February 17, 2023

Official National Baseball Hall of Fame News Release

The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum has announced that a St. Louis Cardinals logo will appear on the cap of the Hall of Fame plaque for 2023 Hall of Fame electee Scott Rolen.

“After reflecting on my 17-year career, and conferring with the Hall of Fame, I have decided on a Cardinals logo for my Hall of Fame plaque,” said Rolen, who was elected to the Hall of Fame on Jan. 24 by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. “I believe this decision accurately represents a pivotal portion of my career based on our teams’ successes in St. Louis. I am grateful to Philadelphia, St. Louis, Toronto and Cincinnati for the opportunities given to me as a player, but more importantly, for how they embraced me and my family. I am truly honored that my plaque will hang among the legends in Cooperstown.

Rolen will be joined in the Class of 2023 by Fred McGriff, who was elected by the Contemporary Baseball Players Era Committee on Dec. 4 and whose Hall of Fame plaque will not feature a team logo.

“Fifteen of my 19 major league seasons were split, playing half a decade with the Blue Jays, Braves and Devil Rays,” McGriff said. “At each stop, I was lucky to be a part of memorable teams and to play in front of some of the best fans in baseball. In discussing my career with the Hall of Fame, we decided that with no logo on my plaque, I can equally represent these cities and the incredible fans in Toronto, where I got my start, Atlanta, where we won the World Series, and my hometown of Tampa Bay, as well as my time in San Diego. I can’t wait to see my plaque when it’s unveiled this July in Cooperstown.”

The Hall of Fame Class of 2023 will be formally inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday, July 23 in Cooperstown, N.Y., as the centerpiece of a four-day celebration of baseball and their careers as part of Hall of Fame Weekend 2023, July 21 to July 24. The Induction Ceremony is scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m. ET and will be televised live on MLB Network.

Each Hall of Fame plaque will be revealed immediately prior to each electee’s induction speech on July 23. The Hall of Fame plaque, which serves to reflect the totality of a career, details an individual’s accomplishments in the game in approximately 90 words, while listing each team on which an individual played or managed. An artist rendering of the individual being honored tops the Hall of Fame plaque, and in many instances, a cap, where a logo may or may not be featured, is included.

Hall of Fame Weekend 2023 will also feature the Saturday, July 22 Awards Presentation, when Ford C. Frick Award winner Pat Hughes and BBWAA Career Excellence Award winner John Lowe will each be honored. The Weekend will include family programming for baseball fans of all ages, including the July 22 Parade of Legends and a July 24 Legends of the Game Roundtable discussion event with the two inductees.

More than 50 Hall of Famers are expected to return for Hall of Fame Weekend, with the full list of returnees to be announced in early July, to honor the Class of 2023 at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is an independent not-for-profit educational institution, dedicated to fostering an appreciation of the historical development of baseball and its impact on our culture by collecting, preserving, exhibiting and interpreting its collections for a global audience as well as honoring those who have made outstanding contributions to our National Pastime. Opening its doors for the first time on June 12, 1939, the Hall of Fame has stood as the definitive repository of the game’s treasures and as a symbol of the most profound individual honor bestowed on an athlete. It is every fan’s "Field of Dreams," with its stories, legends and magic shared from generation to generation.