Scott Rolen Marquee Hall of Fame 2023

He was the National League Rookie of the Year for Philadelphia in 1997, and he played 2,023 games at third base over seventeen seasons. Only Brooks Robinson, Mike Schmidt and Nolan Arenado have taken more Gold Gloves at the position. He hit 316 home runs, drove in 1,287 and collected 2,077 hits.

He fell out with the Phillies and was traded to St. Louis in the middle of the 2002 season. His best year followed there in 2004: 34 home runs, 124 runs batted in and 109 runs, with the Cardinals winning the pennant. They won the World Series two years later. A shoulder that kept coming apart held him to 56 games in 2005 and 65 in 2011.

The writers gave him 43 of 422 votes his first time on the ballot, 10.2 percent, a figure that usually ends the matter. It did not. He gained ground on every ballot after that and in 2023 was elected with 297 votes against the 292 he needed, 76.3 percent, five to spare.