Cards
‘There’s no crying in baseball’ … unless you’re new Baseball Hall of Famer Jeff Kent
The illustrious names included Don Mattingly, Barry Bonds, Dale Murphy, Roger Clemens, Gary Sheffield, Fernando Valenzuela, and Carlos Delgado—all on the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee’s ballot for election to the Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2026.
You can’t blame Jeff Kent, who was also on the ballot, for not believing his phone would ring on Dec. 7, 2025, the day the committee voted on those worthy candidates, and the voice on the other end would say, “Welcome to the Hall of Fame, Jeff.”
But to his surprise on that fateful day, Kent’s phone did ring, just about the time he was told the call would come through if he had been chosen to join the ranks of baseball immortality.
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Is there ever a bad time to get good news? Kent was busy in the kitchen of his ranch in the Austin, Texas area, putting salt and garlic on bread he was preparing to bake in the oven. Dinner would have to wait.
Kent was the only one of those talent-laden candidates on the ballot to get elected to Cooperstown that day, an honor that took as long to bestow on him as his major league career lasted (17 years, 1992–2008). Suddenly, a man known for keeping his emotions to himself while on the baseball diamond came unglued.
“I was totally shocked. Completely unprepared, overwhelmed,” the former second baseman said. “Within five minutes of hearing the news, all those memories from playing the game came rushing back to me. All that emotion comes over you, because you think about all that time you spent playing the game. It just reminded me of that line in ‘A League of Their Own’: ‘There’s no crying in baseball.’ Well, … .”
And with that, Kent needed time to compose himself.
AN MLB GIANT
The gritty second baseman played for six different teams, but is perhaps best remembered for the time he spent with the San Francisco Giants (1997–2002). There he won the NL Most Valuable Player Award in 2000, was a three-time NL All-Star (1999–2001) and, in 2002, came oh-so-close to hoisting a World Series trophy. But the Giants lost the hotly contested 2002 Fall Classic to the Anaheim Angels in seven games.
Kent believes that, in addition to those memorable years by the Bay, he also had an impact with the other five teams he played for: the Toronto Blue Jays, 1992; New York Mets, 1992–1996; Cleveland Indians, 1996; Houston Astros, 2003–2004; and the LA Dodgers, 2005–2008. He helped lead the Astros to the playoffs in 2004.
Along the way, the power-hitting Kent amassed the most home runs ever by a second baseman with 354. All told, he had 377 round-trippers, 23 while playing a position other than second. He also had 560 doubles, as well as a lifetime .290 batting average with 2,461 hits and 1,518 RBI.
The 6-foot-1 second baseman credits Dusty Baker, his manager in San Francisco, with developing his power stroke. The right-handed slugger said Baker encouraged him to go to the opposite field when necessary, rather than just be a dead-pull hitter.
“Give the pitcher some credit. If he wants to throw the ball away, hit it away,” Kent recalled Baker telling him. That advice changed the second baseman’s offensive approach and made him a feared clutch hitter.
“The turning point in my career was Dusty Baker. I wouldn’t be here without my time with the Giants,” he said firmly. And how can you argue?
After getting to the Bay Area in 1997, Kent helped the Giants win the NL West Division title that season.
“Dusty lit a fire under me, not to achieve just normal standards but to achieve more,” Kent recalled. “Dusty knew how to get the most out of his players. He knew I had more to give. Dusty made me a better all-around hitter.”
With that extra push, Kent led the Giants in RBI from 1997-2000. In his six years with the club, he hit 175 home runs, 247 doubles and amassed 689 RBI while hitting .297. In his MVP year in 2000, the California native (he grew up near LA), smashed 33 homers, batted an impressive .334, and had 125 RBI. The 2000 Giants won the NL West, but even though Kent hit .375 in the NLDS against the Mets, the Giants dropped the series 3 games to 1.
When the Giants won the NL pennant in 2002, Kent contributed with a .313 batting average, 37 homers, 42 doubles and, together with Bonds, helped the team snare the NL Wild Card. They beat the Atlanta Braves in the NLDS 3 games to 2 and the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLCS 4 games to 1 to advance to the 2002 World Series against the Angels.
Following the first five games in the 2002 Fall Classic, the Giants could smell victory. They led the series 3 games to 2 after defeating the Angels 16–4 in Game 5. In that game, Kent hit two home runs. But the Angels stormed back in Game 6. Trailing 5–0 in the seventh inning, the Halos scored three in the bottom of the seventh and three more in the bottom of the eighth to win the game 6–5. Anaheim went on to win Game 7, 4–1.
