Baseball Hall of Fame: The verdict of Scott Rolen’s immortality
According to Ryan Thibodaux Hall of Fame vote tracker, Scott Rolen looks like he will most likely get enough votes to stay on the ballot. Although he is already eliminated from making Hall of Fame this year, I do not even believe he is a first ballot worthy.
I think this year, there are clear cut players ahead of him like Chipper Jones and Jim Thome, etc. However, I think looking forward it is going to be close to him making the Hall of Fame. I hope he does get enough votes to stay on the ballot because he clearly deserves the debate.
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Is he borderline? Probably. Comparison to his era, he was never the best player during his prime at the position except for maybe one or two seasons, even on his team. He did play with a no-doubt first ballot Hall of Fame player Albert Pujols for a majority of it. I think that hurts him overall.
Overall, I believe Scott Rolen should be in the Hall of Fame. He probably is a top 20 third basemen of all time, and when there are only sixteen players in the Hall of Fame as third basemen, I find it hard to not put him in there.
He compares well with arguably the best defensive third basemen Brooks Robinson. Maybe not as good, but for his era, he was the best at it himself.
He has the case of longevity playing 17 seasons, although totality of accolades and magic numbers are missing a bit, like not reaching 400 home runs or 3,000 hits.
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However, what I showed was how good his peak was in his prime. Compare his best seven seasons with almost all Hall of Fame third basemen, and he has a strong case for the Baseball Hall of Fame.