The Baseball Hall of Fame has a mission statement. It means "to preserve the sport's history, honor excellence within the game, and make a connection between the generations of people who enjoy baseball."
To prosecute this mission, the HOF functions as three discrete entities: a museum, a research library, and the actual Hall of Fame with officially enshrined plaques of players and contributors. Those who feel like baseball is an important part of our national story should be actively supportive of the museum and the research library. I'm not so sure about the plaques.
None of this should be taken as dismissive or disrespectful of the latest Hall of Famer, Scott Rolen, who was, for 17 seasons, an above-average to near-great third baseman for the Philadelphia Phillies, St. Louis Cardinals, Toronto Blue Jays and Cincinnati Reds.
Rolen won eight Gold Gloves, which means that he was perceived as a defensive standout. He was often cited as one of the best-fielding third basemen ever; his only clear superior at the position is the immortal Brooks Robinson, who would have made the HOF if he'd never hit above .250.
While defensive statistics are of limited utility in determining a player's value, in this case Baseball Reference's advanced field metrics support the eyeball assessment of Rolen. According to their numbers, of all third basemen, only Robinson and Adrian Beltre were more valuable on defense.
Rolen's offensive numbers, while not gaudy, are on par with a lot of third basemen already in the Hall, especially if you make corrections for the eras in which they played. The case against Rolen is that by modern post-steroid standards, his traditional offensive stats aren't that impressive: a .281 lifetime batting average, 316 home runs and 1,287 RBI.
But among third basemen, Rolen ranks in the top 15 of all time in home runs, RBI and slugging percentage.
The only case against Rolen is that he was just a very good player, not an all-time great. He never won a Most Valuable Player Award. He was hurt a lot, especially after he turned 30, which means he missed games and his "counting stats" like home runs and RBI were thereby depressed.
He had 2,077 career hits, pretty low for a Hall of Famer (there hasn't been a position player elected with that low a total since Johnny Bench in 1989). Rolen never led the league in any offensive category.
Rolen's advocates lean heavily on some advanced statistics, especially what is called WAR (wins above replacement). They point out that Rolen's WAR in his prime was higher than any player except Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez, both of whom have been linked to performance-enhancing drugs.
Compared to the other 18 third basemen in the HOF, he ranks ninth in career WAR, ahead of Frank "Home Run" Baker (who collected all of 96 dingers during his dead ball era career) and just behind Ron Santo (who was, shamefully, a posthumous election to the Hall).
While it's notoriously difficult to compare players across eras, it's pretty clear Rolen isn't the worst third baseman in the Hall; I'm pretty sure he was better than Fred Lindstrom, Arkansas' George Kell, Baker and probably (though it hurts to say so) Tony Perez. He was almost as good as Ron Santo.
The real question is not whether Rolen belongs in the HOF as it is presently constituted, but whether the HOF is what it's supposed to be. The answer obviously depends on what you think it's supposed to be.
If you think only unimpeachable and obvious Mount Olympus types like Willie Mays, Babe Ruth, Nolan Ryan, Mickey Mantle and Ted Williams should be enshrined, fine. Rolen obviously doesn't belong. Put him in the Hall of Remarkably Consistent Productive Assets.
But that "small hall" is notional; a thought experiment. That's not the sort of HOF we have, and if you're looking for a culprit to blame, you can go back to the Veterans Committee dominated by Frankie Frisch and Bill Terry in the early '70s, when they started putting their buddies (like Lindstrom) in the HOF on the grounds that baseball in the '30s was just the best.
Philosophically, I don't mind a "large hall" that has room for the likes of Eppa Rixey, Pepper Martin, "Sunny" Jim Bottomley and Ross Youngs. But if you're going to have those players, you should for sure include guys like Rolen. And Dale Murphy, Don Mattingly, Mark Grace, Dick Allen. And Curt Flood.
And the greatest left-handed hitter since Ted Williams, Barry Bonds. And maybe the greatest right-handed pitcher ever, Roger Clemens. And the scuzziest, fake rah-rah, record-chaser ever, Pete Rose.
I know why some of you don't want Bonds and Clemens in the HOF. They used PEDs. They cheated. But they played in an era when cheating was not only tolerated, but suborned by the baseball powers that be. Bud Selig, who presided over the so-called steroids era, is in the HOF.
Other players who used PEDs are in the HOF. We're only punishing the guys who got caught, and the guys who we suspect benefited from PEDs. A friend, a Yankees fan who doesn't think clearly about these matters, points out there's evidence that David Ortiz used PEDs.
Some of the baseball writers--who shouldn't be voting on who gets in the HOF--are guessing who used and who didn't, and some of them are not above trying to use their vote to get back at players who were mean to them. Because that's what we writers tend to do when somebody gives us a little Cartman-esque authoritah--we wield that sucker, baby. We're on it like Hammerin' Hank on a hanging curve.
Another word for what baseball writers--and various Veterans Committees--have done to the HOF is "politized" it. Which is probably inevitable when people start handing each other plaques and statues, and why I never care about whether Lou Whitaker or Warren Zevon or Tommy Nobis is in the HOF of their respective enterprise or not.
Doing a job well ought to be its own reward. It's nice if they notice, but if they don't that doesn't make you any less a contributor. All you can do is put your head down and work.
Congratulations, Scott Rolen.
Philip Martin is a columnist and critic for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Email him at [email protected].