Scott Rolen and Fred McGriff took the long road to Cooperstown. Rolen needed six ballots to be elected by the baseball writers to the Hall of Fame. McGriff took an 0-for-10 from the writers before sailing in unanimously through the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee.
The length of their journeys does not matter Sunday. All that matters is that they will be enshrined as Hall of Famers forever.
Their journeys, however, are instructive. They remind us that not all Hall of Famers are obvious. Without MVP awards and iconic status with one franchise, the popular imprimaturs of Hall of Famers, some need a deeper appreciation for how well they played the game. Between them, Rolen and McGriff played for 10 franchises—never seven full seasons in one place—and never finished in the top three in MVP voting.
