Baseball Awaits July 23 Induction Of McGriff, Rolen to Baseball Hall of Fame

Courtesy of the Baseball Hall of Fame

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. – Fred McGriff and Scoll Rolen earned the unrelenting respect of their peers for their talent and dedication over a combined 36 big league seasons that featured a combined 12 All-Star Game selections, 809 home runs and two World Series rings.
 
The baseball world will pause to celebrate all that and more during Hall of Fame Induction Weekend, July 21-24 in Cooperstown, when McGriff and Rolen are enshrined as the Class of 2023.
 
More than 50 Hall of Famers are scheduled to be in Cooperstown to honor McGriff and Rolen at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. The Induction Ceremony will be held July 23, at 1:30 p.m. ET on the grounds of the Clark Sports Center – one mile south of the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.
 
McGriff was elected by the Contemporary Baseball Players Era Committee in December, and a month later Rolen earned election via the annual Baseball Writers’ Association of America vote.
 
McGriff played 19 seasons with the Blue Jays, Padres, Braves, Devil Rays, Cubs and Dodgers, earning five All-Star Game selections. McGriff is one of only four players to lead both the American League and National League in home runs, joining Buck Freeman, Sam Crawford and Mark McGwire. A key member of the 1995 World Champion Braves, McGriff batted cleanup for Atlanta in every game he played that year while playing in a league-high 144 games.

The author of 10 30-homer seasons, McGriff was the first player in history to record a 30-homer season for five different franchises (Blue Jays, Padres, Braves, Devil Rays and Cubs). He finished in the Top 10 of his league’s Most Valuable Player Award voting in six straight seasons (1989-94) and garnered MVP votes in eight consecutive years (1988-95).

McGriff totaled eight seasons with at least 100 RBI and batted .303 with 10 home runs in 50 career postseason games across 10 seasons. He was named Most Valuable Player of 1994 All-Star Game after his pinch-hit, two-run, bottom-of-the-ninth home run sent the game to extra innings, where the National League eventually won.
 
Rolen played 17 seasons for the Phillies, Cardinals, Blue Jays and Reds, earning eight Gold Glove Awards at third base. A unanimous choice as the 1997 National League Rookie of the Year, Rolen debuted with the Phillies in 1996 but fell one at-bat short of exhausting his Rookie of the Year eligibility when he was hit by a pitch in September, ending his season.

He won his first Gold Glove Award in 1998 and a Silver Slugger Award in 2002, a year in which he was traded to the Cardinals. With St. Louis, he was named to the NL All-Star team in each of his first four seasons, finishing fourth in the NL Most Valuable Player Award voting in 2004 while helping the Cardinals win the NL pennant.

In 2006, Rolen helped the Cardinals to another NL pennant before hitting .421 with five runs scored in the World Series as St. Louis captured the title. Finishing his career with stints with Toronto and Cincinnati, Rolen compiled an .855 OPS, 316 home runs, 118 stolen bases and 517 doubles over 17 seasons. A seven-time All-Star Game selection,

Rolen ranks 12th all-time with 2,023 games played at third base. He is one of only four third basemen in history (players who appeared in at least 50 percent of their games at third base) with at least 300 home runs, 100 stolen bases and 500 doubles, along with Adrián Beltré, George Brett and Chipper Jones.
 
The Induction Ceremony will be shown live on MLB Network, which has televised the event every year since its launch in 2009. The Induction Ceremony will also be shown via webcast at MLB.com.
 
The Hall of Fame Awards Presentation will be held as a private event at 3 p.m. on July 22 and simulcast live at Doubleday Field. It will feature the honoring of 2023 Buck O’Neil Lifetime Achievement Award winner Carl Erskine, the presentation of the Ford C. Frick Award to Cubs voice Pat Hughes and the presentation of the BBWAA Career Excellence Award for writers to John Lowe. The simulcast of the Awards Presentation is free and open to the public.
 
Also on Saturday, July 22, at 6 p.m., the Hall of Fame Parade of Legends returns to provide fans with more thrills. Hall of Famers will ride down Main Street en route to a private reception at the Museum.