Jeff Kent is heading to Cooperstown after a surprise selection via the Contemporary Era committee ballot revealed Sunday.
Kent played six seasons with the Giants as part of his 17-year career, winning the National League Most Valuable Player award in 2000, making three All-Star teams in San Francisco and helping the Giants reach the 2002 World Series.
Kent, a Bellflower native and former Cal star, will enter the National Baseball Hall of Fame next July 26 ahead of longtime Giants teammate Barry Bonds, who was also on the ballot but failed to receive the required 75% of votes to gain induction.
“Jeff’s relentless competitiveness, powerful bat, and unforgettable moments in a Giants uniform left an indelible mark on our franchise and the game itself,” Giants CEO Larry Baer said in a release. “We celebrate this long-deserved honor and are grateful that his legacy will now stand forever in Cooperstown.”
Kent, 57, owns the record for most home runs hit as a second baseman (351) as well as four Silver Sluggers. He had 171 home runs over his six years with the Giants, and his 1,518 RBIs are the third-most all-time among primary second basemen.
He spent 10 years on the writers’ ballot but peaked at 46.5% of the vote, so his induction via the Contemporary Era committee represents a major shift.
The Giants acquired Kent from Cleveland in November 1996, five seasons into his career, in a trade that sent popular third baseman Matt Williams out. While fans at the time were largely unhappy with the deal, Kent became one of the greatest power-hitting second basemen of all time.
He was a career .290 hitter, including .297 for the Giants. Alongside Bonds, Kent was part of a formidable Giants lineup that helped San Francisco reach the World Series, where it fell in seven games to the Anaheim Angels.
Kent’s relationship with Bonds was not always smooth. The two had a dugout argument during that 2002 season that blew up into a media firestorm. Kent left the Giants in free agency that winter, signing with the Houston Astros. He played the last four years of his career with the rival Dodgers before retiring in 2008.
Roger Clemens, Carlos Delgado, Don Mattingly, Dale Murphy, Gary Sheffield and Fernando Valenzuela were also on this year’s ballot along with Kent and Bonds.
The 16-person voting committee included Hall of Famers Juan Marichal, Fergie Jenkins, Jim Kaat, Tony Pérez, Ozzie Smith, Alan Trammell and Robin Yount. It also featured executives Mark Attanasio, Doug Melvin, Arte Moreno, Kim Ng, Tony Reagins and Terry Ryan, as well as historian Steve Hirdt and The Athletic reporters Tyler Kepner and Jayson Stark.
The voting results are not public, but it’s plausible that Marichal, one of the greatest pitchers in Giants franchise history, voiced his support for Bonds, as he did in 2013, telling the Associated Press: “I think that they have been unfair to guys who were never found guilty of anything.”
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Despite his credentials, Bonds has been kept out of Cooperstown due to his links to performance-enhancing drugs.
Bonds, who has denied knowingly using PEDs, failed to be elected by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, his final appearance on the ballot being in January 2022. Many writers invoked the Hall of Fame’s “Character Clause,” which states players “shall be chosen on the basis of playing ability, sportsmanship, character, their contribution to the teams on which they played and to baseball in general.”
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