JEFF KENT
HOW DOES THAT AFFECT THE CANDIDACIES OF UTLEY AND PEDROIA?
THE INSULAR WORLD OF BILLY-BALL
I was talking with the legendary Bob Ryan this morning, and I told him how I felt like an idiot when I saw this headline for a newsletter: “Y! Sports AM: Did the committee get it right?” and I immediately opened it to read about the Hall of Fame selection from yesterday afternoon.
I was aghast when I saw the article was about the 12-team College Football Playoff bracket. I wasn’t shocked by the article's topic; I was embarrassed to think I'd totally misread what it would be about. I figured if anyone would understand, it would be you folks. So consider this my mea culpa.
Well, since you’re here, let’s talk a bit about Jeff Kent.
There seemed to be a general sense of disappointment in the reactions that I have heard thus far that this esteemed committee chose neither Don Mattingly nor Dale Murphy. I guess it feels worse because that’s who so many of us wanted to see in the Hall of Fame.
Candidates needed 12 votes, and Kent received 14. Carlos Delgado got the second-most votes with nine, followed by Don Mattingly and Dale Murphy with six. Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Gary Sheffield, and Fernando Valenzuela all got fewer than five, which means they’ll be ineligible for the next Contemporary Era ballot in 2028.
This committee consisted of seven Hall of Famers (Fergie Jenkins, Jim Kaat, Juan Marichal, Tony Pérez, Ozzie Smith, Alan Trammell, and Robin Yount), two owners (Mark Attanasio of the Brewers and Arte Moreno of the Angels, who I think is a strange choice), four former general managers (Doug Melvin, Kim Ng, Tony Reagins, and Terry Ryan) and the media was represented by Steve Hirdt, Tyler Kepner, and Jayson Stark.
A five-time All-Star second baseman, Kent hit .290 with 377 homers and 1,518 RBIs over 17 seasons with Toronto (1992), the New York Mets (1992-96), Cleveland (1996), San Francisco (1997-2002), Houston (2003-04), and the Los Angeles Dodgers (2005-08). Kent did not make an All-Star team or get an MVP vote until he turned 30, in his first season with the Giants.
Two things stand out to me about Kent: First, his 351 home runs are the most of any second baseman. Secondly, he and Barry Bonds did not seem to get along. Both of these players could have been regarded as “prickly.” Bonds was frequently regarded without the suffix that turned the noun into an adjective.
On June 25, 2002, the 2000 NL MVP (Kent) and the 2001 NL MVP (Bonds) engaged in a screaming and shoving match in the dugout. Kent, at the time, said it was no big deal and that the two of them had engaged in several physical altercations.
Gwen Knapp in the San Francisco Chronicle on June 27 wrote that as reporters entered the clubhouse, Bonds ignored the reporters and Kent mooned them.
Here’s an excerpt from the article.
That December, Kent signed with the Astros as a free agent.
The fact that Kent is now in the Hall and Bonds is out, at least until 2031, gives us the final tally on their rivalry.
Kent was a vocal opponent of steroids. He spoke out against steroids at the height of the scandal, while too many other players (and media members) were quiet. When Kent retired, John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote about how vocal Kent had been, noting that in 2005 commissioner Bud Selig included a Kent quote in his letter to union chief Don Fehr, requesting harsher penalties.
Senator George Mitchell used a Kent line in the intro of his report.
“Major League Baseball and the union created a drug policy that’s on the right path. Baseball has brought the game to a better level playing field than it ever was,” Kent said. “Whether I personally had anything to do with that . . . I wanted to put this game in a better place, and I hope younger players just don’t give up and say, ‘We’re in a good spot’ and not make more progress. The integrity of the game always needs to be in question.” - Jeff Kent
Ronald Blum, of the Associated Press, wrote this morning that more than 17 years after his final game, Jeff Kent couldn’t control his emotions when he heard the news yesterday. “I hugged my wife after the phone call had come in,” Kent said, his voice cracking, “and I told her that a lot of the game had come rushing back to me at that moment. Similar to my retirement speech, my farewell speech that I did in LA reminds me of the ‘no crying in baseball.’ Well, I was bawling when I left the game because all that emotion just overcomes you.”
Okay, you now know the two reasons why Jeff Kent was elected yesterday: home runs and speaking out against steroids. But Joe Posnanski, in two words, summed up what so many of us are thinking (besides thinking how great Joe is). The two words were: “So what?”
The home run stat is really meaningless. I mean, seriously, do you really go after a second baseman because he hits a lot of homers? Joe reminds his readers that second on the all-time second baseman home run list is Robinson Cano. He adds, “I just find this whole argument so shallow, and yet it has carried the day.”
