From the horse’s mouth: Jimmy stays on the ballot

The 2022 Hall of Fame voting results were revealed this week. Only one player was elected to the Hall of Fame, and he certainly wasn’t a former Phillie. However, two former Phillies did earn enough votes to stay on the ballot another year and perhaps increase their chances in the years to come.

Phillies-related thought of the week

On his first year on the Hall of Fame ballot, Jimmy Rollins didn’t come close to passing the 75% threshold necessary for induction. But by receiving more than 5% of the votes, he will be back on the ballot next year.

Without David Ortiz, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, and Curt Schilling on next year’s ballot, there’s a good chance that Rollins will have the opportunity to gain a higher percentage. Will he eventually gain enough support to cross the 75% threshold? I’m skeptical, but who knows? Much like MVP voting, Hall of Fame voting is often more about narrative than resume. And narratives have funny ways of developing over time.

Unfortunately, there’s a feeling that another former Phillie who I’m less fond of has a good chance of getting inducted next year. I know that opinion of Scott Rolen is split amongst Phillies fans, but I’ve been firmly in camp “F*** Scott Rolen” since he forced his way out of Philadelphia and declared his new home to be “Baseball Heaven.”

Beyond his weaselly behavior, Rolen never seemed quite like a Hall of Fame player. He had a long, solid career, but does that make him a Hall of Famer? He seems like the type of player for whom the term “Hall of Very Good” was invented.

Non-Phillies thought of the week

Some 76ers fans are upset that the team seems content to let Ben Simmons sit out the entire season. They feel that the team is obligated to make a major move, so they don’t waste another year of Joel Embiid’s prime.

Here’s the sad truth: Barring improbable circumstances, regardless of whether they trade Simmons, the Sixers are very unlikely to win a championship this year.

Yes, Embiid is playing at an unworldly level, and it would indeed be a shame to waste such an impressive season. But unless James Harden or Bradley Beal suddenly become available on the trade market, the Sixers are probably going to waste this season even if they do make a trade.

Yes, they could trade Simmons now for a suboptimal return, but what does that get you? Obviously getting anything would be better than the nothing they’re currently getting from Simmons, but would a couple of role players and draft picks really turn the 2022 Sixers into contenders?

The best-case scenario is that they trade Simmons for pieces who can improve the current team, and then they could flip some of those pieces for a star at some point. But there are a lot of moving parts in that scenario, and it still probably doesn’t get the Sixers to the NBA Finals this season.

Until the Sixers can obtain a second superstar - and it doesn’t seem like one is actually available at the moment - then Embiid’s prime seasons are likely to be for naught.

Glennbo identified

Last week, I was unable to identify one of the players in a 1985 Phillies commercial, and the readers helpfully revealed him as Glenn Wilson.

Wilson was an All-Star in 1985, although taking a look back at his statistics, he probably didn’t deserve to be. His place on the team seemed to be a result of his impressive RBI totals. But based on his other midling numbers, it seems that those RBIs were largely a result of batting after Von Hayes and Mike Schmidt.

I don’t completely discount RBIs, because they show that a player must be doing something right to get all those runners home. But is funny to look back and see just how overvalued the statistic used to be.

If you want to read more about Wilson, you can check out this story from a few years ago when David Cohen tracked down this picture of Wilson doing a Rambo pastiche as “Glennbo.”

Featured baseball card

Here’s Glenn Wilson’s 1986 Topps card.

Coming off his All-Star season, Glenn decided to go with the full moustache/five-o-clock shadow look. Combined with the dark glasses, I think it kind of works for him.

Trivia

Last week’s answer: The 1985 Phillies’ 122 stolen bases ranked sixth in the National League. Chapdaddy got it right.

This week’s question: How many All-Star Games did Scott Rolen play in as a member of the Phillies?

Closing thought

Hall of Fame voting is all kinds of messed up. While he does have some plausible deniability, David Ortiz also tested positive for PEDs. So why did he get elected, while Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens - and others - did not? Is it simply because Ortiz was friendly, and Bonds and Clemens were not? What about Sammy Sosa then?

It seems that a lot of voters have inconsistent standards when casting their votes. Is there a way to fix this? Probably not.