Hall of Fame Poll: Jeff Kent

It is Jeff Kent's fourth time on the ballot, he was on 16.6% of the writers ballots last year, his highest percentage so far.

Kent had a very good 17 season career that started with the Blue Jays. He was traded in the middle of his rookie season to the Mets for David Cone. We can't complain too much, we won the World Series that year. He was pretty good for the Mets. He was traded to the Indians in the middle of the 1996 season. After that season he was part of a big trade between the Indians and Giants. It was with the Giants he became a star. After San Francisco he went to the Astros and Dodgers.

In total he played 2298 games, hit 377 home runs, had 1518 RBI with a .290/.356/.500 slash line. Not bad for a middle infielder. He won the NL MVP in 2000, played on 5 All-Star teams and won 4 Silver Slugger awards. He had more than 100 RBI 8 times (helped along by opponents intentionally walking Barry Bonds).

His stats good a leap forward in his age 30 season, his second year with the Giants. Maybe it was watching Bonds and seeing how to turn on a pitch. Before his age 30 season he had 107 home runs. From age 30 on, 270. But I don't remember hearing rumors about PEDs.

He also didn't get along with Bonds, which is a bit of a plus in my book, though he really didn't have to be such a jerk about it. It seemed, like his dislike of Bonds had a lot to do with jealousy.

He was also a contestant on Survivor.

You can see Kent's stats here.

From Matt W.

A lot of debate about the Hall of Fame relates to comparing a candidate against others elected and excluded. The chart below shows all players who played the majority of their career after 1945 (excluding active players, and those on the ballot or yet to hit the ballot) according to how long they played and how productive they were. TRC+ is wRC+, just for all runs rather than just batting runs. This is not meant to be definitive, but a high level starting point showing how players with similarly productive and lasting careers have fared.

Similar Players: Harmon Killebrew (elected BBWAA), Pee Wee Reese (elected VC), Richie Ashburn (VC), Enos Slaughter (VC), Kenny Lofton, Willie Randolph, John Olerud, Sammy Sosa (on ballot), Vladimir Guerrero (on ballot), Todd Helton, Ted Simmons,