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Scott Rolen Deserves Cheers When He Goes Onto The Wall of Fame

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Author and Dylan MacKinnon
COOPERSTOWN, NEW YORK - JULY 23: Scott Rolen poses for a photograph with his plaque during the Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony at Clark Sports Center on July 23, 2023 in Cooperstown, New York.

This weekend, newly minted Hall of Famer will be honored by the Phillies. During Alumni Weekend, he will be one of 3 Phillies to go onto the Phillies Wall of Fame, alongside former GM John Quinn, and former Owner Ruly Carpenter. Usually during a ceremony like this, it wouldn’t be a question that the honoree would get a huge ovation. But this is Scott Rolen, and even though it has been 20 years since he forced his way out of Philly, there are still bad feelings there for the fans.

Compounding those issues is the fact he won’t be here on Saturday when he gets honored. They will still have all the alumni out at the park, and his name will still be put on the Wall. But fans will have to wait until September 22nd to see Rolen in person. It will remind fans of the time Phillies had Scott Rolen Night, and he didn’t play. Another source of the longstanding bad feelings.

In his defense, he apparently has a good reason. The word is that this is the weekend his daughter is heading to college for the first time. And no offense to the Phillies, or the fans, but that seems far more important than any type of event at a game. But many fans won’t ever learn that is the reason. So when they put Scott Rolen’s name up there among the other Phillies greats, a lot of the crowd of 40,000 fans will only see that he is not there, and not have the context as to why.

But even without knowing, Scott Rolen deserves an ovation. Yea, things here ended poorly. But that was not all on him. For years the Phillies had a Hall of Fame talent in Rolen, yet didn’t win crap. And all Rolen wanted was to win. And when it became clear that was not happening yet, he asked out. Could he have handled it better? Sure. But can you blame a guy for wanting to go somewhere he could win?

Rolen hit 150 HRs in 6.5 seasons here. That goes with a slash line of .282/.373/.504/.877, 559 RBIs, and 533 hits. He also won Rookie of The Year, and 4 gold gloves with the Phillies. Rolen was a hell of a player for us. He gave the Phillies his best, even if they did not always give him their best. Why not leave the past in the past, and just give a guy who was a great ballplayer the ovation he deserves? Phillies fans earned a lot of goodwill for what they did for Trea Turner recently. Let’s keep spreading that love.

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Why Trea Turner Is Thanking Philadelphia With Billboards

Trea Turner is thanking Philadelphia in a big way. New billboards have popped up in the Philadelphia area that features a photo of shortstop Trea Turner with the text “Thank you, Philly.”

This gesture is not small, nor is it meaningless. The billboard seen above popped up on a digital billboard at the base of the Walt Whitman Bridge, just a short distance from Citizens Bank Park.

Trea Turner, in case you didn’t know, plays shortstop for the Philadelphia Phillies. On December 8, 2022, Turner signed an 11-year contract worth $300 million with the Phillies. Prior to that, Turner played for the Washington Nationals and the Los Angeles Dodgers. His notable achievements from his time with those teams include Rookie of the Year Runner-Up, World Series Champion, and NL Stolen Bases Leader.

When Turner was signed to the Phillies, fans had hope that he was the secret sauce that would get us to the World Series again (and possibly win this time). After all, Trea had proven himself invaluable to the MLB and any team he found himself on.

At the beginning of the season, Trea represented the USA in the 2023 World Baseball Classic. He hit a game-winning grand slam during a quarterfinal game against Venezuela.

But, when the regular season began, Trea didn’t seem himself. And this wasn’t just a few off-games. No. We, as a city, had to make a decision on how we would treat Trea, who was obviously struggling each and every game.

Here’s why Trea Turner is thanking Philadelphia:

  • A Rough Season

    Turner is currently batting.238/.291/.377 with 11 homers and 39 RBI in 109 games. It’s the lowest batting average of his career since 2015 when he was first called up by the Washington Nationals for 27 games. Not only that, but he has been struggling defensively as well. As you can see in the video above, that ball should have been in Trea’s glove. Instead, he missed it entirely. And that was not the first time something like that happened this season.

  • Fans Get Frustrated

    When you sign a guy on a multi-million-dollar, multi-year contract, you want him to do well. You want him to win games. Unfortunately, Trea was not doing that. Trea has had an absolute nightmare of a season, and it was getting hard to sympathize.

  • Trea's Sad Post-Game Interview

    This is just, straight-up, a hard watch. You don’t ever want to see a person at their lowest like this. Phillies fans saw this and immediately felt that they needed to send some good energy to Trea. Him taking accountability in the way he did was admirable, but also so very sad. After this game, Trea even got moved down in the batting lineup. It was not looking good.

  • The Standing O

    Fans really felt for the guy. They stood as Trea stepped up to bat in the bottom of the 2nd inning, cheering riotously for him. The Phillies went on to lose the game, but it was a win for Turner’s morale (and ours, too).

  • The Good Vibes Worked

    It may have been because of fans sending good vibes. It may have been because Trea Turner was mad at himself and determined to do something about it. Whatever it was, it made magic. In game 2 against the Kansas City Royals Trea hit an absolute moonshot to deep left field, answering the call. The three-run home run helped push them over the edge for the win.

  • Thank You, Philly

    Trea Turner has had a really rough start in Philly. Instead of jeering and turning our backs on the struggling shortstop, we attempted to lift him up. In many ways, it worked. Trea went on to approve messaging that would pop up on billboards in the Philadelphia area, thanking fans for their support.

  • The Takeaway

    Philadelphia is known as a largely negative sports city. It seems we’ve turned over a new leaf, though. Maybe it’s because our teams are pretty good right now. Maybe it’s something in the water. Whatever it is, it’s great that we’ve learned that positivity wins over anything else. Giving Trea a standing ovation was no small gesture. It gave him the drive to perform for us. He saw what we did for him and how it affected his game in a positive way. There’s something to learn here about the power of positivity. If we extend grace to our fellow Philadelphians, things work out in our favor. Something to think about.

 

 

Tyrone Johnson is the host of “The Best Show Ever” on 97.5 The Fanatic. He has been with the station for the past 8 years. Before working at the Fanatic, Tyrone produced political radio, did financial reports, and was assistant chief engineer of another radio station. As a content creator for 97.5 The Fanatic, Tyrone writes articles on the Sixers, Eagles, Phillies, and Flyers.

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