Despite all his personal success playing in the majors, Kent still regrets “never having experienced what it is like celebrating in the locker room after winning Game 7.”
CALIFORNIA GOLD
The new Hall of Famer, now 57, gained prominence in San Francisco after working his way through the Toronto Blue Jays system. He was drafted by the Jays in the 20th round of the 1989 draft after playing three years of college baseball for the University of California (Berkeley) from 1987-89. In 1988 the Golden Bears appeared in the College World Series, but were eliminated early.
“I had a group of three managers in the [Blue Jays’] minor league system (Bob Shirley, NY-Penn League; John Stearns, Double-A; Dennis Holmberg, A-Ball) who were just awesome and really prepared me to go up to the Blue Jays,” Kent said.
When he got to the Jays in 1992, players like Dave Winfield and Joe Carter took him under their wing. But Toronto already had a star at second—Roberto Alomar—and Kent wasn’t getting much playing time. When the World Series–bound Blue Jays needed some pitching help at the end of August, they traded Kent to the Mets for New York’s ace David Cone.
So Kent missed out on playing in the 1992 Fall Classic, which the Jays won against the Atlanta Braves.
“Missing that World Series was a big disappointment for me because I was with the Blue Jays for most of that season and I felt they had the team to win it all,” he said. But he jokes that he played a major role in the series because he was how the Jays got Cone. He adds with a smile, “Coney was one of the best pitchers in the game and the Mets wanted me. They traded Cone for me.”
With the Mets, Kent got a chance to play. He said the team’s manager, Dallas Green, “taught me how to be a professional baseball player. Dallas Green definitely set the stage for my career to take off.”
While Kent had success in New York (1992–96), the Mets were not a good team at that point and never posted a winning record during Kent’s tenure with the club. Just before the trading deadline in July 1996, the Mets traded Kent, along with infielder José Vizcaino, to the Cleveland Indians for shortstop Álvaro Espinoza and second baseman Carlos Baerga. But Kent didn’t stay in Cleveland long. After the 1996 season, the Giants traded for Kent in what became a very controversial move.
San Francisco sent one of their most popular players to Cleveland—third baseman Matt Williams—for Kent. But, it turned out, the Giants’ new general manager, Brian Sabean, who engineered the move, knew what he was doing and critics of the trade soon embraced it. Following six seasons with the Giants, Kent wanted to be closer to his new ranch in Texas. After the 2002 season, he signed with the Houston Astros.
In Houston, Kent continued to be a consistent and steady hitter. Drawing on the same skills he developed in San Francisco, the reliable infielder hit .297 and .289, respectively, in 2003 and 2004 and had 49 homers over those two seasons. In 2004, the power hitter got close to being in a Fall Classic once again when he helped power the Astros to the postseason.
After winning the NL Wild Card in 2004, the Astros battled the Braves in the NLDS, winning 3 games to 2 with Kent belting out five hits and knocking in three runs. In the NLCS, Houston had a 3 games to 2 lead after five games against the Cardinals. But heartbreak awaited Kent yet again, as Houston lost Game 6 in extra innings 6–4 and then lost Game 7. Kent had three home runs in the 2004 NLCS.
“Texas was where I was going to end my career and live the rest of my life,” Kent said. “It was the perfect fit for me, but it was only for two years, so I was a little disappointed that I didn’t get to stay a little longer. We were only one game from going to the World Series my second year there.”
But in December 2004 the LA Dodgers, Kent’s hometown team, made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. The second baseman headed back to his childhood home, ending his major league career with the Dodgers. He spent four seasons in LA, making it to the playoffs in 2006 and 2008 but failing once again to reach the Fall Classic.
Though the power-hitting second baseman was slowing down, he still hit a respectable .291 during his time with the Dodgers, with 75 homers over four seasons (2005–08) and 311 RBI.
“I think my career still had some legs even at the end,” he said.
Kent broke the mold of the typical second baseman. He was taller than most who played the position and hit with consistent power rarely displayed by second basemen. But throughout his career he continued to impress fans by rocketing ball after ball to various parts of the field and “doing what we are supposed to do— score runs,” he noted.
Kent emotionally characterized his career this way: “The game has always been a beautiful game. I played it with passion. I played it with integrity and loved every minute that I played the game.”
