Scott Rolen is heading to Cooperstown, having narrowly been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on Tuesday night.
The sixth time on the ballot was the charm, with the former third baseman receiving 76.3 percent of the votes by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.
When Rolen received the news, he was with his parents, who shared an emotional celebration with the former eight-time Gold Glove winner and seven-time All-Star. They greeted him with big hugs and his dad seemed particularly taken aback by the news.
“What’s going on? I cannot believe it,” he said between tears. “Oh my lord.”
Rolen, 47, is the 18th third basemen in history to be inducted, after Chipper Jones in 2018. He spent 17 seasons in MLB between the Phillies, Cardinals, Blue Jays and Reds between 1996 and 2012.
Todd Helton (72.2 percent) and Billy Wagner (68.1 percent) were the closest to joining Rolen, who got the nod by just five votes.
Fred McGriff, who was voted in last month by the Contemporary Era Committee, will join Rolen in being inducted on July 23.
Rolen, who was the National League Rookie of the Year with the Phillies in 1997 and won a World Series with the Cardinals in 2006, didn’t specify which cap will be displayed on his Hall of Fame plaque. He was also moved by his induction.
“There was never a point in my life I thought I was going to be a Hall of Fame baseball player,” Rolen said on Tuesday.
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