Rollins takes trip down Memory Lane
Former Phillies shortstop reflects at Baseballtown Hall of Fame induction in Reading
READING >> Jimmy Rollins figured his stay in Reading would be short.
He arrived in April 1999 after a season in Single-A Clearwater, where he had been an All-Star and led all shortstops in fielding percentage.
“(I thought) I’ll go there and do well, by June or July I’m going to the big leagues,” he recalled Tuesday, shortly before being inducted into the Baseballtown Hall of Fame. “That didn’t happen.”
Rollins struggled through those early weeks in DoubleA. The competition was better than he had ever faced. The weather was colder than he had ever experienced, back home in Oakland or in the South Atlantic or Florida State leagues.
He was just 20 years old, the second-youngest position player in the Eastern League, and he had a rough time of it.
“I had to take a step back and rediscover who I was,” said Rollins, a second-round draft pick. “The level of competition
gets stiffer. You’re facing everyone’s (top) prospects. You really get to find out what you’re made of.
“It was like, ‘Which way are you gonna go? Who are you? You’ve got to find yourself.’ I was able to do that.”
Rollins showed Reading fans what he would show Phillies fans just a year later: A slick glove, a strong arm, a slick base runner and the ability to hit in the clutch.
He recalled producing three walk-off hits during a four-game series vs. Bowie that summer. Jayson Werth, a future Phillies teammate, was a top prospect in the Orioles organization and behind the plate that series.
“Man, I thought, this is the greatest player ever,” Werth told Rollins last weekend, during the Phillies alumni weekend festivities.
Rollins wasn’t the greatest Phillie ever, but he was
among the best. A threetime All-Star, a four-time Gold Glover and the 2007 National League MVP.
He was in the middle of it all in 2008 when the Phillies won the World Series and in 2009 when they returned to the Series but lost to the Yankees.
After a 14-season run in Philadelphia, which ended in a Dec. 2014 trade to the Dodgers, Rollins ended up taking more at-bats (8,628) and collecting more hits (2,306) and doubles (479) than any player in club history.
He ranks second in games played, extra-base hits, stolen bases and total bases.
In Reading he batted .273 with 11 homers and 24 stolen bases and gained the belief that he could be a big leaguer.
“Although it wasn’t a launching pad (directly) from here to the big leagues, once I had success here I knew that basically Triple-A was just one more step,” said Rollins, who spent most of 2000 with Triple-A Scranton before debuting in Philadelphia in September.
Rollins hadn’t been in Reading since 1999 but said, “I never forgot how beautiful this place was.”
He remembers his season here fondly.
“Reading, it was fun,” he said. “The environment was fun. It’s a close, intimate ballpark. There was always some event going on. We were always wearing some type of crazy jersey.
“It was really a place where you almost felt you were playing in the Little Leagues, but with higher stakes. Everybody’s (top) prospects were stacked in Double-A. And that was fun. Every night you were facing someone’s best, and when you had the walk-off hit, fireworks would go off and that was a lot of fun, too.”
Rollins felt he was close to the big leagues when he was playing in Reading and he reminded the players in the home dugout that they are, too.
“You’re not far,” he said, pointing to the Fightin’ Phils in the dugout, “not far at all. Keep pushing.”