We had a discussion on Scott Rolen and whether he should be in the Hall of Fame or not and the consensus was that he would soon be elected, and everyone was in favorite of that. One thing that could be holding him back and he was traded because from his first two teams Philadelphia and St. Louis because of troubles with management. I didn’t know the details until I just looked them up but like other people, I remember he had conflicts.
One thing was he was an outstanding fielder and he won nine gold gloves. He is sixth in total zone runs as a third baseman. He is ahead of Graig Nettles who is seventh. I don’t know if that is right, but it is what it is. There is no doubt both were great fielders.
I didn’t remember Rolen playing for the Reds, but he had a real good year for them in 2020 leading them to the playoffs. He also helped them into the playoffs in 2012 as a part time player.
Speaking of playoffs Rolen had his best year in 2004 but was Dr. Jeckel and Mr. Hyde in the playoffs that year. He batted .000 in the first round against the Dodgers. He walked 6 times in 4 games for a respectable on base average of .333 and the Cardinals won the series. Next, they faced the Astros. Rolen had a great series. He would have been considered for MVP except Albert Pujols had a super series. Rolen hit over .300 and slugged .690. Pujols hit .500 and slugged 1.000. Makes you wonder why it took the Cardinals 7 games to win the series. However, as the Red Sox swept the Cardinals in the World Series, Rolen batted .000 again. He had only 1 walk in four games.
Rolen made up for this in the 2006 World Series. He batted .421 and slugged .737 in a five-game victory over Detroit giving Rolen his only World Series ring. Hopefully he gets a Hall of Fame ring soon.
