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Note: Updated for Scott Rolen’s 2023 Hall of Fame selection.
In 2012, longtime Chicago Cubs star (and later broadcaster) Ron Santo was finally elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the newly formed Golden Era Committee after never coming close during his 15 years on the regular writers’ ballot, a long overdue recognition for a third baseman who was equally adept with both the bat and the glove. Fast forward a decade or so, and another all-around great third baseman in Scott Rolen faced a similar uphill climb since first becoming eligible in 2018, finally earning his induction in 2023. A closer look at their respective careers shows some striking similarities between the accomplishments of Santo and Rolen, thus prompting an interesting question and comparison:
Who was better – Scott Rolen or Ron Santo?
The Beginning
Separated by more than 30 years, Rolen and Santo were both star baseball players growing up and made their major league debuts at a relatively early age with immediate success at the game’s highest level.
A native of Indiana, Rolen was a multi-sport star in high school, excelling in baseball, basketball, and tennis; in fact, he originally committed to play college basketball at the University of Georgia, but was also drafted in the second round of the 1993 MLB Draft by the Philadelphia Phillies and opted to pursue a professional baseball career instead. After getting a late-season call-up to the big leagues in 1996, he became the Phillies’ full-time starting third baseman in 1997 and responded by hitting .283 with 21 home runs, 92 runs batted in, 93 runs scored, a .377 on-base percentage, and a .469 slugging percentage (121 OPS+, which measures on-base percentage plus slugging vs. a league-wide average set at 100) to win NL Rookie of the Year honors.
Meanwhile, Santo was born and raised in Seattle, Washington and following a decorated amateur baseball career, was signed as a free agent at age 19 by the Cubs in 1959. The next year, he made his major league debut at 20 and went on to place fourth for Rookie of the Year by hitting .251 with 9 home runs, 44 runs batted in, 44 runs scored, a .311 on-base percentage, and a .409 slugging percentage (97 OPS+) in 95 games played.
Career Comparison
In their primes and when healthy, Rolen and Santo were stellar all-around third basemen, equally likely to hit 30 home runs and drive in 100 runs or win a Gold Glove for defense at the hot corner; however, while the latter essentially spent his entire career with one team, the former made his mark in a couple of different places.
Building on his Rookie of the Year campaign, Rolen was expected to be a cornerstone player for the Phillies – in 1998, he hit .290 with 31 home runs, 110 runs batted in, a career-high 120 runs scored, a .391 on-base percentage, and a .532 slugging percentage (139 OPS+) while also earning the first of eight Gold Gloves. Despite various injuries over the next couple of years, he still managed to reel off eight straight 20+ home run seasons. Notably, he posted another strong all-around season with both the bat and the glove in 2001: .289 batting average with 25 home runs, 107 runs batted in, 96 runs batted in, a .378 on-base percentage, and a .498 slugging percentage, good for a 128 OPS+ plus another Gold Glove. However, friction with Philadelphia management led to Rolen demanding a trade and midway through the 2002 season, he was dealt with Doug Nickle to the St. Louis Cardinals for Placido Polanco, Mike Timlin, and Bud Smith; across the Phillies and Cardinals, he earned his first All-Star selection, another Gold Glove, and his only Silver Slugger by hitting a combined .266 with 31 home runs, 110 runs batted in, 89 runs batted in, a .357 on-base percentage, and a .503 slugging percentage (129 OPS+).
Joining a loaded Cardinals lineup that also included Albert Pujols and Jim Edmonds, Rolen was entering his prime and would post five straight All-Star seasons (including 2002). In particular, he had his two most productive years in St. Louis in 2003 and 2004:
- 2003: .286 batting average with 28 home runs, 104 runs batted in, 98 runs scored, a .382 on-base percentage, and a .528 slugging percentage (138 OPS+); won another Gold Glove
- 2004: arguably the best offensive season of his career with a .314 batting average, 34 home runs, 124 runs batted in, 109 runs scored, a .409 on-base percentage, and a .598 slugging percentage (158 OPS+); in addition to setting career-highs almost across the board, he won yet another Gold Glove and finished fourth for NL MVP (Pujols, he, and Edmonds finished 3-4-5 in MVP voting that year)
Coming off a career year, Rolen was limited to just 56 games played and a .235 batting average in 2005 due to a shoulder injury, but quickly bounced back in 2006 by hitting .296 with 22 home runs, 95 runs batted in, 94 runs scored, a .369 on-base percentage, and a .518 slugging percentage, good for a 126 OPS+ and another Gold Glove. After suffering through another injury-plagued year in 2007, though, he was traded once again, this time to the Toronto Blue Jays for fellow third baseman Troy Glaus.
