Hoosier about to enter Baseball Hall of Fame recalls unique bond with Carmel boy
CARMEL, Ind. (WISH) — Former professional baseball player and Evansville, Indiana, native Scott Rolen has met a lot of people throughout his life.
But, it was a young kid, Tyler C. Frenzel from Carmel, who seemed to form a special bond with the soon-to-be member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
“Tyler didn’t care that he was this famous ballplayer,” said Pam Frenzel, Tyler’s mom. “He loved the relationship. ‘This is my buddy, my friend.’”
Fate brought Rolen and Tyler together after the boy received the worst news one could get: He had leukemia.
Tyler, an avid sports fan, was a student at Woodbrook Elementary at the time. His gym teacher at the school was involved with Indiana Bulls Baseball. Therefore, that teacher had a connection with Rolen, who was an alum of the original 1992 Indiana Bulls team. So, the teacher reached out Rolen to connect him with Tyler.
Soon thereafter, Rolen invited Tyler out to a Cardinals game in St. Louis to boost Tyler’s spirits.
“I absolutely thought, ‘This is great,’” Pam said. “‘This is a great one-day thing. We’ll never see this person again.’”
While there, Tyler went onto the field, checked out the locker room and met some players.
After growing up in Jasper, Indiana, and moving to higher-level baseball, Rolen said, “I was in a very impressionable time, my mid-20s, late-20s, and he really opened my awareness to a lot of things outside of just the baseball game.”
Their relationship did not end after that one day.
Pam said, “Just all through his (Tyler’s) treatment, he (Rolen) was there, checking in on him.”
That’s exactly what Rolen did, whether it was inviting Tyler to baseball games or just stopping by Tyler’s house. Pam said, “Here was this baseball player who was willing to enter into this little boy’s suffering.”
The duo hit it off and became very close until Tyler died at age 9 in December 2004.
That news was tough for Rolen.
“Having an opportunity to take some of the platform and things that I have and really dig a little deeper with individual families that are in some distressed situations,” Rolen said. “And he opened my eyes to that and the Frenzels did.”
It opened his eyes so much that Rolen honored Tyler by naming a treehouse after him at his foundation’s outdoor recreational retreat, Camp Emma Lou, near Bloomington, Ind.
The E5 Foundation is a nonprofit that Rolen created “to bring smiles to the faces of children and their families who are dealing with an illness, hardship, or other special needs.”
“Tyler’s Treehouse” reminds every child who plays on the treehouse who gave it to them.
“Tyler lives on when people know the story,” Pam said. “And he touched so many lives. And he obviously touched theirs.”
Tyler touched the Rolen’s lives so much that Scott and his wife named their daughter Raine Tyler Rolen.
Now, as Rolen, 48, embarks on his next big journey of induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday afternoon in Cooperstown, New York, he knows Tyler will be there with him.
“He’s a big part of our life,” Rolen said. “He’ll be there emotionally with me for sure and our family.”
Pam will be in Cooperstown to watch the ceremony as her friend Rolen joins the exclusive club.
“I’ll have Tyler with me while I watch his friend get this amazing lifetime achievement award,” Pam said.
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