Slick-fielding third baseman Scott Rolen was elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame on Tuesday with five votes to spare above the 75% needed.
The seven-time All-Star and eight-time Gold Glove winner earned induction in his sixth appearance on the ballot, picked on 297 of 389 ballots cast by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America for 76.3%. A player needed 292 votes for election.
He became the 18th third baseman elected to the Hall, the fewest of any position. Rolen will join Fred McGriff, elected last month by the contemporary baseball era committee, as the inductees at Cooperstown on July 23.
“You don't think about this. You think about doing the best you can,” Rolen said. “I never thought the Hall of Fame was going to be the answer.”
Rolen had a .281 batting average with 316 homers and 1,287 RBIs for Philadelphia (1996-2002), St. Louis (2002-07), Toronto (2008-09) and Cincinnati (2009-12). He was a unanimous pick as the 1997 NL Rookie of the Year and hit .421 as the Cardinals won the 2006 World Series.
Rolen’s five-vote margin tied for the 12th-smallest among players elected by the writers and his 76.3% of the vote was the 10th lowest. Rolen increased from 63.2% last year and 10.2% in his first ballot appearance in 2018.
That became the lowest first-ballot percentage of a player later elected. The previous mark had been Duke Snider’s 17% in 1970. Snider was voted in with 86.5% in 1980.
First baseman Todd Helton was second with 281 votes (72.2%) and reliever Billy Wagner third with 265 (68.1%). Helton moved up from 52% and can have five more appearances on the ballot, while Wagner rose from 51% and has two additional chances.
Several others also saw large increases: Andruw Jones moved from 41.1% to 58.1%, Gary Sheffield from 40.6% to 55% in his next-to-last possible appearance and Jeff Kent from 32.7% to 46.5% in his final year. Kent can be considered by the contemporary baseball era committee in future years.
Players tainted by drug suspensions again lagged. Alex Rodriguez was at 35.7%, up from 34.3%, and Manny Ramirez at 33.2%, up from 28.9%.
Eight blank ballots were submitted by writers, who are eligible to vote after 10 consecutive years of membership in the BBWAA.
Among 14 players appearing on the ballot for the first time, just two reached the 5% threshold required to remain under consideration next year. Carlos Beltrán received 181 votes (46.5%), his total likely impacted by his role in the Houston Astros cheating scandal en route to the 2017 World Series title.
Relief pitcher Francisco Rodríguez received 42 votes (10.8%).
Next year’s first-time eligibles include Adrián Beltré, Joe Mauer, David Wright, José Bautista and Matt Holliday.
Wine manufacturer Yellow Tail can’t buy a national ad during the Super Bowl ー but that won't stop the company from getting its “Tastes like Happy” campaign out to the public in spectacular fashion. To skirt the category exclusivity hold that Anheuser-Busch InBev ($BUD) has on the Big Game, Yellow Tail bought 81 local ads ー which cover about 90 percent of the nation.
Millions of people around the world are getting ready for the Super Bowl on Sunday. And while the day is all fun and games, there's still a serious discussion happening about player safety. Now, two leading sports brands have teamed up to design new, state-of-the-art equipment using 3D printing. Joe DeSimone, co-founder and CEO of Carbon, stopped by Cheddar with more on how technology is making football more safe, head to toe.
Luke Wilson is taking a short break from Hollywood. A commercial break. The "Rushmore" and "Old School" actor is starring in his first Super Bowl commercial, and he says the 30-second Colgate spot will probably get more views than any of his movies. "I think more people will see this than any movie I've ever been in for sure," Wilson told Cheddar on Friday.
Draftkings CEO Jason Robins told Cheddar that New Jersey residents alone could wager as much as $100 million on the Super Bowl, the first time sports betting will be legal there for the big game.
Although it has 3 million customers, home security company SimpliSafe isn’t a household name yet. It’s hoping that will change on Sunday after its first Super Bowl ad airs.“In a market where people are trying to lock you in a contract or harvest your data, we’re trying to keep you safe,” brand creative director Wade Devers told Cheddar. “There aren’t really a lot of places you can reach the number of people you can reach like the Super Bowl.”
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Friday, Feb. 1, 2019.
On Super Bowl Sunday, the Hallmark Channel will be home to the sixth annual Kitten Bowl, the annual matchup of cat-letes held to benefit the North Shore Animal League. Beth Stern, host of the Kitten Bowl and spokesperson for North Shore (and wife to Howard), brought a pair of 12-week Siamese kittens to Cheddar Thursday to help promote a new event this year: the first-ever Cat Bowl.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know for Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2019.
Super Bowl Sunday is the ー well ー Super Bowl of building brand awareness, particularly for food and beverage companies. This year, Pepsi and Frito-Lay, both units of PepsiCO ($PEP), are once again among the snack giants planning to use the 100 million-plus members of the expected television audience to launch new products and elevate brands in their respective portfolios. Frito-Lay CMO Jen Saenz spoke to Cheddar Tuesday alongside Greg Lyons, the CMO for Pepsi, which is known for its Super Bowl ads and social media engagement tied to the Big Game.
Apple is planning a subscription service that would function like Netflix for games, according to people familiar with the matter. The iPhone maker has also discussed partnering with developers as a publisher, which could signal ambitions to assume distribution and marketing costs for games.
