The former Giants second baseman and 2000 National League MVP was elected to the Cooperstown shrine Sunday night, a fascinating development considering he was on a stacked ballot with seven other elite players including one of his old teammates, Barry Bonds.
When Kent and Bonds first became a formidable 1-2 punch in the Giants’ lineup, few could have predicted Kent entering the Hall of Fame before Bonds. Yet, on July 26, it’ll be Kent who’s inducted after he received 14 of 16 votes in Sunday night’s Contemporary Baseball Era Committee election.
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Kent is the all-time homers leader (377) among players whose primary position was second base, and he did his best work in San Francisco, averaging 29 homers and 115 RBIs while hitting .297 over six seasons. He joined the Giants in 1997, arriving from Cleveland in Brian Sabean’s then-maligned Matt Williams trade, which turned out splendidly.
In 2000, the Giants’ first season at their China Basin ballpark, Kent edged Bonds for the MVP award after hitting .334 with 33 homers and 125 RBIs – a 7.2 WAR season.
Meantime, Bonds continues to be locked out of the Hall after receiving fewer than five votes Sunday. That seven of the voters are Hall of Famers speaks volumes about how the Hall feels about Bonds and his connection with performance-enhancing drugs.
Thanks to a new rule implemented by the Hall this year, stipulating that any candidate receiving fewer than five votes would be excluded from the next Contemporary Baseball Era Committee ballot in 2028, Bonds won’t get his next opportunity until 2031. He’ll be 67.
If Bonds is shunned again in 2031, based on that same new rule, which includes two-strikes-and-you’re-out language, the Hall would ban him from future elections.
Bonds isn’t alone. Roger Clemens, Gary Sheffield, and Fernando Valenzuela also received fewer than five votes, so they’ll also be ineligible in 2028. Carlos Delgado received nine votes, and Don Mattingly and Dale Murphy each received six.
Candidates needed at least 12 votes to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Bonds and Kent were one of the most productive tandems in franchise history, though there was friction between the teammates, one time even a fight in the Giants’ dugout in San Diego that was captured on video. In retrospect, their fierce competitiveness and drive, not to mention their distaste for one another, probably drove each to greater heights.
While Bonds’ Cooperstown road has been detoured because of his part in the BALCO scandal, Kent was one of the first players to push for a league-wide testing policy and repeatedly challenged MLB and the players’ union to crack down on PED users.
One knock on Kent is his defense, but he was a steady fielder with a strong arm who hung in tough on double plays.
Both Bonds and Kent fell off the Baseball Writers’ Association of America ballot after their 10-year windows, Kent receiving 46.5% in his last year of eligibility and Bonds receiving 66%.