Plagued by injury woes at this point in his career, Rolen struggled through his only full season in Toronto before being sent midway through the 2009 season back to the NL Central to the Cincinnati Reds for Edwin Encarnacion, Josh Roenicke, and Zach Stewart. He did have a bit of a renaissance in 2010, hitting .285 with 20 home runs (including his 300th career home run), 83 runs batted in, 66 runs scored, a .358 on-base percentage, and a .497 slugging percentage (126 OPS+) to make it back to the All-Star Game and win a final Gold Glove. Unfortunately, the injury issues persisted and he would play two more seasons with the Reds before taking his last MLB at-bat in 2012 at age 37; overall, Rolen’s eight Gold Gloves rank third-most all-time at the hot corner behind only Brooks Robinson (16), Mike Schmidt (10), and Nolan Arenado (10).
During the 1960s, Santo was one of the best third basemen in baseball, both with his bat and with his glove. Following up on his promising rookie campaign, he averaged roughly 20 home runs and 80 runs batted in over the next couple of years, though did see his batting average drop to just .227 in 1962. Nevertheless, starting in 1963, he would emerge as a true star, hitting .297 with 25 home runs, 99 runs batted in, 79 runs scored, a .339 on-base percentage, and a .481 slugging percentage, good for a 128 OPS+, the first of four straight All-Star selections (and 9x overall), and an eighth-place MVP showing. The next season, he not only batted a career-best .313 with a league-best and career-best 13 triples, 30 home runs, 114 runs batted in, 94 runs scored, a league-leading .398 on-base percentage (buoyed by a league-high 86 walks, the first of 4x leading the league in that category), and a career-best .564 slugging percentage to again finish eighth for MVP, but also won the first of five consecutive Gold Gloves at the hot corner.
Entering his prime, Santo would rack up eight straight seasons of at least 25 home runs and 90 runs batted in, including another 30-100 season in 1965 (33 home runs and 101 runs batted in). In 1965, he paced the league with a career-best .412 on-base percentage (aided by the by the first of three years leading the league in walks), adding 30 home runs, 94 runs batted in, and 93 runs scored. Interesting, he would break his streak of All-Star appearances in 1967 despite having his best MVP finish (fourth) that year: .300 batting average with 31 home runs, 98 runs batted in, a career-high 107 runs scored, a .395 on-base percentage, and a .512 slugging percentage (161 OPS+). After a somewhat down year in 1968, he bounced back with another top-five MVP showing in 1969 on the strength of a .289 batting average, 29 home runs, a career-best 123 runs batted in, 97 runs scored, a .384 on-base percentage, and a .485 slugging percentage (131 OPS+).
As the 1970s rolled around, Santo remained a highly productive player, but no longer quite the superstar of decades past. He did drive in 100 runs for the final time in 1970 (albeit with a .267 batting average), and made three straight All-Star Games from 1971 to 1973, but was more of a .270-type hitter with around 20 home runs and 80 runs batted in annually. Of particular note, at the end of the 1973 season, he became the first player to invoke the ten-and-five trade veto rule from the newest collective bargaining agreement, nixing a trade to the California Angels due to his desire to remain with Chicago. Instead, Santo was traded to the crosstown White Sox, where he had the worst season of his career (.221 batting average) in primarily a designated hitter role before retiring at age 34 at the end of the season.
All in all, Rolen played more MLB seasons, but Santo actually appeared in more games and garnered more at-bats due to his much better durability. Nevertheless, their numbers are relatively evenly matched – the former scored more career runs and had better career ratios (batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage), while the latter accumulated more hits, home runs, runs batted in, and walks for a better career OPS+. By season, Santo hit .300+ and 30+ home runs more frequently (4x vs. 2x and 4x vs. 3x, respectively), but Rolen drove in and scored 100+ runs on more occasions (5 to 4 and 2 to 1, respectively), resulting in more All-Star selections for the former (9 to 7) vs. more Gold Gloves (8x to 5x) with a Silver Slugger for the latter. When you wrap this all up into one advanced metric, their career Wins Above Replacement (WAR) are nearly identical: 70.5 for Santo to 70.1 for Rolen. Perhaps as a result, their Hall of Fame paths have been similarly arduous – as alluded to earlier, Santo was not selected during his 15 years on the writers’ ballot nor by the Veterans Committee, finally getting in via the Golden Era Committee in 2012; Rolen saw his support gradually increase before eking over the 75% threshold in 2023.
Regular Season Statistics
| Scott Rolen | Player | Ron Santo |
| 17 (1996-2012) | Seasons | 15 (1960-1974) |
| 2,038 | Games Played | 2,243 |
| 7,398 | At-Bats | 8,143 |
| 2,077 | Hits | 2,254 |
| 1,211 | Runs | 1,138 |
| 316 | Home Runs | 342 |
| 1,287 | Runs Batted In | 1,331 |
| 899 | Walks | 1,108 |
| 118 | Stolen Bases | 35 |
| .281 | Batting Average | .277 |
| .364 | On-Base Percentage | .362 |
| .490 | Slugging Percentage | .464 |
| 122 | OPS+ | 125 |
| 70.1 | Wins Above Replacement | 70.5 |
| 7x | All-Star Games | 9x |
| – | MVP | – |
| 1x | World Series Titles | – |
| 8x Gold Glove, 1x Silver Slugger, ROY | Other Awards | 5x Gold Glove |
| 2023 | Hall of Fame Induction | 2012 |
Source: Baseball-Reference.com
As similar as their regular season careers were, the playoffs is where things diverged significantly – Rolen played in multiple World Series matchups during his time in St. Louis, whereas Santo never got a whiff of the postseason during his career.
