Rollins, 38, isn’t the retiring type
Jimmy Rollins is the man baseball doesn’t want around.
He represents old school. The veteran who had his glory and is supposed to be gone, with only his memories lingering.
But in today’s era in which veterans are in their mid-20s, clubhouse conversation consists of Twitter characters and PlayStation has replaced card games, the man they call J-Roll refuses to go home.
Rollins, 38, who has an MVP trophy and a World Series ring at home, along with four Gold Gloves and three All-Star Game appearances during his 16-year career, can be found these days in the San Francisco Giants camp, fighting for a job.
He’s on the field at 8 a.m., taking ground balls and practicing flips at second base with Giants coach Ron Wotus.
It’s 1 in the afternoon, and Rollins is at first base, working on his jumps with Giants baserunning coach Vince Coleman, the only man to steal 100 or more bases in three consecutive seasons.
An hour later, Rollins is sitting at a clubhouse table with Willie Mays, getting razzed by the Hall of Famer while soaking in Mays’ advice on keeping his legs strong.
“This is heaven right here,” Rollins says. “There’s so much history here. I get the Willie treatment, and a chance to chop it up with him. They’ve even got coaches here that I used to play against.
“They see me, and they’re like, ‘You’re still around. That’s crazy.’ ”
Rollins is older than five MLB general managers and within three years of age of nearly half of them. But he hopes to make an impact for at least one more season.
“My goal is to make this team,” Rollins says. “If that fails and somebody wants me and it’s the right fit, yeah, I’ll go somewhere else. But I’ll be honest with you: I don’t have a Plan B.”
This isn’t about money. Rollins has earned nearly $100 million in his career and will earn $1 million if he makes the team. It’s not about fame. He’s the Philadelphia Phillies’ all-time hits leader. And the only shortstops with more career total bases than Rollins are Cal Ripken Jr., Derek Jeter, Robin Yount and Honus Wagner — three Hall of Famers and a future one.
It’s a matter of love for the game, and giving back, thinking he can still make a difference.
“The game’s completely changed,” Rollins says. “When I came up, there were veterans everywhere. Teams wanted them in their clubhouse. But now, with this sabermetric and numbers part of the game, it’s about computers. You plug in numbers, and it spits out a player. It’s like you’re not wanted.”
Rollins might be a fallen stock, but the Giants, whose clubhouse culture has been vital in their three World Series titles since 2010, see value. They wanted Rollins a year ago, but when the Chicago White Sox offered him a chance to be their starting shortstop until Tim Anderson was ready, he jumped on it.
It looked like a shrewd decision when the White Sox went 23-10, only to go into a free fall in May, releasing Rollins a month later.
“We had no direction,” Rollins says. “It’s the first time I’ve ever been on a team with no direction. It was like if we win, we keep everybody. We lose, we’re dumping everybody.”
The Giants reached out to Rollins after his release, but they wanted to send him to Class AAA, with no guarantee of a callup, so Rollins passed. The phone didn’t ring all summer except for a call from TBS, which hired him as a postseason analyst. Those long hours in the studio simply fueled his passion, and he let every team know he wasn’t retired.
When the Giants expressed interest again in November, he wasted little time accepting, reminding everyone in the Cactus League that he’s not ready to let go of this game quite yet.
“I love watching players like that,” Texas Rangers manager Jeff Banister says. “These guys have a love for the game more than anything, the love of competing, being in the action, the 60-feet-6-inch battle, which is unlike anything in sports.”
Rollins is re-creating himself as a utility infielder despite playing only a handful of games at third base as a freshman in high school and five innings of second base in his junior year at the Area Code Games.
The competition for a job is stiff, too, with Aaron Hill, Gordon Beckham and Kelby Tomlinson in the mix. Yet the Giants have a tradition of not only accepting veterans but also embracing them.
“It’s become more and more a young man’s game,” Giants general manager Bobby Evans says, “but you lose something in the clubhouse when you don’t have the veterans. There’s a lot of value to have young players exposed to veterans like him. And to his credit, he still has such a passion for the game.”
Rollins grew up across the Bay in Oakland as an Athletics fan, but now he hopes to call San Francisco home, giving him a chance to earn a ring for that other hand, while reminding everyone that a little gray hair can still look good inside a clubhouse.
“I may be old,” Rollins says, “but I know I can still play. I really believe that. I’m not ready for this jersey to come off my back yet.”