Scott Rolen is in the Hall of Fame of my heart - A Hunt and Peck

The Hall of Fame nominees were announced. There are nineteen new nominees on the ballot for 2018, with three notable ones for Cardinals fans. On the ballot for the first time will be Chris Carpenter, Jason Isringhausen, and Scott Rolen. All three have had great moments in Cardinals lore, but the player with the best case is Rolen. Rolen retired with 70.1 fWAR and defensively might have been the best third baseman of all time - well second best after Brooks Robinson. If offense is considered, he might be in the top ten - maybe just a bit outside of that. VEB Overlord Craig Edwards made the argument over at Fangraphs in January that Scott Rolen deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. According to every metric we have, he deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. But it is up to the voters and that is where it gets tricky.

So, even if Scott Rolen misses out on the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, we can find solace in the fact he will still make the Hall of Fame somewhere else important: my heart. He was my favorite player growing up (along with David Eckstein, of course) and I wanted to play just like him. I hope he makes it in the Hall of Fame some day.

Now, let’s check out some Scott Rolen highlights:

I could not find any videos of his great defensive plays as a Cardinal, but here are ones from the beginning and end of his spectacular career:

Baseball Hall of Fame ballot released | MLB.com

2018 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot released | SBNation.com

Carpenter, Rolen, Isringhausen make debuts on Hall of Fame ballot | Cardinal Beat | stltoday.com

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