in the world.”

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Rolen’s election to the Hall of Fame may even spur a reconciliation.

“Philadelphia was privileged to have witnessed the beginning of his extraordinary baseball career,” Middleton said. “In addition to being one of the most impactful offensive and defensive players of his era, Scott played the game the right way. Whether taking an extra base with a headfirst slide or diving for a ball in the hole, his hard-nosed effort and selfless attitude resonated with our fans. Along with his on-field contributions, Scott was a great teammate and a tremendous representative of the Phillies off the field.”

Rolen debuted on the Hall of Fame ballot with only 10.2% of the vote in 2018. But he climbed to 17.2% in 2019, 35.3% in 2020, 52.9% in 2021, and 63.2% in 2022.

Perhaps that gives hope to other former Phillies. Neither Bobby Abreu (15.4%) nor Jimmy Rollins (12.9%) came close to election, but they did surpass the 5% required to stay on the ballot. Chase Utley will join them next year.

Momentum continues to grow for former Phillies closer Billy Wagner, who reached 68.1% in his eighth year (of a maximum of 10) on the ballot. Todd Helton, a franchise icon with the Colorado Rockies, fell just short of election with 72.2% of the vote in his fifth try.

Alex Rodríguez (35.7%) and Manny Ramírez (33.2%) have Hall of Fame numbers. But their candidacies are stained by multiple positive tests for performance-enhancing drugs. Carlos Beltrán (46.5%) also has Hall-worthy achievements but was named as the ringleader in the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal in 2017.

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