Fred McGriff played for six franchises, so many that his new Hall of Fame plaque has no logo on the cap. Scott Rolen represents the St. Louis Cardinals, but he played for four teams in total.
“Derek, Chipper,” Rolen said from the podium at the Clark Sports Center on Sunday, “I’ll have to explain that to you later.”
Many of the greats behind Rolen — including Derek Jeter, the former Yankees captain, and Chipper Jones, a mainstay of the Atlanta Braves — never switched teams. Those players inspire the fiercest fan loyalty and have a kind of magnetic pull that compels people to follow the rolling, rambling roads to the baseball sanctuary at Otsego Lake.
In that context, it came as no surprise that this summer’s gathering was more intimate than usual. Neither McGriff nor Rolen spent more than five full seasons in one place, and their ceremony attracted about 10,000 fans. Last year’s class, headlined by longtime Boston slugger David Ortiz, drew some 35,000.
But while McGriff and Rolen were well traveled, they were also well respected. Consistent production—in Canada and California, the Midwest, the Deep South, and the East Coast—brought demand and brought them to Cooperstown.
“My goal was just to make it to the major leagues,” said McGriff, a ninth-round draft pick who tied Lou Gehrig’s 493 home runs, “and I exceeded every expectation I could ever imagine—and then some.”
McGriff was released from the varsity baseball team as a sophomore at Jefferson High in Tampa, Fla. He hit .148 in his first pro summer, in 1981, and the Yankees traded him to Toronto as part of a package for Dale Murray, a veteran middle reliever, in December 1982.
Of all the manic moves in George Steinbrenner’s reckless 1980s, the McGriff deal hurt the Yankees the most. None of the other exiled star-turned prospects — like Jay Buhner, Doug Drabek, Willie McGee, and Jose Rijo — made it to Cooperstown.
“That little short porch in right field, that would probably have been a nice thing for me,” McGriff said, referring to Yankee Stadium’s inviting conditions for left-handed hitters. But he did fine at first base with Toronto, San Diego, Atlanta, Tampa Bay, the Chicago Cubs and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
McGriff’s speech cited several Hall of Famers who helped him along that tortuous path. He tried to hit like George Brett, the Kansas City batting champion. Renowned executives Pat Gillick and John Schuerholz traded for him. Jones, as a rookie phenom in 1995, helped McGriff win a title with the Braves. Wade Boggs, a Tampa Bay teammate and batting savant, encouraged him to look like a fastball on every field.
“I did,” McGriff said, “and it worked.”
Rolen, a third baseman, took a different approach to his speech. In the six months since his election, he said, he’s thanked some of his biggest influences in baseball by sending personal letters. On Sunday, he focused almost entirely on his family.
“It was a simple childhood with simple expectations and lessons,” says Rolen, who grew up in Jasper, Ind., about 50 miles north of the Kentucky border. “Family first; we are loved; and always take the high road.”
He paused.
“And then I was called up — and so began 20 years of hypertension and acid reflux that I wouldn’t trade for anything.”
The Phillies took Rolen in the second round in June 1993, but he committed to play baseball and basketball at the University of Georgia. Before giving up on turning pro, Rolen made the roster for an Indiana/Kentucky All-Star basketball game at Market Square Arena in Indianapolis. Feeling unprepared, he called his father, Ed, for advice.
“Well, Dad,” said Rolen, “I can’t handle the ball, I can’t shoot, I’m not in basketball shape at all, and everyone in the whole gym – including the coach – is better than me.”
“OK,” Ed Rolen replied, and Scott was confused.
Ed Rolen echoed Scott’s words, listing all the reasons to be concerned. Then Ed asked what can you do? Scott suspected he could rebound, defend, scramble for loose balls and outsmart the other players. Ed said that sounded good.
“And then here comes the wise words: ‘Well, do that then,'” Rolen said, pausing again as the crowd cheered. “It turned out that ‘Well, do that then’ got me into the minor leagues and gave me a simple mindset: that I would never allow myself to be unprepared or overworked. ‘Well, then do that’ puts me on this podium today.
Once he mastered his father’s mantra, Rolen said, he never played to prove people wrong. Instead, he just played to give his best every day and live with the results of that process.
In the end, he earned eight gold gloves, hit 316 home runs, and won a championship in 2006 with the Cardinals, his first stop after the Phillies and ahead of the Blue Jays and Cincinnati Reds.
Now McGriff and Rolen have finally joined their forever team, the best of them all. They are members of the Hall of Fame.