SCOTTSDALE, Arizona \u2014 Jeff Kent typically doesn\u2019t take calls from unknown numbers. On this occasion, he made an exception.<\/p>\n
Some time after being elected<\/a> into the National Baseball Hall of Fame<\/a>, Kent found himself on his phone when he got a call from a number he didn\u2019t recognize. Kent hadn\u2019t talked to a robo-caller in a while, so he decided he\u2019d take the call just for fun.<\/p>\n \u201cHello?\u201d Jeff asked.<\/p>\n \u201cJeff,\u201d the voice responded. \u201cJeff, this is Johnny Bench.\u201d<\/p>\n Suffice it to say, Kent didn\u2019t expect the voice of one of baseball\u2019s all-time great players to be on the other line.<\/p>\n \u201cI literally fell back in my chair,\u201d Kent recollected before the Giants\u2019 chaotic 4-2 win<\/a> over the Chicago Cubs on Sunday at Scottsdale Stadium. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to be kidding me. \u2026 Johnny Bench calling and giving me a piece of advice about the Hall of Fame and congratulating me.\u201d<\/p>\n Kent\u2019s phone call with Bench was one of many cool moments he\u2019s experienced since being elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame on the Contemporary Era Ballot. With a jam-packed summer ahead, more moments like this are awaiting.<\/p>\n \u201cBaseball has come back to me in a flood, and so much of the game I\u2019ve walked away from because I was done,\u201d Kent said. \u201cI had other things to do. I have a family and grandkids and businesses that I operate. So I walked away from the game. So all of this has come back in such a big flood.\u201d<\/p>\n On July 26, Kent will be officially enshrined alongside Carlos Beltran and Andruw Jones, who were elected by the Baseball Writers\u2019 Association of America. Unsurprisingly, Kent\u2019s plaque will go in as a Giant<\/a>. Kent has already started working on his speech, acknowledging it\u2019s a bit too mechanical at the moment and that he wants to weave in more personal anecdotes.<\/p>\n A month later, Kent will make a rare visit to Oracle Park, where the Giants will retire his No. 21 on Aug. 29. Kent will become the 14th person in franchise history to have his jersey number retired, joining Christy Mathewson (no number), John McGraw (no number), Bill Terry (3), Mel Ott (4), Carl Hubbell (11), Monte Irvin (20), Will Clark (22), Willie Mays (24), Barry Bonds (25), Juan Marichal (27), Orlando Cepeda (30), Gaylord Perry (36) and Willie McCovey (44).<\/p>\n The Giants retire a player\u2019s number when they\u2019re voted into the Hall of Fame, the only exceptions being Bonds in 2018<\/a> and Clark in \u201822<\/a>. Buster Posey\u2019s No. 28 could also join that list if he\u2019s voted in by the writers this upcoming December.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd now the number \u2014 it\u2019s hard for me to give you an adjective that describes it. It\u2019s not cool. It\u2019s not neat. It\u2019s not great. It\u2019s not surreal. There is no word yet that I\u2019ve been able to find,\u201d Kent said. \u201cAnd you talk about my speech \u2014 I\u2019m still searching for what that real description is. I don\u2019t have one. I guess that\u2019s how meaningful it is. I\u2019m still searching for that, because I am overwhelmed. I\u2019m overwhelmed, and I don\u2019t know. I really don\u2019t. It does bring tears to my eyes. It\u2019s been emotional. It\u2019s been great.\u201d<\/p>\n For now, Kent is in Scottsdale for a couple of days as a guest instructor. He hasn\u2019t really gotten his hands dirty, jesting that he\u2019s a \u201cclean toy that comes out and stands around.\u201d He enjoys talking to young hitters about mechanics but acknowledges that he doesn\u2019t \u201cwant to be too influential because I\u2019m not going to be here and follow up in the next couple of days.\u201d<\/p>\n Reflecting on his career, Kent said he played the game with a little bit of arrogance, a little bit of cockiness and a little bit of hate. Kent, the 2000 NL MVP and a five-time All-Star, said he hated to lose, hated to fail, hated to strike out. Nearly two decades removed from his final game, Kent acknowledges that he doesn\u2019t \u201chave any hate anymore\u201d because of where he\u2019s at in his life.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re trying to grab onto something, and I think that\u2019s where the emotion comes in,\u201d Kent said. \u201cBecause what is it? \u2026 Is it arrogance? Arrogance can be related to hate. It\u2019s not arrogance. It\u2019s not cockiness. I\u2019m not cocky anymore. I\u2019m a grandfather. So, how do you put all that together? I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n On the subject of hate, Kent joked that he dislikes new manager Tony Vitello because Tennessee won the 2024 College World Series by defeating Texas A&M, where his son, Kaeden, played as an infielder. Kent recalled trying to get Kaeden to play for Vitello via the transfer portal, but Kaeden stayed at Texas A&M and was drafted by the New York Yankees in the third round of the 2025 MLB draft.<\/p>\n In Kent, Vitello has a fan.<\/p>\n \u201cTony kind of rebuilt that program at Tennessee to be something proud of what they have,\u201d Kent said. \u201cTennessee was kind of dead in the dumps. Then, they got Tony and he kind of rebuilt them. I was impressed with what he did. I watched his passion on the field and how he backed his players.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SCOTTSDALE, Arizona \u2014 Jeff Kent typically doesn\u2019t take calls from unknown numbers. 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