With all the hubbub of the Trade Deadline post-All-Star break, you’d expect me to be chomping at the bit at the swirling rumors, but alas, my background is in baseball history, after all. Yesterday, Sunday, July 23, Scott Rolen and Fred McGriff were officially inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Both guys who had their cult followings, Rolen and McGriff have long been waiting for their Cooperstown plaques. Now that they have them, what do they teach us?
To me, the Hall of Fame is more than just where the heart of baseball history beats. It’s the nexus of what baseball is all about and how we, as fans, are meant to enjoy, interpret, and learn from the game, because as history generally goes, it teaches us way more about the present than we realize. That’s why I’ve been able to leverage my baseball history knowledge into original weekly content on baseball’s current happenings for over a year (oh, yeah, a happy anniversary to BwM 2.0). But enough about me, let’s talk Hall. The credentials for Hall of Fame legitimacy are built on precedence. Over time, the Hall of Fame has put up figurative barriers to ensure that baseball history lends itself to the present in the right way. Rolen and McGriff present interesting cases that enhance or add onto this precedence because they aren’t obvious Hall of Famers. But if you think about it, neither was Babe Ruth when the first Hall of Fame class was unveiled in 1936. So who knows anything, really?
Anyway, let’s start with Rolen, the BBWAA-elect whose slick-fielding glove and consistent play got him into Cooperstown. The eight Gold Gloves are what makes Rolen’s induction cool. Modern baseball has seen a shift in the importance of fielding on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball in the forms of infield shifts and advanced defensive metrics, respectively. There’s a constant great debate among baseball fans as to how to judge great fielders. I’m not one for the eye-test, but eight Gold Glove sure does say fielding aficionado to me. There are a few Hall of Famers that are in the Hall for their gloves (usually HoFers are inducted on the basis of one of their crowning attributes), but Rolen’s induction makes fielding an emphasized aspect of a player’s valued skillset. Here that, Keith Hernandez fans?
Fred McGriff, meanwhile, was the Veteran’s Committee pick that got screwed out of a plaque in upstate New York because of his relationship with the media, even though his numbers should’ve welcomed election a decade ago. McGriff, might end up being one of the last great all-around sluggers to make the Hall of Fame because of a change in approach of modern home run hitters. Crime Dog's combination of 493 home runs and a .284 batting average shouldn’t be taken for granted, especially when you see the small pocket of dinger-bringers that can bat above .270 for even a single season. McGriff’s OPS+ of 134 is well-above my general threshold of 125 for Hall of Famers (Rolen’s was 122 for his career, I should mention) and he’s 34th on the all-time intentional walks list with 171, right ahead of Frank Thomas. If we’re keeping intimidating hitters out of the Hall for being intimidating to writers, then something’s wrong.
I also think it’s worth mentioning that both Rolen and McGriff played and contributed positively for a lot of teams. I think there’s always been a bias for players that bounce around a lot, even though there shouldn’t be. To me, it’s what keeps a lot of players out of the Hall, most specifically closers. But when you think about it, playing for a lot of teams doesn’t take away from a player’s longevity, consistency, or legacy, the three pillars I use to judge prospective Hall of Famers. If anything, it just adds to their story.
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