Former Blue Jays Fred McGriff, Scott Rolen enter Baseball Hall of Fame

The greatest moment of Scott Rolen's 17-year career didn't come during his 2006 World Series run with the St. Louis Cardinals or even during his outstanding first full season in 1997 with the Philadelphia Phillies, which earned him unanimous National League Rookie of the Year honours.

For Rolen, one of two players inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday, that honour was reserved for an unexpected moment with his parents after he was called up for his first major league game in 1996.

"Seeing Mom and Dad walk to their seats from my position at third base was a feeling never topped again in my 17 years," Rolen said during his 16-minute acceptance speech.

Rolen signed with the Toronto Blue Jays in January 2008 from the Cardinals, with Troy Glaus going the other way.

He had a .262 batting average, 11 home runs and 50 RBIs over 115 games with Toronto before being traded to the Cincinnati Reds in July 2009.

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Rolen was the only player to receive more than the 75 from the Baseball Writers' Association of America in January. A year earlier, he got 63.2% of the vote.

"I'm grateful for this grand gesture," Rolen said. "At no point in my lifetime did it ever occur to me that I would be standing on this stage."

Rolen, a multi-sport high school star from Indiana, received a Division I offer to play basketball before the Phillies selected him straight out of Jasper High School in the second round of the 1993 amateur draft.

The third baseman spent six of his 17 seasons with the Cardinals, where he earned four of his seven All-Star