![]() “And the stadium they have now? That is a real bandbox they have now. “That little, short porch in right field? That would’ve been a beautiful thing for me,” McGriff said. His 493 home runs were tied for tenth in major league history among left-handed hitters when he retired, but McGriff wondered what his numbers would have looked like had he played his entire career with the New York Yankees, the team that drafted him. The five-time All-Star helped Atlanta win the 1995 World Series. 284 with 493 homers and 1,550 RBIs over 19 seasons with six major league teams. McGriff, the lanky first baseman known as Crime Dog, hit. His glove put him over the top, but there was not one area in which he didn’t excel.” “He was strong in everything, all aspects of the game. “He was a phenomenal, amazing athlete,” said Terry Gobert, his coach at Jasper High who was on hand for the weekend’s festivities. He will be the 18th third baseman in the Hall, the fewest of any position. That carried through my entire career.”Ī multisport athlete who was offered a basketball scholarship at Georgia, Rolen played shortstop, second base, third, right field, center, left and pitcher at Jasper High School before settling at third in his sophomore or junior year. ![]() There’s a toughness instilled in you to play the game the right way and to play hard. I truly believe I learned to play the game there. “I still have lifelong friends from Philadelphia. “I feel like I always cherished my time in Philadelphia,” Rolen said. His stint with the Phillies ended on a sour note, but with time has come appreciation for the time he spent in Philly. 314 in 2006, when the Cardinals won the World Series. He was a unanimous pick as the 1997 NL Rookie of the Year and hit. The chest gets a little tight and then you hear the news.” This last one caught up to me when I thought it would be a real thing. The last year, yeah, I knew there was a chance with this one. “The first year we were trying to get to a certain number (to stay on the ballot). “The first five years there wasn’t much pressure at all,” Rolen said. Along with that realization came some stress. It wasn’t until the past year that Rolen felt he had a great shot to get in. In his first year of eligibility, Rolen received just 10.2%, the lowest first-ballot percentage of a player later elected. Rolen, a seven-time All-Star and eight-time Gold Glove winner, was selected on 297 of 389 ballots cast by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America - or 76.3%. I’m not into all the metrics and the numbers, advanced stats and stuff, but apparently, they helped me, so I love them,” Rolen joked Saturday. “I learned a lot more about the process the last two years. ![]() Rolen, making it on his sixth try, and Fred McGriff, elected unanimously by the Contemporary Baseball Era Players Committee, will be inducted Sunday into the Hall of Fame. They may have helped him get voted into the Hall of Fame. (AP) - Scott Rolen is an old-school baseball guy, but he’s grateful for the analytics of today’s game. Former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Carl Erskine received the Buck O’Neil Lifetime Achievement Award, longtime Detroit Tigers beat writer John Lowe won the BBWAA’s Career Excellence Award, and Cubs radio broadcaster Pat Hughes was the recipient of the Ford C. Three others were honored during Hall of Fame weekend. The players on the writers' ballot who fell short of induction this year included Todd Helton (72.2%), Billy Wagner (68.1%), Andruw Jones (58.1%), Gary Sheffield (55%), Carlos Beltrán (46.5%), Jeff Kent (46.5%), Alex Rodriguez (35.7%), Manny Ramirez (33.2%), Omar Vizquel (19.5%), Andy Pettitte (17%), Bobby Abreu (15.4%), Jimmy Rollins (12.9%), Mark Buehrle (10.8%), Francisco Rodriguez (10.8%) and Torii Hunter (6.9%). He played for six teams, was a five-time All-Star and helped the Atlanta Braves win the 1995 World Series. 284 with 493 homers and 1,550 RBIs in 2,460 games over 19 seasons. McGriff, who was affectionately nicknamed "Crime Dog" by ESPN's Chris Berman, batted. The lanky first baseman was drafted by the New York Yankees in the ninth round of the 1981 amateur draft out of Thomas Jefferson High School in Tampa, Florida. ![]() "When your career is validated by former players and executives that saw you play, that’s as good as it gets." "I’m humbled and honored to be standing in front of you and now to be part of this fraternity," McGriff said during his 20-minute speech. Joining Rolen on the stage was McGriff, who made sure to shake the hands of nearly all of the 50 Hall of Famers who welcomed him. ![]()
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