Former Blue Jays fan-favourite, Scott Rolen, turns 50 today.
Scott’s had a terrific 17-season MLB career. He hit .281/.364/.490 with 316 home runs, 19 of which he hit in his season and a half with the Blue Jays. He was Rookie of the Year in 1997, has played in 7 All-Star games, and has 8 Gold Gloves.
With us, his defensive play was one of the best parts of watching the team. We weren’t a great team, but we had some outstanding players. He was also pretty good at the plate, particularly in his second year with the team.
But the best thing he did was when he asked the Jays to trade him. We traded Rolen to the Reds for Zach Stewart, Josh Roenicke and, a throw-in, Edwin Encarnacion.
Stewart didn’t turn out to be what we hoped. We traded him to the White Sox, along with Jason Frasor, for Edwin Jackson and Mark Teahen. Jackson was flipped, along with three other guys, for Colby Rasmus, Trever Miller, Brian Tallet, and P.J. Walters. Since then, Stewart has been in the Red Sox and Braves organizations. He spent two years in the Korean baseball league. Stewart was pretty good there, going 20-10 in 46 starts. He returned to North America in 2017 and was back in the Jays system in 2018 but was out of baseball after that.
Roenicke pitched in 29 Blue Jays games over the 2010 and 2011 seasons, and then he was lost off waivers to the Twins. After that, he bounced around. He had a good 2013 season with the Rockies, with a 3.25 ERA in 63 games. In 2013, he pitched another 63 games as a Twin, but not with the same success. He hasn’t been in the majors since.
Encarnacion….well, you know.
On his sixth try, Rolen was finally voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2023. He went from 10.2% of the vote to 76.3% in six years.
As a fan, I feel nostalgic for the days when Rolen graced the field. His presence alone made any game worth watching. Scott, we miss you and wish you a very happy birthday.