PHILADELPHIA — Scott Rolen will be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame next weekend, and the occasion promises to reignite a series of debates around here that have the staying power of a syndicated sitcom. Does Rolen deserve enshrinement? Was he a great player? A very good player? An underrated player? An overrated player? And was he really the bad guy that so many fans and media, during his final few seasons with the Phillies, thought him to be?
That last question is the most interesting one, at least in these parts. A fair evaluation of Rolen’s career in the context of Major League Baseball history makes it pretty clear that he was a worthy candidate. Rolen played in the field in 2,023 major league games, all of them at third base, which is the least-represented position in Cooperstown. There are just 17 third basemen in the Hall of Fame — not because the standard at that position is so high, but because so few full-time third basemen over the last three decades have been outstanding players — and Rolen’s combination of fielding excellence and offensive production allows him to vault that bar. He’s in, and he should be in.
The idea of Rolen being a Hall of Famer likely still rubs some Phillies fans raw. Like Eric Lindros, like Carson Wentz, like Ben Simmons, Rolen began his career in Philadelphia as a beacon of hope and left under a dark cloud. But anyone harboring animosity toward him for turning down a $140 million contract offer, coming into conflict with a couple of Phillies icons, and forcing the franchise to trade him in 2002 should have gotten over that anger long ago. If anything, the years since his departure — and the strides that the Phillies have made over that time — should cast his tenure in a better light.
