Rolen Latest Cardinal To Join Baseball Hall Of Fame in Cooperstown

Scott Rolen is the newest St. Louis Cardinal inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

There's something about the Cardinals' organization that turns many of their players from average to great, and great to hall of famers. Only the New York Yankees (21), Los Angeles Dodgers (15) and San Francisco Giants (15) organizations have sent more alumni to Cooperstown than St. Louis (12).

The great outfielder/first baseman Stan "The Man" Musial, manager Whitey Herzog, catcher Ted Simmons, pitcher Bob Gibson, and shortstop Ozzie Smith lead the pack of all-time greats that enjoyed their finest career moments with the Cardinals.  Now, the newest generation of superstars that excelled at Busch Stadium, Scott Rolen, is forever representing the organization at 25 Main Street in Cooperstown.

Rolen's 17 MLB seasons were split among four clubs - Philadelphia, Toronto, Cincinnati, along with splitting parts of five years wearing the Cardinals uniform.  Rolen's hall of fame plaque has his cap displaying a Cardinals logo.  Five of his seven all-star selections came while with St. Louis.  During the 2006 season, Rolen and his Cardinals' teammates won the World Series.  Five of Rolen's Rawlings Gold Glove Awards as the National League's top defensive third baseman came while with St. Louis.

So, on July 23, 2023 Rolen, along with Fred McGriff grew the National Baseball Hall of Fame membership to 342, once again the Cardinals' organization came front and center.

When Rolen's name came up for vote for the sixth time by the 400 members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America this past January, the Evansville, Indiana native topped the required 75 percent  for election.  Rolen, who posts a career .281 batting average and slugged 316 home runs, garnered 76.3 votes.

During the 2004 season, Rolen had the highest vote total of any player for the All-Star Game played in Houston, Texas. More than 3 million votes were cast for the 1997 National League Rookie of the Year.

In name, the St. Louis Cardinals have been around since 1900.

In 2019, Rolen was inducted into the St. Louis Cardinals Hall of fame located in downtown St. Louis. He is one of 53 members to be enshrined.

Don Laible is a freelance sportswriter from the Mohawk Valley, now living in Florida. He has reported on professional baseball and hockey for print, radio, and on the web since the 1980's. His columns are featured weekly at WIBX950.com. Don can be contacted via email at Don@icechipsdiamonddust.com.