(Cooperstown) Scott Rolen is an old-school baseball man, but he’s grateful for the existence of advanced baseball stats today. They may have contributed to his election to the Hall of Fame.
Rolen, elected on his sixth attempt, and Fred McGriff, chosen unanimously by the members of the Contemporary Era Committee, will become baseball immortals on Sunday as they make their debut in Cooperstown.
“I’ve learned a lot more about the process over the past two years. I don’t spend my time studying metrics and numbers, advanced stats and things like that, but they seem to have helped me, so I love them! joked Rolen on Saturday.
A seven-time All-Star and winner of eight Gold Gloves, Rolen saw his name appear on 297 of the Baseball Writers Association of America’s 389 ballots – or 76.3%.
In his first year of eligibility, Rolen garnered only 10.2% of the votes. No player eventually elected to Cooperstown had lower support in their first year of eligibility.
The proportion of votes he received has steadily increased, and it was from last year that Rolen felt he had a very good chance of being inducted. At the same time, he began to feel some stress.
“For the first five years, there wasn’t a lot of pressure,” Rolen said.
“The first year, we wanted to get a certain number (to keep his name on the ballot). Last year, yes, I knew there was a chance. It caught up with me when I thought it would come true. The chest tightens a bit and then you hear the news. »
Rolen had a .281 overall batting average with 316 homers and 1,287 RBI with the Philadelphia Phillies (1996-2002), St. Louis Cardinals (2002-2007), Toronto Blue Jays (2008-2009) and Cincinnati Reds (2009-2012).
He was a unanimous pick for National League Rookie of the Year in 1997 and hit .314 in 2006 when the Cardinals won the World Series.
McGriff, a willowy first baseman nicknamed “Crime Dog,” had a .284 GAA with 493 homers and 1,550 RBI in 19 seasons with six major league baseball teams including the Blue Jays, the team with which he played his first five seasons, between 1986 and 1990.
A five-time All-Star, he helped the Atlanta Braves win the World Series in 1995.
By the time he retired, his 493 home runs tied him for 10th in major league baseball history among left-handed hitters.
However, McGriff wondered how different his stats would have been had he played his entire career with the New York Yankees, the organization that drafted him.
“That little fence, close up, in right field?” It would have been a nice thing for me,” McGriff noted. And the stadium they have now? It’s a real cardboard box they have now. This place is amazing. »
However, McGriff has no regrets, especially when he reflects on his years with Atlanta.
“My time with the Braves was fantastic. Back then, there weren’t the Tampa Bay Rays, the Florida Marlins,” McGriff recalled.
“Atlanta was the closest to my home (in Florida). That my parents have more often the chance to see me play has been a very good thing for me. »
“And of course, winning. »