Former Houston Astros second baseman Jeff Kent was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday by the Hall of Fame by Era committee. The Eras committee is the modern interpretation of the old Veterans Committee. They look at only candidates from a particular era every year and 2025 was the year for modern candidates. Kent got the nod over other contemporaries like Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Gary Sheffield, Don Mattingly, and Dale Murphy. Due to the nature of the eras committee, those players will not be eligible again until 2031.
Kent played for the Astros for only two seasons (2003 and 2004(, but they were impactful seasons for him and the team. He hit 22 home runs and drove in 93 runs for the 2003 squad. Yet, it was the 2004 season that was more memorable for a number of reasons. He reached 27 home runs and 107 RBI, but the most famous home run from that season was not one of the 27. It came in Game 5 of the NLCS when Kent hit a three run home run to give the Astros a 3-2 lead in the series.
The bulk of Kent’s success as a player came with the San Francisco Giants. He won the NL MVP award in 2000 when he hit 33 home runs and drove in 125 runs. He would drive in 100 or more runs eight times in his big league career as he still holds the mark for home runs hit as a second baseman. Those numbers alone would seem to make Kent an obvious choice. However, the embattled Kent sometimes had a frosty relationship with the media and teammates. That and other reasons could be behind Kent’s wait until the eras committee chose to put him in.
We at the Crawfish Boxes want to congratulate Jeff Kent for the honor. We will be taking a longer look at Kent’s Hall of Fame credentials later on in the week when we can get him in the lab. The news of his election is the only Astros related news from the first day of the Winter Meetings. We anticipate more news coming in the coming days and we will be here for it. Stay tuned.