Scott Rolen is going to Cooperstown.
The eight-time Gold Glove winner, seven-time All-Star and 1997 National League Rookie of the Year was the lone member of this year’s class to get 75% of the vote from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.
Rolen, who played for the Philadelphia Phillies, St. Louis Cardinals, Toronto Blue Jays and Cincinnati Reds, received 76% of the vote.
It has been a steady climb for Rolen — a 2006 World Series champion with the Cardinals — after he only received 10% of votes in his first year on the ballot. Since then, he received 17%, 35%, 53% and 63% of votes before being selected in his sixth year on the ballot.
Welcome to Cooperstown, Scott Rolen! https://t.co/k7LAJV961a pic.twitter.com/9OiDUw0gFG
— National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum ⚾ (@baseballhall) January 24, 2023
Former New York Met Carlos Beltrán was not as lucky. He received 47% of the vote in his first year of eligibility.
Beltrán finished his career with 435 home runs, 2,725 hits and 1,587 RBIs while playing elite defense in center field — he won three consecutive gold gloves from 2006 to 2008. He also was a menace on the basepaths, stealing 312 bases over his 20-year career. His 86.45% stolen-base percentage is the best in MLB history among players who stole at least 200 bases.
However, it was not about the numbers for Beltrán. His character is in question after he was the only player named in the report documenting the Houston Astros’ cheating scandal, which potentially denied him the honor of becoming a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
Former Met Billy Wagner also missed out on the Hall of Fame — but only by a few percentage points.
The legendary closer is considered by many to be one of the best relievers of all-time, with numbers close to New York Yankee icon Mariano Rivera in some categories. If his voting trends continue — he received 68% of votes this year after getting 51% of votes the year before — he will likely be heading to Cooperstown next year.
The same goes for Todd Helton, who fell 11 votes short of election after making a jump of over 20% from 2022.
Helton, a first-baseman who played all 17 seasons of his career for the Colorado Rockies, retired in 2013 with a .316 batting average and 369 home runs. The five-time All-Star, four-time Silver Slugger, three-time Gold Glove winner and 2000 batting champion played in the steroid era, but was never directly linked to PEDs.
Helton’s case could have been hurt by his playoff numbers. In just two trips to the postseason, Helton hit .211 with no home runs in 57 at-bats.
Andruw Jones (58%), Gary Sheffield (55%), Jeff Kent (47%), Alex Rodriguez (36%) and Manny Ramirez (33%) also fell short of Cooperstown. Kent, a second baseman who played for six MLB teams, including the Mets, was denied entry in his final ballot appearance, meaning he will have his case heard in 2025 by the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee for class of 2026 consideration.
Rolen will join Fred McGriff — who was elected by the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee last month — in this year’s class. They will both be honored at the July 23 induction ceremony at the Clark Sports Center in Cooperstown.
Last year, former Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz was the only player to receive more than 75% of the writers’ vote for induction. Ortiz was named on 307 of the 394 ballots cast (77.9%) in his first year of eligibility.
