Helton, Rolen have best shot at Hall
Scott Rolen could become just the 18th third baseman elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame, the fewest of any position.
“It stems from an original prejudice that third base is not important defensively,” John Thorn, Major League Baseball’s official historian, said Monday. “I think Brooks Robinson changed that perception. So that just as relief pitchers for the longest time were regarded as failed starters rather than as a new position in the changing game, third basemen were regarded as washouts.”
A seven-time All-Star who retired after the 2012 season, Rolen is among the top contenders on the 28-player ballot considered by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America in a vote announced tonight. He received just 10.2% in his first ballot appearance in 2018 and climbed to 52.9% in 2021 and 63.2% last year, when he fell 47 votes shy of the needed 75%.
The leading vote-getters are first baseman Todd Helton at 79.8%, Rolen at 79.2% and reliever Billy Wagner at 73.2%, according to Ryan Thibodaux’s Hall of Fame Ballot Tracker, which included 183 public plus anonymous ballots as of Monday afternoon among an estimated total of 396.
When David Ortiz was elected last year, his final figure of 79.8% was down from 83.1% of public ballots ahead of the announcement. Barry Bonds declined from 76.8% of public ballots before the announcement to 66% and Roger Clemens from 75.4% to 65.2%, so it is possible no one will be elected by the BBWAA for the second time in three years. This could become the first three-year span with only one player voted in by the writers since annual voting started in 1966.
Anyone voted in would be inducted at Cooperstown on July 23 along with Fred McGriff, elected last month by the contemporary baseball era committee.
GEORGIA TRANSFER ARRESTED
A wide receiver who recently transferred to national champion Georgia from Mississippi State was arrested Monday on felony and misdemeanor charges.
Rodarius “Rara” Thomas was booked at 4 a.m. on a felony charge of false imprisonment and a misdemeanor count of family violence battery, according to Clarke County jail records. He spent more than eight hours in jail before he was released on $1,850 bond shortly after noon.
Jail records showed the 20-year-old Thomas was arrested by University of Georgia police. No other details were immediately available, and it was not known if Thomas had an attorney who could speak for him.
PURDUE NO. 1 AGAIN
Purdue is back at No. 1 in the AP Top 25 men’s basketball poll. Alabama is right behind the Boilermakers.
Purdue returned to the top spot Monday, moving up two spots after
Temple knocked off No. 1 Houston over the weekend. The Boilermakers received 39 first-place votes from a 62-person media panel after a volatile week in which just two teams kept the same spot from a week ago.
Alabama climbed two spots to No. 2, picking up 23 first-place votes for its highest ranking since it reached No. 1 in 2002-03. Houston, Tennessee and Kansas State round out the top five.
Purdue (19-1, 8-1 Big Ten) had dropped to No. 3 after four weeks at No. 1 following a loss to Rutgers on Jan. 3, but has since won six straight.
NO STARS IN TEXAS
For the first time in the 47-year history of The Associated Press women’s basketball poll, no team from Texas is in the Top 25.
The Texas Longhorns fell out of Monday’s poll, ending a 835week run that had at least one team from the Lone Star state in the rankings. From Wayland Baptist, Stephen F. Austin and Baylor appearing in the first poll in 1976 to Texas’ No. 25 ranking last week, there has always been at least one team from the state in the poll until now.
“Texas is the oil state and also has certainly been rich in women’s basketball as well,” said Mel Greenberg, who started the poll in the 1976-77 season while with the Philadelphia Inquirer. “When I started, the state had some of the best teams with Wayland and Stephen F. Austin. Then Jody (Conradt) at Texas and eventually Kim (Mulkey) at Baylor continued the tradition.”
Middle Tennessee entered the rankings for the first time in nine years at No. 23. The Blue Raiders (16-2) have won 14 consecutive games, including a victory over Louisville, which is the fourth-longest winning streak in the country behind the last three unbeaten teams.
That group is topped by No. 1 South Carolina (20-0), which has 26 consecutive victories dating to its run to the NCAA championship last season. The Gamecocks, who were again a unanimous choice from the 28-member national media panel, have been ranked atop the poll for 31 consecutive weeks — the fourth-longest streak ever. Only UConn (51 and 34 weeks) and Louisiana Tech (36) have had longer runs at No. 1.