2 recruiting class in the country the year before, netting four top-100 prospects in Shandon Anderson, Terrell Bell, Pertha Robinson and McDonald’s All-American Carlos Strong. Georgia head coach Hugh Durham had signed the No. “He was right to do it,” said Slonaker, who will be headed to Cooperstown for Rolen’s Hall of Fame induction this weekend.īut just how good was Rolen at basketball? “I just said, ‘Scotty, of course you do.'” “He called me and said, ‘Coach Schultheis, I don’t want you to be disappointed, but you know the Phillies drafted me and they’ve made this offer financially to me and I just feel like I’ve got to take it,'” Schultheis recalled. ![]() That’s not much compared to the signing bonuses today (the 46th pick in the 2023 draft, Wake Forest lefty Sean Sullivan received a $1.7 million signing bonus from the Rockies), but at the time, it was big money and enough to persuade Rolen to choose baseball. “I just know that every time you come up here, we get a pay raise.”Įventually, in late July, Rolen agreed to sign with the Phillies for a signing bonus of $250,000. “No,” Slonaker remembered Ed Rolen telling him, that wasn’t exactly what he meant. Slonaker told him he enjoyed coming up and spending time with the family. The Bulldogs kept recruiting him nonetheless, with Slonaker either flying into Louisville and driving to visit Jasper or just driving all the way from Athens.Īs Slonaker remembers it, at some point Rolen’s father told him he appreciated him continuing to come up to Jasper. ![]() Rolen won Rookie of the Year in 1997, his first full season. It’s hard to imagine Rolen’s basketball fate possibly turning out better than his baseball career did. It was a good choice, of course, as Rolen will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame this weekend after a 17-year career, seven of those spent with the Phillies. In June, the Phillies took Rolen with the fifth pick of the second round, the 46th pick in the 1993 draft. Since Rolen had signed, the Bulldogs were able to continue to visit Rolen leading up to the baseball draft and even after it. Webber could see right away just how good Rolen was on the diamond.Įven after Rolen signed his letter of intent, Durham leaned on Slonaker, his top assistant, to make sure Rolen made it to Georgia. The basketball staff would allow him to play baseball, an opportunity that helped the Bulldogs in recruiting, something that Rolen’s dream school, Kentucky, didn’t offer when he was given a preferred walk-on role with Rick Pitino’s Wildcats.Īs soon as Webber saw Rolen play, though, Slonaker remembered the veteran baseball coach telling the basketball staff that he didn’t expect to ever see Rolen on Georgia’s campus. The Bulldog baseball team had won the national championship in 1990 and coach Steve Webber was excited about the news that Rolen could wind up on his team without even having to recruit him. The best baseball player in Indiana could be akin to the best basketball player in Montana.īesides, it wasn’t like Georgia was asking Rolen to give up baseball entirely. ![]() Most of the baseball talent in the United States came from warmer-weather states, like Texas, California, Georgia and Florida. ![]() Slonaker had been told that in addition to his basketball skills, Rolen was the top baseball player in Indiana, but he didn’t know exactly what that meant. Frick Award.Still, the MLB draft was coming up that June, and Rolen told the basketball coach that the Phillies had been showing a lot of interest in him leading up to the draft.Īt the time, Slonaker realized he might still have more recruiting to do to actually get Rolen on campus, even if he’d already edged out Eddie Sutton’s Cowboys and a late charge by Jim Harrick’s UCLA team for Rolen’s signature. Former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Carl Erskine received the Buck O’Neil Lifetime Achievement Award, longtime Detroit Tigers beat writer John Lowe won the BBWAA’s Career Excellence Award, and Cubs radio broadcaster Pat Hughes was the recipient of the Ford C. Three others were honored during Hall of Fame weekend. The players on the writers’ ballot who fell short of induction this year included Todd Helton (72.2%), Billy Wagner (68.1%), Andruw Jones (58.1%), Gary Sheffield (55%), Carlos Beltrán (46.5%), Jeff Kent (46.5%), Alex Rodriguez (35.7%), Manny Ramirez (33.2%), Omar Vizquel (19.5%), Andy Pettitte (17%), Bobby Abreu (15.4%), Jimmy Rollins (12.9%), Mark Buehrle (10.8%), Francisco Rodriguez (10.8%) and Torii Hunter (6.9%). He played for six teams, was a five-time All-Star and helped the Atlanta Braves win the 1995 World Series. 284 with 493 homers and 1,550 RBIs in 2,460 games over 19 seasons. McGriff, who was affectionately nicknamed “Crime Dog” by ESPN’s Chris Berman, batted.
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