Former New York Met and San Francisco Giant Jeff Kent addresses the media at the MLB baseball winter meetings in Orlando Fla on Mon Dec 8, 2025. Kent was elected into the Cooperstown Hall of Fame on Sun Dec 7, 2025. (AP News photo)
By Stephen Ruderman
Former Giants’ second-baseman Jeff Kent got his ticket to Cooperstown when the Contemporary Era Committee voted him in as the first member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2026.
This a well-deserved honor for Kent, who hit .290 in 17-year big league big league career from 1992 to 2008. The 16-person committee is made up of six hall-of-famers; six current and former baseball executives; and three other members of the media. 12 votes were required, and Kent got 14.
Kent was originally eligible under the conventional BBWAA ballot from 2014 to 2023, but did not get in. So was Kent’s former teammate and adversary, Barry Bonds. Bonds, like Kent, did not get in on the BBWAA ballot.
However, Bonds did not get in on the Contemporary Era ballot either. In fact, under a new rule, since Bonds received fewer than five votes, even though this committee will next vote in December 2028 for the Class of 2029, Bonds will not be eligible again until December 2031 for the Class of 2032.
To make matters worse for Bonds under this new rule, if he once again fails to reach five votes in 2031, he will be permanently ineligible to get into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Kent remained mum on the subject of Bonds not getting into the Hall of Fame, but lavished praise on his old rival. Bonds, meanwhile, was humble in another rejection from the hall, as he congratulated Kent on getting into Cooperstown.
The man whom Kent gave a lot of credit to was his old skipper, Dusty Baker, who may join Kent in the Hall of Fame in as little as a year from now. Kent, who originally came up as a dead-pull hitter, learned how to go the other way from Dusty.
Kent was drafted out of Cal Berkeley by the Toronto Blue Jays in 1989, and made his major league debut in 1992. Kent was traded over to the New York Mets in the middle of 1992, and he would remain in Queens until he was traded to the Cleveland Indians in the middle of 1996.
The Giants tapped Brian Sabean to replace Bob Quinn as the general manager at the end of 1996. One of Sabean’s first moves was to trade longtime and fan-favorite third-baseman Matt Williams to the Indians for Kent.
Giants’ fans absolutely lost their minds over the move, but after a disastrous 94-loss last-place finish in a miserable 1996 campaign, Sabean was willing to try anything. Sabean also added J.T. Snow and a few others, and the Giants miraculously went all the way from worst to first and won the National League West in a magical 1997 season.
Kent spent six years with the Giants from 1997 to 2002. He won the Willie Mac Award in 1998. He then beat out Bonds for the National League Most Valuable Player Award after hitting .334 in 2000, when Kent and Bonds, along with Ellis Burks, led the Giants to a memorable 97-win season—the best record in Baseball—in the first year at then-Pacific Bell Park.
Kent had another solid season in 2001. Despite a controversial injury in 2002, he hit .313 with a career-high 37 home runs, and helped lead the Giants to just their third National League Pennant in San Francisco.
Giants’ fans all know the story of how the 2002 World Series ended. After the Angels wrapped up their title in Game 7, Kent told the media gathered at his locker, “I feel like a loser.”
Dusty left the Giants to go manage the Chicago Cubs after the tragic finish to 2002, and a lot of players from that team also left. One of them was Kent, who signed with the Houston Astros. In his first visit back to Pacific Bell Park in April 2003, Kent was mercilessly booed by Giants’ fans.
The booing got even worse when Kent joined the Los Angeles Dodgers of all teams. Kent spent his final four seasons—2005 to 2008—with the Dodgers, and was even involved in a war of words with the Giants’ fiery young right-handed relief pitcher, Billy Sadler, on Aug. 9, 2008.
Kent announced his retirement on Jan. 21, 2009. When the Giants inducted him onto the team’s new Wall of Fame on Aug. 29 of that year, he was cheered like old times, and it seemed as if he was never booed in his old ballpark.
Kent has remained connected with the Giants’ organization since. He has shown up to spring training as a special instructor on multiple occasions, and has taken part in various ceremonies.
Kent hopes to go into the hall as a Giant. It is not known whether the Giants will retire Kent’s old number of 21, which would be very well deserved.
Kent had his ways, and feuded with a lot of people. While Kent was not the kind of player who hung or even became friends with his teammates, he came up with that same grin every time he stepped up to the plate, and he always put his team ahead of himself on the field. The man was a competitor who wanted to win every single time he took the field.
In a game that has unnecessarily been made overly complicated over the last eight years, players should heed the wise words of the new hall-of-famer: “the money lies in the RBI.”
Well said! Congratulations on the greatest honor of your life, Mr. Kent!
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