This story was excerpted from John Denton’s Cardinals Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

Even now with his place in baseball immortality secured, Scott Rolen admittedly struggles with imposter syndrome. Painfully mild-mannered and downright skittish around the spotlight, Rolen is uncomfortable being mentioned among baseball’s all-time greats -- even though he authored the kind of career that puts him alongside that exclusive company.

On Sunday, he will take his rightful place in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

“I appreciate the votes. Somebody thought I was worthy of it, and I certainly appreciate that,” said Rolen, who will join Chipper Jones as the only third basemen to reach the Hall on the writer’s vote since Wade Boggs in 2005. (Ron Santo entered in 2012 via the Veterans Committee.) “For me to sit here and say ‘Yeah, me and Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron.’ That’s not a real situation. These guys are true legends, and I get a chance to share that gallery with them. I’m greatly honored.”

As he was throughout a career that saw him win the 1997 NL Rookie of the Year Award and eight Gold Gloves while notching seven All-Star nominations, Rolen is mostly dismissive of his place among the game’s greats. However, his peers and those who covered him through the years acknowledged his completeness as a player by giving him 76.3 percent of the Hall vote in his sixth appearance on the ballot.

While he is quick to downplay his accomplishments, he is fully convicted about the moment that proved to be the biggest turning point of his career. After spending parts of his first seven seasons with the Phillies, Rolen was dealt to the Cardinals in July 2002, and the move proved to be as beneficial to St. Louis as it was for the 6-foot-4, 245-pound third baseman with the soft hands and the icy glare.

Though his admitted stubbornness caused him to butt heads at times with old-school manager Tony La Russa, Rolen’s career fully blossomed in the shadow of The Gateway Arch, and he finally maxed out the potential first thought for him when he was the unanimous NL Rookie of the Year in 1997. He won four of his eight Gold Gloves while wearing the birds on the bat across his chest, and he reached two World Series, winning it all in 2006 when he a magnificent .421 in the Fall Classic. Those accomplishments helped Rolen decide that his Hall of Fame bust would be adorned with a Cardinals hat.

“Me being able to be inducted, I think, is a reflection of my time in St. Louis,” said Rolen, who hit .314 with 34 home runs and 124 RBIs in 2004 when he finished fourth in MVP voting. “My career, through the team and through the success, became a little more notable with the two World Series, winning one and [going to another in ‘04]. Playing on that national stage and the team success, I don’t think there’s any doubt that’s the part of my career that really speaks the loudest.”

Something that also spoke loudly to Rolen came in 2019 when he was in St. Louis to be inducted into the Cardinals Hall of Fame and then-Rockies star third baseman Nolan Arenado asked to meet the future Hall of Famer. It proved to be a boon for Rolen because his son, Finn, was dying to meet Arenado. The Cardinals' 10-time Gold Glove-winning third baseman still remembers being awestruck by Rolen’s size while also imagining how quick and elite of a defender he was.

“He was a special player on both sides of the ball, and he was a tough guy who played through a lot of injuries, so it was so cool to meet him,” said Arenado. “This honor is well-deserved because he definitely earned it.”

Maybe, just maybe, the more Rolen hears that from fellow Hall of Famers this weekend, the more he will realize he is right where he belongs among the game’s greats.