Rolen experienced his greatest playoff success as a member of the Cardinals during his prime (3x playoffs, plus 2x later in his career with the Reds), culminating in a pair of World Series appearances and one championship:
- 2004: swept by the Pedro Martinez, Manny Ramirez, and David Ortiz-led Boston Red Sox; sandwiched between a .310 batting average with 3 home runs and 6 runs batted in during a seven-game NLCS win over the Houston Astros, Rolen went hitless in both the NLDS and the World Series (though did walk 6x in the NLDS vs. the Los Angeles Dodgers)
- 2006: beat the Detroit Tigers in six games in the World Series; this time, after struggling in the NLDS (.091 batting average vs. the San Diego Padres), Rolen improved in a seven-game NLCS win over the New York Mets (.238) before breaking out and hitting .421 in the World Series (8 hits in 19 at-bats, including a home run)
On the other hand, in spending his entire career in Chicago (and mostly during the pre-expansion era when the AL and NL pennant winners met directly in the World Series), like his longtime Cubs teammate Ernie Banks, Santo never played in a postseason game; perhaps the closest he came was in 1969, when Chicago led the NL East for most of the season before having a dreadful final month and falling behind the eventual World Series champion New York Mets.
Playoff Statistics
| Scott Rolen | Player | Ron Santo |
| 39 | Games Played | – |
| 141 | At-Bats | – |
| 31 | Hits | – |
| 18 | Runs | – |
| 5 | Home Runs | – |
| 12 | Runs Batted In | – |
| 15 | Walks | – |
| – | Stolen Bases | – |
| .220 | Batting Average | – |
| .302 | On-Base Percentage | – |
| .376 | Slugging Percentage | – |
Source: Baseball-Reference.com
Every athlete goes through a natural career lifecycle, from starting off as a rookie to reaching peak years of performance and finally, declining into the inevitable retirement due to a combination of age and/or injury; both productive MLB players almost straight away, Rolen was slowed significantly by various injuries in his 30s, while Santo similarly saw a decline in his production in the 1970s. For Hall of Fame caliber players across sports, I like to look at a concept I call a “decade of dominance.” The thinking behind this is that for most Hall of Fame type careers, there are roughly 10 great seasons that define an athlete (this idea is embodied in a sense by the NFL’s All-Decade teams), though due to injury or other factors, they might not be 10 consecutive years.
Decade of Dominance
| Scott Rolen | Player | Ron Santo |
| 1997-2004, 2006, 2009 | Decade of Dominance | 1963-1972 |
| 1,428 | Games Played | 1,566 |
| 5,255 | At-Bats | 5,703 |
| 1,520 | Hits | 1,640 |
| 937 | Runs | 872 |
| 255 | Home Runs | 268 |
| 975 | Runs Batted In | 1,003 |
| 688 | Walks | 839 |
| 103 | Stolen Bases | 28 |
| .289 | Batting Average | .288 |
| .377 | On-Base Percentage | .377 |
| .517 | Slugging Percentage | .490 |
| 57.4 | Wins Above Replacement | 66.1 |
Source: Baseball-Reference.com
As you might expect, the two third basemen have very similar profiles across their decades of dominance offensively and defensively – overall though, Santo was a slightly more productive player across his 10 best seasons, as evidenced by a nearly 10 WAR gap.
My Thoughts
In terms of the top third basemen in MLB history, Scott Rolen and Ron Santo are two of the best two-way players (bat and glove) ever to man the hot corner; overall, I would rank both of them around the top 10-15 range. Their careers were remarkably similar in terms of both offensive numbers and defensive prowess, as evidenced by the <0.5 career WAR differential, but I would give the slight edge to Santo – he was more durable, more consistently excellent (basically a lock for 25 home runs and 100 runs batted in for a decade in his prime), and in summary, I think just a little bit better of an overall player relative to his peers. Nevertheless, defensively, I favor Rolen’s elite skills with the glove; in fact, outside of the aforementioned Brooks Robinson, Mike Schmidt, and Nolan Arenado, I rank Rolen in the top five all-time from a purely defensive perspective. At the end of the day, both players had uphill climbs, but are ultimately, in my view, deserving Hall of Famers.
Thus, after weighing their careers against each other in terms of statistics, achievements, and impact, the winner of this faceoff is:
Ron Santo
As always, vote for your choice and leave your thoughts and comments below.
Further Reading
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