Rolen attempts to take it all in at Hall of Fame orientation

Feb. 28—Some players who make it to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown are able to do so without breaking a sweat. That wasn't the case with Scott Rolen.

In his first year on the ballot in 2018, Rolen received just 10.2% of the votes from the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Only this time around, in his sixth year on the ballot, did he finally break through the magic 75% barrier needed to earn a plaque in Cooperstown.

That patient ascent towards the mountaintop was appropriate for a man who spent 17 years in the big leagues as one of the most consistent, reliable, and all-around outstanding third basemen of his era.

It also left him with a deep appreciation for his place among the game's greats as he received his Hall of Fame orientation on Tuesday along with his wife Niki, daughter Raine, and son Finn.

"I'm sure there have been many people that have been here that've been speechless and I'm one of them," Rolen said in a press conference held in the museum's plaque gallery. "I am so excited and thankful for my family to be healthy and to have the opportunity to share this in July, because what they're gonna feel in this room, this place, it's electric. You can feel a huge presence."

When asked if being an official member of the Hall of Fame had sunk in yet, Rolen wasn't quite able to process his place among the game's immortals.

"What do other people answer to that?," he said only half-jokingly. "I would like to hear other people answer that question because I don't know how it's possible, after walking through and seeing Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, and Hank Aaron. That's not me; it's a whole world of baseball greatness that's unbelievable. It's an honor just to be considered in the era that I played in the game to have some achievements."

Rolen was the epitome of consistency manning the hot corner. In his 17 years in the majors, he never had a batting average below .260 in a full season, won eight Gold Gloves, was a seven-time All-Star, won a World Series with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2006, and finished his career with 2,077 hits, 316 home runs, 1,287 RBIs, 1,211 runs scored, and a career batting average of .281 while playing for the Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies, Cincinnati Reds, and Toronto Blue Jays.

While he was the National League's Rookie of the Year in 1997 with the Phillies, Rolen said it wasn't until the next season where he felt he truly began to find his place as a bonafide major leaguer.

"Offensively, I kind of got the hang of it a little bit," he said. "I gained some confidence with Philadelphia where I thought that every day wasn't going to be my last day in the Major Leagues. Just gathering confidence through some successes. It's hard to gain confidence without success.

"I tried to outwork everybody every day and when things got going in the wrong direction, I always felt that I could lean on the work I put in in the past to rough through some of those times and try to stay consistent."

While Rolen was clearly starstruck by seeing the names of the all-time greats featured in the plaque gallery, he said it was seeing the plaques of friends and former teammates that elicited some of the strongest feelings during his visit.

"You gravitate towards teammates [like] Roy Halladay and Larry Walker," he said. "With the Cardinals... we were around Ozzie Smith and a lot of the Hall of Famers there, so you just kind of gravitate towards those players. When you actually have teammates and you know them as humans, as people, as families, as fathers, that's kind of a special thing. You get to see Walk's plaque and Doc's plaque and know them more as the time you spent with them as people."

Rolen will be officially inducted on July 23 along with Fred McGriff, who was selected via a Contemporary Baseball Era Committee vote. While Rolen said his life has changed since receiving his Hall of Fame call, he and his family are embracing their new reality.

"It has, actually, in a positive way," he said about the change. "We're pretty reclusive where we live and we kind of mind our own business. and then we're on planes again and kind of reliving some stuff and having some incredible experiences like this. So, I think we're trying to soak it all in. and I know there's still quite a bit ahead that's maybe not in my normal day of coffee and dropping kids off at school."